Today at 5 p.m., Bravo! has a treat for fans of The Simpsons -- an up close and personal with the entire cast. D'oh! Did we say cast? Not the cartoon characters but the actors who do the many voices of Springfield. Inside the Actors Studio, the academic interview series hosted by Saturday Night Live and Mad TV target James Lipton, welcomes the six principle voice actors for the show: Dan Castellaneta (who voices Homer, as well as Barney, Krusty the Clown and Groundskeeper Willie), Julie Kavner (Marge plus Patty and Selma), Nancy Cartwright (Bart as well as Nelson and Ralph Wiggums), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Apu, Moe, Chief Wiggums) and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders).
"I dealt with them as six individuals," says Lipton, who spent an incredible five hours on stage with the Springfield players. Nobody in the audience left.
Little wonder. The studio audience, as ever, is filled with college students studying acting, writing and directing --in other words, adoring Simpsons' fans.
Having had a chance to see this cast do a table read of a Simpsons' script last year in Los Angeles, I can't recommend this special enough. These guys are fun to watch in action, especially Castellaneta, who's more animated than any cartoon character. He almost needs his own spit guard. Watching Azaria switch effortlessly from Apu to Moe to Wiggums is also a wonder.
Lipton's big coupe was luring Kavner in front of an audience. Even when this cast occasionally hits the road for live shows, as they did last summer at Montreal's Just For Laughs comedy festival, super shy Kavner never appears. (Another cast member who does minor Springfield voices fills in.)
"I just told them that I wanted them all and she wanted to come," says Lipton.
The bearded academic has long been savaged by Wil Ferrell on Saturday Night Live and Canadian Wil Sasso on Mad TV. He loves Farrell's gentle dig (usually showing Lipton fumbling with a massive deck of his famous blue question cards) but has never seen the Mad TV parodies "because I heard it's awfully vulgar." As for Ferrell, "I think he's great."
The Simpsons have also taken their shots. An animated Lipton interviews Krusty the Clown on a clip shown in this special. "I get assassinated at the end," he says. "It's a great honour."
IF YOU WATCH
What: Inside the Actors Studio, featuring interviews with the cast of The Simpsons
When: Today, 5 p.m.
Where: Bravo!
