Originally posted by G. Noel Gross:
I felt a little sorry for Kevin Spacey ... Lipton had him doing impressions like a trained monkey for 15 minutes. They were funny, but Lipton wouldn't let up.

Kevin Spacey was nearly in tears of laughter (along with everyone else) while he was doing those impressions (and for good reason--they were spot-on and freaking hysterical). What in heaven made you think he wanted to be let up on???

I refuse to entertain your posts until they're longer than your signature.

Hey, posts are just the filling. The signature--now that's what it's all about!

This week was Debra Winger, next week is Will Smith, and Sarah Jessica Parker is soon to come.

I guess they're running out of names.

Honk!

Is that moron still hosting?

Of course, who else? I'd like to see Will Ferrell doing his Lipton impression gey a crack at it once.

Honk!

When's Pauly Shore on?

Just a heads up. The cast from The Simpsons will be on Inside the Actor's Studio on Bravo this Sunday. Forecast calls for a 70% chance of hilarity.

Brilliant. This is gonna be great.

(And this will make a great extra on the Simpsons Season 14 DVD set, due out in 2014)

EDIT:

8:00PM EST

The voice cast of the longest running sitcom currently in prime time sits down with James Lipton.
Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer, Grampa, Krusty the Clown), Julie Kavner (Marge, Patty, Selma), Nancy Cartwright (Bart, Nelson, Ralph), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, Chief Wiggum) and Harry Shearer (Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Smithers) review their careers and talk about how they got the job. But the episode really takes off when the actors answer Lipton's questions in character. Homer weighs in on donuts; Lisa recites a poem about her late cat; Bart makes a few crank calls; and Moe lists his bar's beers---including Tartar-Control Duff.

And why exactly is the special on opposite a new episode of The Simpsons?

Not that I won't be watching both, of course.........

They'll replay it at midnight.

The bad thing is that I don't have Bravo .

I wish Will Farrel was playing the role of Lipton.

Lipton: When I watch you practice your craft I shed tears of joy. Indeed - the foundations of the earth shook and the angelic host sang is sweet harmonious triumph as you portrayed the genius that is Barney - the Plow King himself.

Hmmm... if this is true it really IS an event. All the cast members up until this point have vowed NEVER to do appearances while performing their character voices so as not to spoil the "illusion". So say Julie Kavner never did a Marge voice when guesting on Conan for example.

I find it hard to believe they'd break this self-imposed rule, but I will DEFINITELY be watching!

I wonder if Yeardley Smith gets paid the same salary as the rest of the cast seeing as she only does one voice and everybody else does at least three.

No, it's true. Saw the preview after last weeks and they were all doing voices. Just that short outtake was HI-larious.

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

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!