The Simpsons creator Matt Groening recently revealed his favorite guest star appearances during the hit series’ 30-plus year run, as well as shared which Oscar-winning guest surprised him most.
“Albert Brooks always, because he brings so many ad-libs and writes funnier jokes on the fly than we could ever write for him,” Groening told USA Today. “And Werner Herzog, the movie director; he can get a laugh out of any line.” Groening added, “He’s absolutely brilliant. He’s so funny.”
Brooks has contributed his vocal talents to several characters on The Simpsons since Season 1, including Hank Scorpio, while Herzog voiced Walter Hotenhoffer (Season 22 and Season 30) and Dr. Lund in the Season 31 episode “Screenless.”
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Groening also revealed that the guest star who surprised him most was Anne Hathaway. “I knew that she is a great actor, but she’s also a great singer and can bring the jokes to the sung lyrics,” he explained. “She was very impressive.”
Fans will recall that Hathaway previous appeared as two separate characters on episodes of The Simpsons. The actor first voiced the character of Jenny — Bart’s girlfriend — in the Season 20 episode “The Good, the Sad and the Drugly.” She reprised the role in the Season 24 premiere episode, “Moonshine River.”
Hathaway also voiced Princess Penelope in the Season 21 episode “Once Upon a Time in Springfield.” In the episode, Krusty the Clown introduces his fans to a super-feminine character named Princess Penelope, who wins over the audience by singing songs and dancing around a Disney-esque set. Krusty and Penelope begin dating, and even become engaged, but the wedding is stopped by Bart and Milhouse.
While Groening was impressed by Hathaway’s singing, he revealed in the same interview that his favorite musical number ever featured in The Simpsons was “The Monorail Song,” which appeared in the Season 4 episode titled “Marge vs. the Monorail.” “…That’s a big one,” Groening noted.
He added that he was also a big fan of The Planet of the Apes-themed song, “From Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z,” which featured in the Season 7 episode “A Fish Called Selma,” adding, “Some of those things are earworms that will never go away.”
Groening’s comments came ahead of The Simpsons’ 700th episode airing on March 21. Titled “Manager Things,” the milestone episode centers on the friendship between Homer Simpson and neighbor Ned Flanders.
Producer Al Jean revealed, “The thought was, [Simpsons creator] Matt Groening wanted to do an episode featuring that little room above the garage that you see every week, but we’ve never been in.”The episode is also set during Christmas and serves as a callback to The Simpsons’ debut episode, which aired in 1989.
The Simpsons stars the voices of Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria. New episodes air Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
Source: USA Today
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