Matt Groening, the man who created The Simpsons, was alone in his office late one night when the phone rang.
“I pick it up,” he later remembered, and the caller said, “Hi, this is Michael Jackson.”
Matt didn’t buy it. The way he tells it, the voice sounded like somebody doing a Michael Jackson bit. But it really was Michael, and he had a simple reason for calling. He loved Bart Simpson, and he wanted to be on the show.
That was a big deal in 1990. The Simpsons was the hottest new show in America, and Michael was the biggest star in the world. Nancy Cartwright, the actress who gives Bart his voice, has said Michael was a huge fan of the character.
So the writers built a whole episode around him.
They wrote him a part as a big, gentle man Homer meets in a hospital, a man who’s sure he’s Michael Jackson. Homer brings him home, and Bart has already told the whole town that the real Michael is coming to stay at his house. You can guess how that goes when the town turns up.
Michael didn’t just say yes and show up. He pitched ideas of his own. According to the people who made the episode, the bit about Bart telling the whole town was one of his. He asked for a scene where he and Bart write a song together. And when he saw a joke about Prince in the script, he reportedly asked them to change it to a joke about Elvis instead.
One of the writers remembered the first read-through with Michael in the room. “No one said a word,” he said. “We just sat there waiting.”
Michael also wrote a brand new song for the show. It’s a sweet little birthday tune for Lisa, Bart’s younger sister, who’s turning eight in the episode and is sure her big brother has forgotten.
The episode, called “Stark Raving Dad,” opened the third season of The Simpsons on September 19, 1991. Millions of families watched it, and for years afterward fans argued about what they’d really heard. The show’s creator didn’t settle it in public until 2018.
When the credits rolled, Michael’s name wasn’t there. And there was more to that birthday song than met the ear. Here’s Matt Groening telling the story in his own words.
The Simpsons creator tells the story of Michael’s call
Matt talks about a few things in this interview, including his newer cartoons, but the part fans love is when he gets to Michael.
People who worked on the show say Michael was a joy to have around. He was nice, they said, and a great sport. Nancy Cartwright even got a little coaching from him in the studio, and she brought him a signed talking Bart doll.
And Michael had his own playful reason for the way he did the episode. He told one of the writers it was a joke on his brothers.
Lisa’s birthday song lived on, too. It was later included on a Simpsons music album in 1997, so fans could play it again whenever they liked.