Mike Reiss, a writer for "The Simpsons," had his audience laughing within two minutes of taking the stage Tuesday night.
"I hope they learn nothing," Reiss said in an interview before the show. "They learn enough in school."
Reiss spoke in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom on Tuesday night to an audience of about 300.
He said he hoped anyone with questions about "The Simpsons" would have them answered during his speech.
Reiss spoke about his least favorite guest on "The Simpsons" - Oprah - his favorite character to write for - Grampa - and the meanest episode he's ever worked on - a parody of "Star Wars."
He hated writing "The Simpsons Movie," he said, because after 166 drafts, audiences only remember Homer singing "Spider-pig."
"Now that's the kind of joke you write when you're high. And we did," he said.
Reiss said two-thirds of his speech covered "The Simpsons" and one-third was "shameless self-promotion."
He sold DVDs after the show for his cartoon "Queer Duck," which he said is popular in Britain. The DVDs were packaged with autographed script covers from "The Simpsons."
The event was hosted by Accent, Student Government's speakers bureau, which spent ,10,000 to bring Reiss to UF.
Reiss stayed after the speech to answer additional questions from audience members and sign autographs.
Giacomo Savardi, a UF freshman, said he grew up watching "The Simpsons" in Italy, where he lived until four months ago.
He said he was most impressed to hear about the 8-month process of making an episode.
"We look at an episode, 25 minutes, we take it for granted," he said.
Reiss said about 400 people work on the show.
"If I had been hit by a car in 1980, it would not have affected 'The Simpsons' at all," he said.
He said he is most proud of his work on "Queer Duck."
Reiss also showed clips from the "The Simpsons," "Queer Duck" and "The Critic" during the speech.
Reiss last spoke in Gainesville in 2001.
He is currently working on writing for "Ice Age 3" and "Horton Hears a Who!" with Jim Carrey.
