Although the writers have offered various explanations of why mathematical minds lend themselves to writing comedy, one important question remains: Why have all these mathematicians ended up working on The Simpsons rather than 30 Rock or Modern Family?
Al Jean has one possible explanation, which emerged as he recalled his teenage years and his relationship with laboratories: “I hated experimental science because I was terrible in the lab and I could never get the results correct. Doing mathematics was very different.” In other words, scientists have to cope with reality and all its imperfections and demands, whereas mathematicians practice their craft in an ideal abstract world. To a large extent, mathematicians, like Jean, have a deep desire to be in control, whereas scientists enjoy battling against reality.
According to Jean, the difference between mathematics and science is paralleled by the difference between writing for a live-action sitcom versus writing for an animated series:
“I think live-action TV is like experimental science, because actors do it the way they want to do it and you have to stick within those takes. By contrast, animation is more like pure mathematics, because you have real control over exactly the nuance of the line, how the lines are delivered, and so on. We can really control everything. Animation is a mathematician’s universe.”
