{"id":205449,"date":"2017-03-29T21:12:36","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T21:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/?page_id=205449"},"modified":"2017-03-31T22:50:19","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T22:50:19","slug":"michael-price-81","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/michael-price-81\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Price ’81"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writer, co-producer of The Simpsons<\/em><\/h2>\n
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Don\u2019t wake Michael Price from the incredible dream he\u2019s having. It\u2019s the one where he\u2019s collaborating to create the most iconic piece of American pop culture of the last quarter century and the longest-running animated show in television history. <\/p>\n

As long as The Simpsons<\/em> keeps getting renewed, he won\u2019t have to wake up, because it means he\u2019s actually still living that dream. For the last 11 years, Price has been an integral part of the writing team of The Simpsons<\/em>. On his first day, he worked on the 300th episode and a year ago he wrote the 500th episode. \u201cSometimes I have to pinch myself,\u201d says Price.<\/p>\n<\/div>
\n


\n
\"The<\/figure>
\n<\/div><\/div>The Simpsons<\/em>, now in its 24th season, is also perhaps the most watched and recognizable show worldwide\u2014translated into many languages, including Punjabi, Hindi and Hungarian. \u201cNo matter what time it is, somewhere someone is watching The Simpsons<\/em>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Growing up in South Plainfield, N.J., in the \u201960s and \u201970s, Price was an avid TV watcher\u2014glued to reruns of the Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello shows. He rattled off TV trivia like other kids threw around baseball stats.<\/p>\n

 \u201cThe biggest treat was getting to stay up late and watch Johnny Carson, Monty Python<\/em> or Saturday Night Live<\/em>,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat I didn\u2019t know then was that I was studying for what I was going to eventually do.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a theatre major at Montclair State, Price wrote and directed plays on campus. He later got his master\u2019s degree in directing at Tulane University in New Orleans. Prior to writing for television, he performed sketch comedy with Gotham City Improv in New York and acted, directed and wrote plays with the Ironbound Theatre Company of Newark, which at the time was made up of a lot of fellow Montclair State grads. \u201cBeing in the theater department at Montclair State was the first time I was part of a creative community like that. It\u2019s where I learned I was good at something.\u201d<\/p>\n

He eventually made his way to California and drove a taxi while looking for work as a writer. His big break came in 1996 when he got a job on Disney\u2019s short-lived Homeboys in Outer Space<\/em>. Though the show bombed, he worked on it with Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who were taking a break from The Simpsons<\/em> to write some Disney projects. When the show got canceled, Jean and Reiss went back to The Simpsons<\/em> and eventually brought Price along.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Simpsons<\/em> has been amazing \u2014it\u2019s the most stable job in television,\u201d Price says, noting this is his 11th season with the show. \u201cIt just goes to show, you never know. Homeboys in Outer Space<\/em> was the go-to punch line for the worst show of all time, but it led to the best job in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Price has since won two Emmy Awards for his work on The Simpsons<\/em> and faces the weekly challenge of keeping the show fresh. The easy part is writing for the characters Matt Groening created. \u201cHomer Simpson is the greatest character ever created by anyone,\u201d says Price. \u201cAnd Krusty the Clown lets me channel all the old stuff I grew up on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Price hopes The Simpsons<\/em> continues to be the longest-running animated show\u2014for years to come. \u201cI don\u2019t want to picture my life without The Simpsons<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2013    Laura Griffin<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writer, co-producer of The Simpsons The Simpsons, now in its 24th season, is also perhaps the most watched and recognizable show worldwide\u2014translated into many languages, including Punjabi, Hindi and Hungarian. \u201cNo matter what time it is, somewhere someone is watching The Simpsons,\u201d he says. Growing up in South Plainfield, N.J., in the \u201960s and \u201970s, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11,"parent":0,"menu_order":48,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-205449","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205449"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205614,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205449\/revisions\/205614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}