Nancy Cartwright

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.”

RIP

Alf Clausen
(Television Academy Foundation)

Alf Clausen, the composer of The Simpsons for nearly 27 years, has died following a struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 84.

Raised in Jamestown, North Dakota, Clausen’s big break was arranging music for the Donny & Marie variety show in 1976. He would go on to be the composer for the dramedy series Moonlighting and sitcom ALF, and worked on a number of films including Splash, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Naked Gun. He joined The Simpsons in fall 1990, having been recommended by writer/producer Jay Kogen, whose musician uncle had worked alongside him numerous times. The first season had been scored by Richard Gibbs, but the producers were trying out new composers for Season 2. Clausen was hesitant about the job, as he recounted in a 2007 interview:

I had no interest in doing animation; I wanted to be a drama composer. And [creator] Matt Groening said his favorite comment to me: “We don’t look upon this as being a cartoon but a drama where the characters are drawn, and we would like it scored that way. Can you do that?” And I went, “Bingo, I can do that. I have technology to do that.”

His debut episode was “Treehouse of Horror,” the first installment of what would become an annual Halloween tradition, which earned him the position of permanent composer. He would go on to score over 600 episodes over 27 seasons. He racked up many Emmy nominations – per Variety, he is “believed to be the most-nominated composer in Emmy history” – with his first win in 1997 for “We Put the Spring in Springfield.”

The late Chris Ledesma, the show’s longtime music editor who’d worked closely with Clausen, sang his praises in a 2011 blog post:

Picking Alf as composer for THE SIMPSONS was the best choice the producers could have ever made. His ability to write in virtually any musical expression or ethnicity has served the show brilliantly. I can’t think of any other TV show in history that has had scores with influences from so many eras in history, locales around (and above and below) the world, and numerous styles from country to pop to acid rock to Broadway and more. More than 470 episodes in, he still continues to amaze and deliver.

In a 2014 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, Clausen talked about the long hours of the job, and confessed it was “very difficult” working with the show’s iconic theme song, which he’d inherited from Danny Elfman. Asked to name his biggest contribution to the show, he replied “I give it a certain special touch that nobody else has.”

Clausen had a particular talent for close-but-legally-distinct musical parodies. Voice actress Nancy Cartwright highlighted this skill in her book My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy:

Part of the challenge Alf faces is how to make the parodies sound like the songs they emulate. This is the genius of Alf. In “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-d’oh-cious,” he had the task of creating a sound that felt like and reminded you of the popular Mary Poppins hit, but was just tongue-in-cheek enough so that it didn’t get us sued. He goes to great lengths to figure out the original songs’ harmonies, melodies, rhythms and orchestrations so that he can then “tweak” this and “sweeten” that and otherwise shift it enough so that this new song reminds the listener, but is still unique.

Some of these pieces were included in a tribute to Clausen during 2014’s “Simpsons Take the Bowl” event at the Hollywood Bowl, including Sideshow Bob’s theme, a takeoff on Bernard Herrmann’s Cape Fear score.

Although Clausen had desired to do longform, feature film work, 2007’s The Simpsons Movie was scored by Hans Zimmer, the acclaimed film composer who’d previously scored several of executive producer James L. Brooks’s films. He seemed unhappy about the decision, commenting obliquely “Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.”

In 2017, Clausen was unceremoniously fired from the show via e-mail. After the news broke, Simpsons producers issued a statement, claiming he would “continue to have an ongoing role in the show” and they remained “committed to the finest in music for the Simpsons, absolutely including orchestral.” The 35-piece orchestra was dropped, and Clausen was replaced by Hans Zimmer….’s music production company Bleeding Fingers Music. He would continue to be credited with the title “composer emeritus” for the next two seasons.

Clausen filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the show in 2019, alleging he’d been fired due to age discrimination. Simpsons producers countered that he’d been let go “because they didn’t think the classical- and jazz-inclined Clausen was up to the challenges of more contemporary tunes,” and claimed he’d been secretly delegating his work to his son Scott, a fellow composer. A particular point of contention was the two-parter episode “The Great Phatsby,” a hip-hop themed parody of the Fox series Empire. The lawsuit was eventually dropped.

