Pretty Please??
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist)
Harry Shearer and his many characters.
If you’re a Simpsons fan you’ve likely heard by now that original voiceover cast member Harry Shearer has reportedly decided to part ways with the show after 26 years. Since 1989 Shearer has voiced such iconic characters as Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Rev. Lovejoy and many, many more. Although Al Jean, The Simpsons’s showrunner has stated they won’t kill off any characters, I’d be saddened to see any of Mr. Shearer’s characters voiced by a mimic. It has been reported that they’re still trying to keep him on the show, but just the fact that he announced he was leaving means the outlook is not so good. That being said, I’d like to talk to Mr. Shearer personally:
Dear Harry,
Can I call you Harry? Your wonderful and versatile voice has been a part of my life since I was five or six so I feel like we’re on a first-name basis. First, I’m totally curious what it was like back in 1989 when you were first voicing The Simpsons. Did you know that it was going to become such a cultural phenomenon or did you watch over the years as it grew and blossomed into the iconic series it is today?
I remember being in first and second grade when my school banned Bart Simpson t-shirts for being “vulgar” and a “bad influence.” I remember being in middle school and hearing a teacher say she “hates The Simpsons” because they oversimplify literature and are morally depraved. I always thought to myself: have any of these teachers actually watched the show before? It has an incredibly strong moral core and has much to say about family values and the American nuclear family. It borrows themes from and riffs on the same pieces of literature taught in class, and frankly gets me more interested in it than my teacher does. There’s a reason why it has had such staying power.
This series and your voice along with it have had such a profound impact on my life. I literally grew up with it. So with that context, I would like to say: PLEASE don’t go, Harry!
I won’t pretend to know what is actually going on behind closed doors with contract negotiations, and I can totally imagine that after working on the same show for 26 years you might want to do something different – hell, I have friends who are Broadway performers and refuse to work on the same show for more than a year – but I just can’t imagine a world where your voice doesn’t come out of Mr. Burns’s mouth. Yes, yes, I know. 'Change happens, you’ll get used to it.' But you can always tell a knock-off from the original. And you, Harry, are definitely an original.
Obviously I can’t force you to stay, but I wanted to let you know that there’s a huge fan out there that loves your work and hopes you reconsider. In the end, I just wish you luck on all of your future endeavors be they on future seasons of The Simpsons or something entirely new.
All the best,
Greg Jacobs-Roseman
GREGORY JACOBS-ROSEMAN is a composer/lyricist and theatrical sound designer. His musical Save The Date: A Wedding Road-Trip Musical won the Overall Excellence Award for a Musical in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. gregjr.com
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