Jeff Westbrook *89 Is the Math Professor in ‘The Simpsons’ Writers’ Room

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Courtesy of Jeff Westbrook *89

Jeff Westbrook *89 didn’t plan on becoming an academic. Then again, he didn’t plan on becoming a writer for Futurama and The Simpsons, either.

“My dad [David “Rex” Westbrook] was a math professor, so it made sense to me. I got to see the world and spent time at the university. My family felt education is super important,” says Westbrook, of Los Angeles. “I didn’t plan to be an academic. When I went to grad school, I thought I would just get a master’s degree and stay in industry. Once I was in grad school and exposed to the world there, I decided I really liked it and stuck with it.”

Westbrook — who earned his bachelor’s degree in physics and the history of science at Harvard University and his doctorate in computer science at Princeton — taught at Yale from 1990-96 and did research for AT&T from 1996-2001.

“I was ready to get out of academics. AT&T was good that way, but it was also headed for difficulty as the dot-com bubble burst. I was looking around for opportunities. I went to Silicon Valley and talked to some startup companies. By happenstance, my wife got a job offer in Southern California,” he says. “Exactly at that time, a friend of mine from The Harvard Lampoon named Ken Keeler called me up, ‘We’re starting a new TV show called Futurama. It’s a nerdy, science-fiction cartoon.’ We were both at AT&T. He had taken a break to go be a writer. I told him, ‘You can’t leave academics. It’s a noble profession. How dare you?’ But he up and did it.”

Subsequently, Westbrook tried his hand at TV writing with Keeler’s encouragement. He took a leave of absence from AT&T to write for Futurama — the brainchild of Matt Groening, who created The Simpsons — which debuted in 1999.

“I had a 3-month probationary period writing dirty jokes for a robot from the future. At the end, I returned to AT&T and felt, ‘I had my adventure. Now I’m back.’ [Futurama executive producer] David X. Cohen called me, ‘We liked your work. We’d like you to come back on a permanent basis. What do you say?’” recalls Westbrook. “I really had to think hard. You don’t get this opportunity very often in your life. I figured the show would be over in 1-2 years and I’d find my way back to industry. Two years won’t kill my connections. I said I’d do it. I probably agonized over this decision just for show in some sense. I knew deep down inside I’d take the job.”

After Futurama was cancelled (for the first time), Westbrook wrote for the sitcoms AUSA and Life on a Stick. In 2005, showrunner Al Jean brought Westbrook in to write for The Simpsons.

“When I got the job, I thought the show was on its last leg because it had already been on for 15-16 years. I figured I’d get a couple years out of this, but you can’t kill The Simpsons,” he says. He’s been there ever since. “It never happens that you get to work for the same TV show after 20 years. It’s staggering.”

Westbrook noted the writing staffs of Groening’s shows are “chockablock full of advanced academic types.” Yet “of all the brainy writers on The Simpsons and Futurama, only Jeff was actually a math professor,” says Jean.

During his time on The Simpsons, Westbrook won the Writers Guild of America Award three times. The show has now been running for 35 years — for good reasons.

“The show’s had cycles where it’s been crazier and less crazy. It’s always had a little bit of heart, but not too much,” Westbrook says. “There’s always dumb things happening in America. If that ever stops, then The Simpsons will go away. If America ever gets its act together, The Simpsons will be done and can retire.”