Saturday, October 4, 2008

Blue Not Like Your Hair Is Dyed...Blue Just Like The Moon

Happy Saturday. I really do apologize for the lack for daily blogging. My only excuse is that it is a combination of Facebook, MLB Playoffs, and lack of sleep. The good news is that it is now taking me almost an hour to built up enough online points to play my favorite Facebook game, the baseball games don't start for another few hours, and I actually slept for about eight hours last night....so let's blog.

So let's totally steal from Entertainment Weekly again and discuss 16 Great Simpson's Best Guest Voices.

#16 Alec Baldwin as Caleb Thorn in Bonfire of the Manatees. In this episode Marge leaves Homer because she is pissed that he was allowing Fat Tony to film a porno in her house. So a series of events ends up meeting Caleb, who is a friend of the Manatees. I kept wanting to tell Caleb that "It is OK to love Manatees...it is another thing to be in love with Manatees." While it was not one of the better Simpson's episodes I have to say that Alec did a pretty good job. I much preferred him doing his own voice in "When You Dish Upon A Star".

#15 Jack Black as Milo in Husbands and Wives. I don't care for Jack Black and can't say that I was impressed with him in this episode. Luckily it was more a cameo than a guest starring role.

#14 Glenn Close as Mother Simpson in various episodes: Absolute genius. Her motherly voice was the perfect choice for this role. I am actually kind of bummed that they killed her off.

#13 Dustin Hoffman as Mr. Bergstrom in Lisa's Substitute: There a few voices that are truly distinctive and wonderful and Dustin's is one of them. There is just something comforting about it so it is no wonder that Lisa developed a crush on him. Hell...I develop of crush on him every time he speaks. Of course it was easier while watching the Simpson's episode because let's face it, Dustin is no Derek Jeter. Nevertheless....Great guest voice.

#12 Beverly D'Angelo as Lurlene Lumpkin in Colonel Homer: Another great choice. Beverly also has a pretty distinct voice and while you knew it was her while watching the episode you weren't think of the National Lampoon's movies the whole time.

#11 Harvey Fierstein as Karl in Simpson and Delilah: Karl is one of my favorite one time characters on the Simpsons but I honestly never really thought about how did the voice until today. The light bulb went off as I made the connection.

#10 Sarah Gilbert as Laura in The New Kid on the Block: She was not one of the best all time guest voices...she will be memorable because she was Bart's first crush.

#9 Winona Ryder as Alison from Lisa's Rival. I never knew that it was Winona. I never really like this episode so that is probably why I never paid attention to who it was.

#8 Mandy Patinkin as Hugh in Lisa's Wedding: Love the episode, never paid attention to who was in it. The weird thing is the Hugh was British and you know what a sucker I am for accents. Oh well. Seriously though...great episode.

#7 Michelle Pfeiffer as Mindy in The Last Temptation of Homer: No wonder Homer was tempted by Mindy. Michelle has a super sexy voice. Once again...the Simpsons crew got it right.

#6 Meryl Streep as Jessica Lovejoy: I never really thought about it but Meryl's voice really does have an evil and sensual touch to it. Another great choice.

#5 John Waters as John in Homer's Phobia: This is one of my all-time favorite episodes and it is because of John. Of course it was serious typecasting but the fact is that you couldn't just throw any gay actor into the role. John's voice was openly gay...but not overly gay which is why it was great.

#4 Lisa Kudrow as Alexis in Lard of the Dance: She this one didn't work for me because Lisa's voice will always be Phoebe. It kinda ruined the episode since Alexis was supposed to be Lisa's age.

#3 Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce as Sideshow Bob and Cecil in multiple episodes: It is almost hard to classify Kelsey Grammer as a guest voice being that he has been in so many episodes. That being said...Sideshow Bob was always made better by the presence of Cecil. Both were totally awesome guest voices on the show....and I still hold out hope that they will make one last appearance. And I have to agree with EW's point that it was borderline sacrilege that Sideshow didn't even have a cameo in The Simpsons Movie.

#2 Marisa Tomei as Sara Sloane in a Star Is Born Again: What I like about the Simpsons crew is their ability to pick a voice that can surprise you. I never would have classified Marisa as having a "sex kitten" voice but she did in this episode. It was another brilliant choice.

#1 Ricky Gervais as Charles in Homer Simpson, This Your Wife: This is my #2 favorite Simpson's episode and it is because of Ricky. His accent wasn't as much sexy but as it was funny. I actually bought the Simpson's Testify album just so I could have his song "Lady" and "Lady Riff" on my iPod because they are so funny.

Now let's end with a few of my favorites that were left of this list.

Danny Devito as Homer's brother Herb.
Neil Patrick Harris as himself playing Bart on TV.
Every MLB player who played himself in Homer at bat but especially Darryl Strawberry.
Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Constance Harm. She was destined to be the voice of a lawyer.
Sam Neil as the Cat Burglar...have I mentioned that I love Sam's voice.
Julia-Louise Dreyfus as Gloria. Not once while watching it did I think of Seinfield which is awesome.
Albert Brooks at Hank Scorpio. I know that he did many voices on the Simpsons but this was by the far his very best one-time character.
Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. Kiefer is hot no matter what form.
Johnny Cash as the chile induced coyote.
Jon Lovitz as Artie Ziff. Jon too has played many characters on the show but this is my favorite.
George Carlin as Seth.
Phil Hartman as Lyle Langley. It is hard to put into words what Phil did for the Simpsons. This was my favorite role of Phil's because of when he sang the Monorail song.
Simon Cowell as the preschool judge.
John Goodman and Henry Winkler as the biker gang guys. (totally forgot their names and too lazy to check wikipedia.).
Pierce Brosnan as the house.
Finally...Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie Simpson. Sure it was only one word but the point is that it was Elizabeth Taylor.

Even now...The Simpson's is still a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff on TV.


6 comments:

  1. How could you leave off every rock band that was ever on the show? Among the best were Aerosmith, Blink 182, The Who, R.E.M., and The White Stripes.

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  2. I can't believe that you still watch the Simpsons Milville. It hasn't been funny in like four seasons. You are too loyal. Good picks though. Hank Scorpio is the shit!

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  3. I don't think that your baseball dudes count because they played themselves. No one on their list played themselves.

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  4. I AM HANK SCORPIO! HANG UP MY COAT! I'M NOT WEARING A COAT!

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  5. Sideshow bob and Cecil are the bomb! I was pretty bummed they weren't in the movie!!

    Good post.

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  6. What about Grimey? I always thought that he was your favorite.

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