Homer = Krusty = Grandpa
If you saw the cast of the Simpsons on Inside the Actors Studio, I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I did. Often I think James Lipton is a tool, throwing over the reputation and history of the Actors Studio, for more fame-friendly guests (I mean, really, do we need drill down into the careers of Ben Affleck? Or Drew Barrymore?). In this case, his fawning smug interview style worked beautifully. For like ten minutes, he fired questions at each of the six cast members for them to asnwer in their character’s voices. And because these are immensely talented performers and not simply voices-for-hire, their answers were hilarious.
Why didn’t Lipton give them two hours like he did for Spielberg? I would have watched for nine.
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OK, I agree with you about James Lipton being a bit of a tool, no question there. And this doesn’t relate directly to the episode you’re talking about (which I wished I’d seen), I saw the Inside the Actors Studio with Mike Myers and I was disappointed (Mike’s two years older than me, although we both grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, I never met him as his high school was Leacock and I went at Pearson, the Bare Naked Ladies are from there as well and my only connection to them is that Tyler was a friend’s roommate, big place…any way, the point is I was interested in seeing Mike Myers interviewed), when the interview started it didn’t take long before the conversation got good, Myers began discussing theories of humour as propaganda and various other really fascinating topics and Lipton shuts him down by asking him to answer questions (as with the Simpsons bunch) in the voice of various characters he created for SNL. It went from a wonderful exchange of ideas to a stand-up routine in the blink of an eye.
When watching this show I want to see the artist behind the characters, I want to hear their words, their ideas, what drives them as an artist. I’ll watch SNL (or the Simpsons) if I want the characters. Lipton really let me down, before the show was even finished I went back to the computer to work on my website and could still hear Myers doing ‘Linda Richmond’ as the show ended. Sad, he really sounded like he could have been an interesting interview, sorry I’m getting a little verklempt just thinking about it.
OK, I agree with you about James Lipton being a bit of a tool, no question there. And this doesn’t relate directly to the episode you’re talking about (which I wished I’d seen), I saw the Inside the Actors Studio with Mike Myers and I was disappointed (Mike’s two years older than me, although we both grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, I never met him as his high school was Leacock and I went at Pearson, the Bare Naked Ladies are from there as well and my only connection to them is that Tyler was a friend’s roommate, big place…any way, the point is I was interested in seeing Mike Myers interviewed), when the interview started it didn’t take long before the conversation got good, Myers began discussing theories of humour as propaganda and various other really fascinating topics and Lipton shuts him down by asking him to answer questions (as with the Simpsons bunch) in the voice of various characters he created for SNL. It went from a wonderful exchange of ideas to a stand-up routine in the blink of an eye.
When watching this show I want to see the artist behind the characters, I want to hear their words, their ideas, what drives them as an artist. I’ll watch SNL (or the Simpsons) if I want the characters. Lipton really let me down, before the show was even finished I went back to the computer to work on my website and could still hear Myers doing ‘Linda Richmond’ as the show ended. Sad, he really sounded like he could have been an interesting interview, sorry I’m getting a little verklempt just thinking about it.
You watch more television that i do…
You watch more television that i do…
I can see what you mean Paul. Of course, it could be that Lipton is just dealing from both sides of the deck, and trying hard to deny the bind he’s put the show in. ITAS has gotten miles of cred out of being a guarenteed way for an actors to polish their reputation as a serious aritst, even though the show clearly no longer cares if the actor really is or not. And yet, they still insist ITAS is some hallowed, glitz free hour of television. I’ll explain…
I remember seeing Mike Meyers on the show and, while yes, his is a very talented physical commedian, I’m not exactly sure what he’s doing on Inside the Actors Studio, which in its early days stuck purely to Actors practicing the Stratsburg method, mostly with extensive stage experience. There are still lots of those left but they don’t have the star-wattage of Mike Meyers with a big summer movie to promote. And while Lipton has vigilantly avoided asking his guests about their marriages, addictions and scandals (“this is a show about craft!”), he seems more than willing to sell the guest seat to whomever has a large enough audience share to bring in viewers.
Not that I think Mike Meyers has nothing to say. He clearly did. It seems to me that Lipton, having gotten Meyers on the show, and promoted it as “Austin Powers at Inside the Actors Studio” treated him as a dancing bear, equivicating I believe over whether the show should really be about craft and how it can have bangup ratings at the same time.
And yeah, it would have been cool to hear more from the Simpsons actors themselves instead of just Apu and Selma.
I can see what you mean Paul. Of course, it could be that Lipton is just dealing from both sides of the deck, and trying hard to deny the bind he’s put the show in. ITAS has gotten miles of cred out of being a guarenteed way for an actors to polish their reputation as a serious aritst, even though the show clearly no longer cares if the actor really is or not. And yet, they still insist ITAS is some hallowed, glitz free hour of television. I’ll explain…
I remember seeing Mike Meyers on the show and, while yes, his is a very talented physical commedian, I’m not exactly sure what he’s doing on Inside the Actors Studio, which in its early days stuck purely to Actors practicing the Stratsburg method, mostly with extensive stage experience. There are still lots of those left but they don’t have the star-wattage of Mike Meyers with a big summer movie to promote. And while Lipton has vigilantly avoided asking his guests about their marriages, addictions and scandals (“this is a show about craft!”), he seems more than willing to sell the guest seat to whomever has a large enough audience share to bring in viewers.
Not that I think Mike Meyers has nothing to say. He clearly did. It seems to me that Lipton, having gotten Meyers on the show, and promoted it as “Austin Powers at Inside the Actors Studio” treated him as a dancing bear, equivicating I believe over whether the show should really be about craft and how it can have bangup ratings at the same time.
And yeah, it would have been cool to hear more from the Simpsons actors themselves instead of just Apu and Selma.
As far as the pandering qualities of ITAS are concerned…
From what I’ve heard, the live tapings are much more lively and entertaining than the finished TV product. The Simpsons ITAS taping, for example, lasted 5 hours. The finished product, obviously, was 1 hour. So as far as Mike Myers getting cut off in his answers, that is more of a bad edit than an actual interruption. Again from what I’ve heard, the parts of the interviews that are more hard-hitting and thought-provoking are cut off in favor of less controversial banter.
Pete
As far as the pandering qualities of ITAS are concerned…
From what I’ve heard, the live tapings are much more lively and entertaining than the finished TV product. The Simpsons ITAS taping, for example, lasted 5 hours. The finished product, obviously, was 1 hour. So as far as Mike Myers getting cut off in his answers, that is more of a bad edit than an actual interruption. Again from what I’ve heard, the parts of the interviews that are more hard-hitting and thought-provoking are cut off in favor of less controversial banter.
Pete
If that’s true then it’s a damn shame. And I have no doubt that it is true.
If that’s true then it’s a damn shame. And I have no doubt that it is true.