Here on ALFsplaining, we are big fans of balance - be it following every Howard Jones track with one by Nik Kershaw or one of them seals with a beachball you used to see at the zoo in old cartoons. And so after speaking to the lovely Mike Reiss, Ben and John thought it only right and proper to talk to his former long-term writing partner Al Jean.

Like Reiss, he also worked on Sledge Hammer, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, The Critic, Its Garry Shandling's Show and, of course, The Simpsons. In fact Al would be credited as showrunner for over 450 episodes of that last one which is surely the biggest TV programme of us and most people's lifetimes.

And yet we're going to talk to him about "ALF".

Those other shows come up as do, inevitably, ALF pogs but Al talks us through what they learned from their year on the show, the cast's terror on set, how basketball solved an office dilemma, which comedy superstar walked in at random and asked to be on "The Simpsons", why him and Mike stopped writing together and, of course, what he thinks ALF smells like.

This is another wonderful chat with a genuine icon who has worked on the best US comedy programmes for four decades and it was a genuine honour that he agreed to be a guest.

And if you want to support our future shenanigans, please consider joining The Orbit Guard for lots of ace video and audio extras about our Melmacian mate: ⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/ALFsplainingExtra⁠