Hank Azaria

NOISELAND ARCADE

Homer, Bart, Marge and other characters in Fortnite.
(Epic Games)

They’ve have been to Australia, Japan, Africa, Brazil, England, China, Antarctica, and even Canada. Now the Simpsons are going to Fortnite Island, where you can finally achieve what Sideshow Bob has only dreamed of: kill Bart Simpson.*

After years of rumors, The Simpsons has been absorbed into the massively popular video game Fortnite in a major collaboration. Starting today, a month-long Simpsons-themed season will have players battle it out on an island map based on Springfield. Marge, Homer, and Ned Flanders are available as rewards with the purchase of a Battle Pass, while other characters (Lisa, Bart, Moe, Krusty, and Scratchy) are or will be available to purchase separately.

Among other stuff, a blog post announced there will be weekly fully-animated cutscenes shorts that will also be released on Disney+ about Homer gaining godlike powers from a shard of primordial energy so even non-gamers can enjoy inscrutable references to Fortnite lore (the first short, “Apocalypse D’oh,” is already up). So far there is voice acting from Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Hank Azaria. We hear some laughs from Nancy Cartwright-voiced characters Bart and Nelson in other footage, but no dialogue yet, and Harry Shearer’s characters Kang and Ned Flanders are conspicuously silent (Shearer usually doesn’t participate in these things, like The Simpsons Ride or that Family Guy crossover, so that’s to be expected). It’s a far cry from Lego Dimensions, which only had archival recordings of Castellaneta, or that time when Peter Griffin appeared in a Fortnite short but didn’t speak. Also, Matt Groening’s signature is everywhere, unlike the Futurama collaboration.

The success of Simpsons in Fortnite could prove there is demand for a new Simpsons game. Not counting the freemium mobile game Tapped Out, which shut down earlier this year, there hasn’t been a “true” new Simpsons game since 2007’s The Simpsons Game. Could this herald a new era of Simpsons gaming?

*OK technically they’re not going anywhere because the Simpsons reality merged with the current Fortnite island, Oninoshima. And characters don’t really “die,” they are bloodlessly “eliminated.”

WORD OF APU

Skeletons of Apu and Snake in a long-abandoned Kwik-E-Mart.
In a shocking twist, Simpsons writers did the unthinkable and killed off beloved supporting character Apu.

In last night’s episode, the skeletal corpse of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon was seen in a long-abandoned Kwik-E-Mart, implied to have engaged in a gun battle with his frequent adversary Snake Jailbird. It’s a sad fate for this father of eight.

There had been a lot of controversy about the character in the past decade, leading voice actor Hank Azaria to step down from the role, but the show refrained from recasting the character or writing him off the show… until now.

It is unclear if Apu’s death will be a permanent part of the show moving forward, or if fan outcry will force the writers to bring him back to life in the next episode, like they did with Marge in the season premiere.

WORD OF APU

The classic Friendship Ended With Mudasir meme modified so it's about Hari and Hank. It now reads Friendship Ended With Apu, Now Hari is my friend. Two men shake hands while images of Apu are crudely crossed out.

Indian American comedian Hari Kondabolu, whose little TV documentary about the Simpsons character Apu caused a wee bit of controversy back in 2017, finally got to have a chat with voice actor Hank Azaria in a joint interview aired on NPR Wednesday.

As you might recall, The Problem With Apu takes a critical look at the Kwik-E-Mart proprietor Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a character Kondabolu blasts as a demeaning ethnic stereotype, and touches on the broader context of South Asian representation in Western media. The documentary is framed by his Michael Moore-like attempts to arrange an interview with Azaria, who (spoiler alert) politely declines.

Now it appears Hari and Hank are best buds. Azaria helped promote Kondabolu’s new comedy special in a video where he comes off like a captured prisoner of war, and the two sat down to discuss the Apu hullaballoo on NPR’s Code Switch.

