John Swartzwelder - References On The Simpsons

References On The Simpsons

Swartzwelder has been animated in the background of several episodes of The Simpsons. His animated likeness closely resembles musician David Crosby, which prompted Matt Groening to state that anytime that David Crosby appears in a scene for no apparent reason, it is really John Swartzwelder. Additionally, Matt Groening has stated that the recurring character Herman was originally physically based on Swartzwelder–with the exception of his one arm. Some of the episodes in which Swartzwelder has appeared include:

• In "The Day the Violence Died", Swartzwelder is one of the "surprise witnesses" called by Lionel Hutz while Bart goes to the Comic Book Guy's store to get the framed Itchy drawing.
• In "Bart the Fink", he is one of the attendees at Krusty's fake funeral with Kermit The Frog on his arm.
• In "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily", his likeness appears on an equestrian statue outside the county courthouse.
• In "Bart After Dark", he can be seen as one of the clients watching the show in the burlesque house.
• In "The Front", the Itchy and Scratchy writers are all caricatures of The Simpsons writing team at the time, one of whom is Swartzwelder. Also, Lisa pulls out a book titled "'How to Get Rich Writing Cartoons' by John Shwartzwelder".
• In "Hurricane Neddy", he can be seen poking his head out of the door to his padded cell inside the Calmwood Mental Hospital, and then quickly closing it. Later in the episode a sign reading "Free John Swartzwelder" can be seen briefly (behind Barney Gumble) during the fanfare of Ned Flanders' release from the same hospital.
• In "A Fish Called Selma", a picture of him can be seen among the first group of celebrities on the wall of the restaurant Troy McClure takes Selma to.
• In "Thank God It's Doomsday", he can be seen on the blimp behind Krusty before it crashes.
• In "The Fight Before Christmas", he appears as one of the Nazi officers attending the movie "Dummkopf" in Lisa's World War II fantasy sequence.

In addition to having his likeness animated into the show, various references to him have been slipped in, such as his name being used in "freeze frame" jokes.

• During "The Front" Bart and Lisa are seen reading a fictitious book titled "How to Get Rich Writing Cartoons" written by John Swartzwelder.
• The episode "Burns, Baby Burns" features a "Mt. Swartzwelder".
• In "Dog of Death", Santa's Little Helper is shown wandering through Swartzwelder County.