They actually have done it before. They did a couple live shows, I think in the UK and Colorado, where they read a few scripts and did long Q & A sessions, speaking in character. The shows sold out instantly, and the tickets were pretty expensive. I would love to see these released on video someday.

Also, Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer were on Conan a few weeks ago, and it was great.

But this is an event. This should be awesome.

She probably does, her character plays a pretty big role on the show, not to mention she does her job well.

Dan Castalanetta and Harry Shearer went on Conan's show just a couple months ago and ran through every voice they did. I've seen Harry Shearer do that years ago by himself as well. Maybe Julie Kavner didn't want to spoil the illusion, but she always sounds like Marge anyway :lol:

Still, they've never done this all together as a group. Should be very entertaining to hear all the dirt. Dan and Harry pretty much only talked about the Michael Jackson appearance when they went on Conan.

I could have sworn that Yeardley did the voice of Ralph Wiggum, as well as Lisa. (and maybe some other I don't know about offhand)

Yeardly only does Lisa.

I think it would be cool/better if they did it with the actual characters (animation) and not the people. (They are doing it with the real people aren't they?)


And didn't Nancy Cartwright go on some awards show as herself with the voice of Bart?

Nancy Cartwright did do it as bart but it was in a costume (get season 2 on dvd and go to the extras disc to see this.)

Have these people ever really gotten much exposure? Aside from seeing the two guys on Conan two months ago, I never hear about the people behind the voices of the show. Does anyone know if it is/was in their contract to stay under the radar during the show's run. I know they aren't "actors," but these people do contribute their voices to one of the best shows ever. I just assumed there'd be more exposure for them.

You are correct. They did this at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2000 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the show. Here is a link to one of the press releases.

http://www.hbo.com/comedy/uscaf/2000...s_04_2000.html

Many years ago several cast members mentioned they were contractually forbidden from doing the voices PERIOD; believe it was Nancy and possibly Dan. At that point, they had zero bargaining power as a bunch of almost-nobody actors who were glad to have a weekly gig.

Then Dan appeared as a client on LALaw in a huge Homer costume as a guy who either thought he was Homer or who played Homer at parties and theme parks. IIRC, he only did the voice when the giant foam head was in place, and it was done with the show's approval.

Also heard Dan 2 or 3 years ago right around this time of year on Opie and Anthony. O&A were going CRAZY that he was doing the voices in studio. He also cut a few SIDs, promos, and "Syndication Now!" spots that were absolutely hysterical. Definitely worth searching the net for to see if anyone saved the .wavs.

A few years ago I also saw Nancy slip in a few Bart lines on one of the late night shows. She was plugging some outside project. Plus Hank used some of the voices, but as different characters, on that short lived sitcom of his 2-3 years ago.....

Wow, can't wait to watch it. Thanks for the heads-up! :up:

Howzaboot Hank Azaria? He was in The Birdcage and has had recurring roles on Mad About You and Friends.

Julie Kavner has been is many Woody Allen movies as well as many Tracey Ullman projects.

Hank Azaria and Yeardley Smith were both on a short lived FOX show called Herman's Head which ran concurrently with The Simpsons when it aired.

Not sure I see your point...

not to mention that Harry Shearer was in Spinal Tap!!! (and he is also in the upcoming A Mighty Wind...)
-di doctor-

Azaria was also quite excellent in the NBC mini-series "Uprising".

Julie Kavner .... Brenda Morgenstern


julie may have been around longer then anyone as she was rhoda's sister almost 30 years ago.

Hank Azaria was also very good as a scumbag in Heat with Pacino/DeNiro....not to mention being the ex-husband of Helen Hunt

Yeardley Smith had bit parts on "As Good As It Gets" and "Dharma and Greg", as well as "Sports Night" and "Murphy Brown". I had never made the connection, so it was a suprise to see the voice of Lisa Simpson in other places.

BUMP for 20 minute warning for the East Coast.......

They bleeped the word FART... did anyone else notice that? Bravo is weird.

Did they censor Nancy saying "fart" towards the end?

What happened to Julie Kavner? She was there for like the first 20 minutes, then gone, with no mention of it.