In addition to The Simpsons, Clausen worked on the animated series The Critic, the Bette Midler sitcom Bette, and the film Half Baked. He also released a jazz album in 2005.

Following news of Clausen’s death, Matt Groening paid tribute:

Alf was the Man of a Thousand Music Cues — actually probably more than 10,000 — during his decades on The Simpsons. He was tireless, inspired, and always up for the musical challenges we threw at him. I called him our secret weapon.

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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EXCLUSIVE, OAKLEY CORRAL

PrinceBill Oakley has done it again. Last Friday on Twitter, the former Simpsons showrunner revealed his personal top ten Simpsons episodes that were “pitched, discussed, [and] written,” but, for whatever reason, never produced and lost to the sands of time.

Now, most of our competition would just lazily copy & paste the list and call it a day, but we here at rubbercat.net/simpsons have much more respect for you, the reader. We have attempted to dig up as much information about these would-be episodes as possible, from audio commentaries, interviews, and story outlines, to bring you the most complete picture of these extra-bonus-non-episodes as possible. Let’s run through the list, shall we?


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CULT LIFESTYLE

leaderNancy Cartwright, voice of Bart Simpson and a prominent member of the Church of Scientology, appeared before a legislative hearing at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield (!) to stress that her Scientology-inspired character-education program is totally secular and should be taught to schoolchildren.

The Illinois School Code requires “character education,” defined as “the teaching of respect, responsibility, fairness, [etc.]” to be taught in schools. A House Resolution filed by Rep. Daniel Burke (D-Chicago), recommended several programs and clubs that satisfy that requirement, including Cartwright’s “Good Choices” program, of which the bill specifically “encourages its use and the use of similar programs by educators, coaches, mentors, and other community service leaders.”

Cartwright freely admits “Good Choices” is based on “The Way to Happiness,” a 1980 self-help booklet by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, which teaches important lessons like “Do Not Murder” (precept 8) and “Don’t Do Anything Illegal” (precept 9). While Hubbard’s tract is advertised as non-religious, Newsweek noted that it “uses key words and concepts taken directly from Scientology’s religious lexicon.” Cartwright is a big promoter of the booklet; through her charity, she distributed a million copies of it to the San Fernando Valley in 2007.

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VOICE BOX

voiceworkUnlucky message boarder “JowTSJY” was forced to attend a table reading for an upcoming episode wherein Marge becomes a foodie, and he shared his horrifying ordeal with the good people at Simpsons Collector Sector with photographic evidence.

Some interesting observations:

Five of the six main voice actors were in attendance: Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, and Hank Azaria. Tress MacNeille and Pamela Hayden were also providing their voice acting skills, while Harry Shearer was represented by a speaker phone in the middle of the table. I was informed that Harry Shearer rarely attended the table reads, instead “phoning it in” from home. In fact, I was also informed that Shearer rarely came in to record his lines in the studio. He does that from home over the phone, too!

To be fair, he’s in a different recording studio using ISDN, but it’s still funny to imagine Harry Shearer as Charlie from Charlie’s Angels.

At 10AM the table read began as a man (whose name I didn’t catch) announced that The Simpsons had been renewed for its 23rd season. During the table read, this man narrated the non-dialogue portions of the script

Presumably, this man is showrunner Al Jean, who mysteriously doesn’t appear in any of the photos. That guy is craftier than Arthur C. Korn.

On our way back across the Fox lot, we saw Nancy Cartwright driving away in her Lexus. Her license plate read “4EVER10,” a reference to the fact Bart never ages. Someone mentioned that her old license plate used to read “I DO BART.” If that’s true, I can understand why she changed it!

hahahaha lol [Simpsons Collector Sector via No Homers Club]

VOICE BOX

According to a “blind item” over at the reputable-sounding BlindGossip.com, a “bratty actress” on a TV show wanted more money than her fellow cast members, which made TENSIONS SIMMER. Then they REACHED ONE HUNDRED DEGREES CELSIUS when she “used her character to promote an organization with which she is associated.” Now things are all awkward, so she tries to avoid working with her fellow actors whenever she can, and the producers are totally cool with this.

