Even though more than the credited writer collaborates on a Simpsons script (as Swartzwelder says in this interview) it's fun to count how many jokes are packed into a John Swartzwelder episode of the Simpsons. I did it for several of his greats and I found it to be around every 10 seconds something comical was happening.
I've read a few of his books as well, and while I haven't counted the rate feels similar (of course, depending on how fast you read).
That pace of humor is both prodigious and after excessive analysis a tad tiring. But a Swartzwelder episode isn't a thing to dissect, it's a thing to behold. It's really some of the best comedy every produced, hyperbole be damned. Just take a minor key episode like "Whacking Day"-- it manages to hit this incredibly assured series of notes. It's both completely ridiculous (a town holiday to beat snakes) and at the same time a cutting satire about how people dogmatically stick to tradition. It's completely relevant today, even though many of the younger folks watching might not know who Barry White is. And that's kind of the secret sauce-- the longevity and levity are intimately tied in a way that other comedies (or even the Simpsons of today) can't quite match.
even though many of the younger folks watching might not know who Barry White is.
Many of the younger folks watching when the episode first aired in 1993 probably didn't know who Barry White was, either. His hits were from 20 years prior. Even if you didn't know who he was though, he works in the episode because his distinctive voice is written into the story & used as a plot point. He doesn't just make a cameo appearance that any random celebrity could have made.
Keep in mind, this is a show that made Rory Calhoun references in 1995!
Most people only know who Thomas Pynchon is, is from the guy with the paper head over his head who appeared two times on the Simpsons as a throw away joke.
I've read a few of his books as well, and while I haven't counted the rate feels similar (of course, depending on how fast you read).
That pace of humor is both prodigious and after excessive analysis a tad tiring. But a Swartzwelder episode isn't a thing to dissect, it's a thing to behold. It's really some of the best comedy every produced, hyperbole be damned. Just take a minor key episode like "Whacking Day"-- it manages to hit this incredibly assured series of notes. It's both completely ridiculous (a town holiday to beat snakes) and at the same time a cutting satire about how people dogmatically stick to tradition. It's completely relevant today, even though many of the younger folks watching might not know who Barry White is. And that's kind of the secret sauce-- the longevity and levity are intimately tied in a way that other comedies (or even the Simpsons of today) can't quite match.