I don't know, but isn't she the only one whose face we didn't see at all when doing the voices?

Yeah, and I thought it was odd since the first words out of her mouth as herself were pure Marge.

Very cool show, although the host was a little pretentious at times. Azaria and Shearer are great.

Very interesting show.

All those clips were REALLY annoying, but it was still quite hilarious.

Yeah, good show. I found it interesting that the cast said that they never do anything outside of work together. I always thought that they were a close group (not that I had any reason to think that).

Yeah, and 95% of the clips were from the season1 and season2 DVD sets.

I couldn't help cracking up at Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria doing the character voices. That by itself made the show worth it for me.

Wow, this was disappointing.

Dan & Harry were MUCH funnier on Conan.

What was up with Julie? She have a pressing engagement elsewhere?

I think i'll never look behind the curtain at the Simpsons again. Look how it turned out for Dorothy in OZ...if it wasn't for Glenda, she'd be SOL.

Nothing but disappointment.

I thought it was pretty funny, but I got sick of the clips, too, it took away from the voice actors.

Dammit! Can't believe I missed this. Is Bravo like MTV in that they will repeatedly show this episode over the course of the week?

I also got annoyed at the clips. It was OK, nothing real exciting.

Nobody knows what happened to Julie?

Inside The Actor's Studio: Simpsons 2/9
 

Did anyone else watch this? I haven't watched this show in the past, but I was interested to see the people behind the Simpsons characters. I was actually very disappointed in the show. They spent the first 45 minutes going around and introducing the actors and the characters they do, then only the last few minutes were dedicated to interaction between the actors and the students.

I would have perferred it to be the other way around. It was neat at first seeing Nancy Cartwright do Bart's voice, but I wanted more of the actors' insights into the show, the industry, etc..

Caught some of it - pretty cool.

repost: http://dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread....5&pagenumber=1

The thread's still on the first page -wink-

I accidentally posted a new thread, although I swear I looked for one...

Anyway, I too was really disappointed with the show. Hearing the voices got old pretty quick, and the in-character interviews were pretty lame. I really wish they would have shown more of the Q&A instead. I found that to be the most interesting part of the show, and they only showed about 3 questions.

it did seem a bit choppy but overall i got a good laugh out of it. it would be nice to know where julie kavner went though.

Yeah, very very disappointing. Everyone did their voices, and there were a bunch of clips. Hardly any interviewing and certainly nothing insightful or worth caring about. These are talented people who have been the bedrock of one of the most successful shows in the history of television, and the best you can do is, "how would Homer respond to a doughnut?" It felt more like a <strike><I>Star Trek</I></strike> <I>Simpsons</I> convention than a serious dialogue on acting or performing or anything relevant to the show.

Very lame that they bleeped "fart."

das

Yes...she has always said that she will never let anyone see her doing the voices because it would take away the illusion. She looked the whole time like she was pissed off to be there.

Plus, wasn't there a clip in the promo of her holding a cutout of Marge in front of her face? I wonder if that is what she was doing on camera, so they just stayed with the clips.

They should have tackled the whole "destroying the illusion" issue head on. I would have liked to have heard the actors discuss how people react to them out of character, and some anecdotes of when they slip into character, either inadvertently or purposefully.

They did kind of make it seem like it was just a job, although the quality of their work over the years shows it's clearly much more than that to them.

I think the disappointment proves The Simpsons is ALL about the great writing. Left to answer questions on their own, they all stumbled to improvise, even the "great" Harry Shearer. The only funny moments came when they regurgitated lines previously written for them.

Definitely interesting to see, but not "funny" at all.

<BLOCKQUOTE> • Quoth Brak55 •<HR SIZE=1>Yes...she has always said that she will never let anyone see her doing the voices because it would take away the illusion.<HR SIZE=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hardly an illusion since Patti and Selma sound the same, each sounds just like Marge after a cigarette, and all of them sound like Brenda Morgenstern. My world is shattered now that the illusion has been destroyed.

As to her disappearance, maybe she realized this was little more than Lipton's own personal "Dance, monkey, Dance!!!" festival instead of a serious interview.

das