The general consensus in the comments section of both this site and the one over at Gawker (and really, who better to trust than people who post in comment sections on blogs?) is that the actress in question is Nancy Cartwright, voice of TV’s Bart Simpson. You might remember her from such controversies as that time last year when she used Bart’s voice on some robo-calls to promote the Church of Scientology, which would definitely fulfill the “promote an organization” part of the criteria. Other points to consider: the use of the adjective “bratty” (Bart is an anagram for brat, which is one of the fun facts that are obligated to appear in every article about The Simpsons), it’s really easy to avoid fellow cast members if you’re a voice actor (in fact, Maggie Roswell avoids coming into the recording studio altogether by doing all her lines from Colorado), the actors all got a pay raise somewhat recently, and there’s a stupid little doodle of a yellow-skinned lady-pacman. THE PIECES ALL FIT, except for the part where it mentions a “set” which musta been thrown in there to throw us off the scent.

Or it could be Pauley Perrette or something, who knows. [BlindGossip.com]

CULT LIFESTYLE

Nancy Cartwright, voice of TV’s Bart Simpson, has not always been especially vocal about her membership in the always-controversial Church of Scientology. Her autobiography makes no reference to it, nor does her website. Although she’s done a few publicity events for it (one ad in the LA Weekly offered a chance to “Meet the Voice of Bart Simpson At The Scientology Center!”), she has not advocated for the Church in a big way – she didn’t preach the virtues of Xenu while doing publicity for The Simpsons Movie, nor has she tried to plug Dianetics while doing DVD audio commentary. Unlike some of the bigger Scientologist celebrities, she does not lecture Matt Lauer on psychiatry (Tom Cruise), star in movies based on books by L. Ron Hubbard (John Travolta), or leave a show when they make one too many jokes about the religion (Issac Hayes). Last year, however, she donated $10 million to Scientology – twice her annual Simpsons salary and nearly five times more than that deadbeat Tom Cruise – a story which raised a few eyebrows, but generally flew under the radar. A couple days ago, however, audio of Cartwright doing a “robo-call” for some Scientology event was uploaded to the Internet. The story has gotten a lot of attention, garnering more than 2,700 “diggs” on Digg, which is apparently a lot in Internet metrics (?).

Cartwright opens the call with “Hey, man, this is Bart Simpson!” before quickly resorting to her normal voice and saying “Just kidding… this is Nancy Cartwright!” She then announces that she is now “auditing on New OTVIII” (??) and wants to share her “many wins” with you (????). At this point, it doesn’t really seem all that different from getting a robo-call from Hollywood starlet Scarlett Johansson telling you about how cool Barack Obama is, except it’s for a religion. But Catwright lapses back into her Bart voice several times in the call, laughing and saying, “It’s going to be a blast, man!” in the same voice that used to shill for Butterfinger bars, blurring the line between Nancy Cartwright, real-life person, and Bart Simpson, fictional cartoon character. You can hear it for yourself here, assuming the YouTube of the audio hasn’t been taken down.

A lot of questions arise: does Bart want me to get my thetans checked or just Nancy? When has Bart ever advocated for anything other than eating his shorts, anyway? Legal issues aside (technically, Fox owns the voices of the characters, which came to light when Dan Castelleneta got in trouble for introducing comedian Paul Krassner on his album “Irony Lives!”), is it ethical for voice actors to use an iconic cartoon character in such a way? Should celebrities use their fame to promote their belief system? Does Cartwright ever use her Bart voice to prank call bars?

VOICE BOX

The cast of The Simpsons finally got around to renegotiating their contracts, thus putting an end to the pay dispute that threatened to tear apart humanity and resulted in at least thirty artists losing their jobs while production was halted. Dan Castellenta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Maggie), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns) will now each get $500,000 $400,000 per episode, an increase from $360,000, to donate to Scientology. Ironically, this pay increase comes at a time when viewership has dwindled by nearly fifty percent over the past five years. Aye carumba! [telegraph.co.uk]