I’ve been following the general news about New Corp’s demand to have The Simpsons voice actors take huge pay cuts because the show has become unprofitable. Really? Somehow Murdoch and his flunkies must think anyone with an IQ over 85 has no recollection the vast fortune the show has made through licensing, syndication rights, and DVDs. Or his media barony’s rumored cable network of nothing but this show. I suppose The Simpsons is no longer profitable enough to keep the old turd and his Chinese trophy wife well stocked in Beluga caviar. Hell, if it weren’t for Groening’s creation, Fox would’ve been the crass, craptacular Fourth Network for much longer.
Personally, I think the show should plan a grand finale. When revolutionary programs stick around past their tenth seasons (or more often fifth), they become the new status quo deserving ridicule. Contempt? Depends. The stronger argument comes from the show’s founders, it has failed to explore new territory or surprise anybody. Groening even seems more interested with Futurama anyway.
This brings me to discuss the man behind the voice who made the show a hit. Much like other beloved sitcoms and action-dramas, the original focus was on Bart but within a couple seasons Homer took over as the writers made him more buffoonish. Dan’s skill and fine-tuning are what made it happen. Should you have the time or opportunity, watch the first season. Homer’s voice resembles Walter Matthau more and he’s a well-meaning parent who just isn’t too bright. The sociopath cartoon character begins to emerge by “Bart the Daredevil.” At least The Simpsons owns up to this.
Dan’s career didn’t begin with such a promise in the Eighties. Sure he was a successful member of Chicago’s Second City troupe, did voiceover work with local radio stations and even had a small role in Tom Hank’s 1986 comedy-drama film Nothing in Common (it was shot in the Windy City). However, his audition for The Tracey Ullman Show failed to impress the producers and Ullman. Dan changed Ullman’s mind after she flew out to Chicago to see him perform on stage; his performance of a blind man trying to be a comedian is what did it.
I remember seeing a few episodes of Ullman. It had its moments, namely the Francesca bits and these cartoon shorts. Yet I found it puzzling. Why was Fox trying a format the other three networks ditched in the Seventies?
Back to the little animated shorts. Although producer emeritus James Brooks devised them as an excuse to bring in lesser-known cartoonist Matt Groening, Fox needed to save money so Dan and fellow cast member Julie Kavner were given the additional voice acting duties. What a lucky break. Ullman was cancelled by the Spring of 1990 while the shorts were expanded into its own half-hour cartoon which was taking the world by storm right after the Christmas special in late 1989.
Today, Fox’s gamble is now an American institution alongside Star Trek, Cheers, I Love Lucy and All in the Family. Good thing he was the “nobody” picked out to extra work that day on the set.
Dan also has the fame of creating, inventing or developing the expression “D’oh!” It’s in the dictionary too. Pretty much everybody knows these aren’t written into the scripts; D’oh! is cued by the phrase “annoyed grunt.” When the writers first put “annoyed grunt” into the story, Dan tried “D’ooooohhh!” which was him imitating Jim Finlayson, comic foil/straight man from Laurel & Hardy shorts. I’ve heard two different reasons on why it was shortened. The first was Groening’s suggestion, he thought it was funnier if it were shorter. Groening is right on this and it works to greater effect when another character does it; my personal favorite is Lisa. The second I’ve heard through commentaries was for time. When it episode is made, the audio is laid down first and the rest is built around it. Sometimes parts have to be re-recorded if it has principle characters who must speak at a certain pace. A famous example is “A Fish Named Selma,” Troy McClure and Selma Beauvoir are slow speakers so Jeff Goldblum had to come back in to redo his guest role of Macarthur Park to shave a minute or two down. This sounds silly but seconds matter in animation, thus D’oh! helps immensely.
Beyond The Simpsons, Dan has been the voice of numerous characters you may recognize. My favorites are Grandpa on Hey Arnold!, Earl on Cow and Chicken, The Robot Devil in Futurama and all the “Russians” he has done for Justice League, Jimmy Neutron and videogames. He has never used his own voice with cartoons which makes him hard to recognize with his numerous live roles, see imdb.com, it’s quite a list. Being the geek I am, I spotted him immediately in Space Jam as a die-hard basketball fan.
I’ll wrap it up with final factoid regarding Dan. He also has two full-length comedy records. I have one, I Am Not Homer and it’s pretty amusing. I’ll get the other eventually.