In 2016, a Twitter account for Swartzwelder appeared, and was subsequently confirmed to be an official account by several of his former "Simpsons" colleagues, including showrunner Al Jean, writer Carolyn Omine and music editor Chris Ledesma. The account only tweets excerpts from Swartzwelder's books. Swartzwelder is revered among comedy fans. Fellow "Simpsons" writers have been effusive about his writing and impact on the show. Matt Selman wrote an article for "Time" about Swartzwelder, extolling him as "one of the greatest comedy minds of all time. He is the comedy writer whose words makes [sic] the best comedy writers in the world laugh out loud." George Meyer said that, "Even among comedy weirdos, he stands out. He's irreplaceable." Fellow writer Dan Greaney has described Swartzwelder as "the best writer in the world today in any medium." Swartzwelder has been animated in the background of several episodes of "The Simpsons". His animated likeness closely resembles musician David Crosby, which prompted Matt Groening to state that anytime that David Crosby appears in a scene for no apparent reason, it is really John Swartzwelder. Additionally, Matt Groening has stated that the recurring character Herman was originally physically based on Swartzwelder, with the exception of his one arm.