Azaria, who last voiced Apu in 2017, reflected on the character’s legacy:

I – through my role in Apu and what I created in the Hollywood messaging – right? – which is a big deal in this country and around the world, I helped to create a pretty marginalizing, dehumanizing stereotype that makes it much easier – in fact, some moment during all this, I read a little news blurb where a guy was attacked. It was actually a Middle Eastern guy who was attacked in his store and was called Apu while he was being attacked. I think if I had any doubts at that point – there was also – there were certain key moments in that whole is-this-real question journey I was on where I got the answer. You know, Apu had become a slur, in other words. That – a lot of times I have conversations with my white friends and family or acquaintances or whoever, and that gets through.

Kondabolu shared the mixed feelings he has about the documentary:

I sometimes have thought to myself, I regret ever doing this. Like, it gets to a point where I’m like, I’m sick of this. And, you know, it’s – you get so frustrated as an artist and as a person. Like, the documentary is about how I hate being associated with this stereotype, and now I’m forever associated with it. Like, there’s a lot of, like, irony and frustration in that […] But at the same time, in the broad scheme of things, I think I did right. And I think I did right by my community even if they’re not all in agreement, by the way. It’s not universal. Definitely, I have a killjoy reputation amongst factions of my community as well.

In the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests, The Simpsons announced it would no longer have white actors play non-white characters. While characters like Dr. Hibbert, Bumblebee Man, and Comic Book Guy’s wife Kumiko have since been recast, Apu and the rest of the Nahasapeemapetilon clan have yet to speak. In March 2021, creator Matt Groening mentioned they had ambitious plans for Apu, but whether they’ll ever come to fruition is anyone’s guess.
[NPR]

AZTEC THEATRE, MY TWO CENTS

The Simpsons live show is over now, with far less casualties than the usual Hollywood Bowl event. In defiance of the rules, some audience members recorded it with their cell phones and cameras. Here’s a video of the Friday show, which could be taken down at any time:

Dead Homer Society has some more videos of the Saturday and Sunday shows, but I’m not going to bother watching them.

Some observations:

  • “Unlike Seth MacFarlane, Matt [Groening] will not force you to listen to him sing” burnsauce
  • Whoever recorded this decided to leave it on for part of the intermission, but ran out of battery during Jon Lovitz singing the Planet of the Apes musical, and then somehow regained power immediately after. Okay…
  • Jon Lovitz is basically a more likable version of Ricky Gervais.
  • Host Hank Azaria got to live his greatest nightmare onstage because nobody told him a clip he was setting up was cut.
  • The Alf Clausen tribute seemed abrupt and a little at odds with the rest of the show’s tone. Still, nice to see the Sideshow Bob motif get its due…
  • Conan O’Brien seemed energetic, but “The Monorail Song” isn’t really much of a song, come to think of it.
  • “Do The Bartman” was really disappointing. Granted, it’s hard to do the Bart voice while singing in front of hundreds of people with limited stage experience, while also trying to make sure you don’t fall off the stage, but still…
  • Here’s the weirdest thing: Harry Shearer (who generally doesn’t agree to anything that’s not in his contract because he feels cheated by Fox) apparently didn’t give permission for his voice to be used in clips. So, twice they had to replace him with a “scratch” voice that’s REALLY OBVIOUS AND WEIRD. Shearer also declined to do The Simpsons Ride, but his voice is still present in episode clips that play while you’re waiting in line, so I don’t know what the deal is.
VOICE BOX

Hank Azaria as GargamelYesterday, Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria (Moe, Chief Wiggum, Lisa) survived a close encounter with inhabitants of the notorious investigation-hindering and pony-fetish forum Reddit long enough to answer some of their burning questions. Frankly, his AV Club interview from several years ago was a lot more illuminating and in-depth if you really wanna know more about the Hankster, but nevertheless, here are the highlights from his “Ask Me Anything” interview so you don’t have to navigate Reddit’s terrible comment layout.

