Abruptly and unexpectedly, Groening laughs. ‘Ho! Ho! Ho!’ he goes, sounding exactly like a department-store Father Christmas. ‘Looking back, I think I had completely unjustified self-confidence. It might not have worked out, of course. And I didn’t necessarily think it would. I certainly didn’t think it would be my ticket to stardom, or anything like that. But I did feel this is what I have to do. I may not make any money at it – in fact, I very likely won’t. I just had this conviction that I had to carry on doing it and see what happened.’