The Simpsons Lisa Its Your Birthday

David Silverman has been with The Simpsons when they were just interstitial shorts for The Tracy Ullman Show. Jumping to director during The Simpsons' first two seasons, he later left to join Pixar as co-director of Monsters, Inc. After that, he returned to direct 2007's The Simpsons Movie and act as a consulting producer and occasional director.

Suite 101 chatted with David during the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival. Note: no tubas were burned during this interview.

S101: How did you get started on The Simpsons?

David Silverman: “I worked in animation ever since I left UCLA in 1983. I was freelancing, bumming around. My friend Bill Kopp and I worked on One Crazy Summer, a live-action film with 10 minutes of animation, because the main character – played by John Cusack – was a cartoonist.