First, he tackled the obvious question, whether or not he’s ever seen Dan Castelleneta choke Nancy Cartwright to get the Homer-strangling-Bart scenes just right:

i have never witnessed it, but there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to prove that it has happened.

In a rather shocking development, it turns out he still likes the show that pays him millions of dollars each year:

mostly i’m too close to the show and love doing it so much to have an objective opinion. i do what i’ve always done, which is show up and enjoy making what they’ve written come to life. the show still really makes me laugh. i’ve certainly seen online over the years, and elsewhere, people criticizing the show. it reminds me of the beatles anthology. there’s this section where people are talking about how the white album isn’t so good…that it was too long and that a lot of the tracks didn’t work, and you see various people saying it wasn’t up to snuff. and then, they cut to paul mccartney who says “yeah, i’ve heard people don’t like the white album, but i say it’s the bloody beatles white album. it’s fucking great.” that’s kind of how i feel about the show.

Panda rape & talking rags? Same thing as the White Album, basically.

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MEANINGLESS MILESTONES, SCULLY DUGGERY

scullyThe Hollywood Reporter did a big cover story about The Simpsons in honor its meaningless milestone of having churned out a certain number of product. Former showrunner Mike Scully used the occasion to share his death wish with the nation:

“I think the show will outlive all of us,” says former producer Mike Scully. “Nothing would make me happier than some episode in the future to end with a title card that reads, ‘In memory of Mike Scully.'”

Yup, Mike Scully wants to die. Nothing would make him happier. There is no other way to interpret that quote. After years of death threats from Simpsons nerds, it seems Scully has decided to embrace the icy hand of death.

The rest of the article is mostly just a rehash of the same stories they’ve been telling for years in interviews and audio commentaries (did you know Michael Jackson didn’t do his own singing???), but nonetheless there’s a few interesting tidbits I haven’t heard elsewhere, if you use a charitable interpretation of “interesting.”

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VOICE BOX

homer houseJust how nice is Dan Castellaneta, voice of TV’s Homer Simpson? He is so nice that he will give you his house, if you ask him.

His best friend in the whole wide world, Simpsons co-worker Hank Azaria (Apu, Moe, etc.), was in the market for a new mansion after selling his home. Hearing that his good friend was now homeless, Castellaneta stepped up to his plate, and sold him his current mansion, the place where he lives and sleeps, because that is how nice a guy he is. Now, some people might let you stay in the guest room for a couple days or something, but Dan Castellaneta will just straight up give you his house.

So where are the Castellanetas going to live now? Nobody knows, maybe they will live in their car from now on. Only time will tell. [Los Angeles Times]

BORT REPORT, WRITER WATCH

bortA couple weeks ago, Ben Joseph, a first-time Simpsons writer, went onto the notorious pony-fetish website reddit and took some questions about his experience hanging out with Bart Simpson. Some of the answers are sorta-kinda interesting – how the writing process works, how much money you get before taxes, what Hank Azaria looks like (“a bronzed Adonis”) – but then he let this little nugget of info slither out:

No restrictions. But, as much as I’d have loved to pitch an all-Bort episode, I also worked hard to pitch something that felt like something they would actually do.

Thanks for dashing our dreams, jerkwad. [reddit]

VOICE BOX

for your considerationHuffington Post blogger Harry Shearer was once again hosed by the TV gods, who failed to nominate him for a prestigious “Emmy” orange blimp award in the category of “Best Voice-Talkin’ Guy.” Shearer, voice of Mr. Burns, Smithers, Lenny, and Principal Skinner, among others, has only been nominated in that category once (in 2009) and is the only regular Simpsons cast member to have not won it (the others somehow all won in 1992, WTF?). Dan Castalleneta (Homer), Hank Azaria (Moe), and Anne Hathaway (the princess in that godawful 20th anniversary episode) are nominated this year along with Seth Green, Dave Foley, and Coach McGuirk. [Los Angeles Times]