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Harry Shearer leaving 'The Simpsons'

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Steak Snabler, May 14, 2015.

  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Really, I'm surprised it took this long. Shearer is notoriously difficult to work with. He's one of the few people to get fired from SNL twice.

    The Simpsons Loses Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders: Harry Shearer Exits Show | Variety

    Showrunner Al Jean tells Alan Sepinwall the characters will continue, which I guess they have to do since Shearer did so many. But they should at least kill off Mr. Burns.

    With Harry Shearer gone, heres what The Simpsons will do with Mr. Burns, Flanders & more

    There used to be no bigger 'Simpsons' fan than me, but I haven't watched regularly in a decade and haven't watched at all in probably five years. The show ran its course, both creatively and culturally, a long time ago.

    This would be the perfect excuse to finally call it quits, but I guess there's too much money at stake.
     
  2. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    I listened to Shearer on Maron's podcast and he seems like a pretty miserable and full of himself guy. Funny how both he and Christopher Guest come across as humorless in interviews.
     
    RecoveringJournalist likes this.
  3. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    Shearer is legendary for being a colossal pain in the ass.

    He's also amazingly talented.

    I haven't watched new episodes of the Simpsons in ages. I did watch a bunch during the FXX marathon last year, but was mostly the classic episodes.

    I wonder if you just do the show without Mr. Burns, Flanders and Kent Brockman. The story I read this morning said the chances of them hiring someone who sounds like Shearer were pretty slim.
     
  4. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    That was a great episode. Maron would ask him about someone he used to work with and then would ask if they were still in touch and Shearer would sheepishly say, "Yeah, we had a falling out." or "We don't speak anymore..."
     
  5. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Can I raise a practical question at this point? Are we gonna do "Stonehenge" tomorrow?
     
  6. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Read the SNL oral history a few months back. Just about every who worked with Shearer says he was an impossible dick. He's nearly as universally loathed by his SNL colleagues as is Chevy Chase, perhaps more so.
     
  7. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    He was still in my favorite SNL skit of all-time, (Synchronized Swimming) which he claims SNL complained about the cost and didn't want to air.
     
  8. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    The LA Times story hints that the voices will be recast if they can't reach a deal with Shearer.

    $300K a week to do a voice. I'd be surprised if he works eight hours a week. I remember Mila Kunis referring to her voice job on Family Guy as "the greatest job in the history of the world" and I think the Family Guy voices make about $200K per show.
     
  9. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    Back in the day at ESPN, our in-house V/O guy 's day job was to provide scratch tracks for the Simpsons productions...he would voice every character, perfectly.

    I would imagine they could just hire him...the viewers would never know the difference.
     
  10. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Billy West or Frank Caliendo could probably do a reasonable facsimile or any of Shearer's characters, now that I think about it.
     
  11. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I doubt there is a voice Billy West can't do.
     
    KYSportsWriter likes this.
  12. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    The problem could be that there's kind of an unwritten rule among the voices actors about taking over for someone, but that might only be if it's a money issue, which they've said this is not. If that wasn't the case, they would have gotten rid of all of the voice actors years ago, rather than pay them an ungodly amount of money for very little work.

    West did break that rule with Ren and Stimpy. They got rid of the other guy and West did both voices for a stretch. I remember them fighting about it on Stern.
     
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