Entertainment

Guy Does Eerily Spot On 'Simpsons' Impressions

by Lara Rutherford-Morrison

Last week, fans of The Simpsons were dealt a heavy blow when Harry Shearer, the voice actor behind such legends as Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, and many others, announced via Twitter that he will be leaving the show after 26 years. Although there still seems to be some hope that he might return for the show’s next two seasons, many fans are wondering how The Simpsons’ showrunners will proceed with his characters in his absence. Impressionist Brock Baker seems up for the job: A video shows him performing spot on impressions of Harry Shearer’s characters on The Simpsons as his unofficial “audition” for the show.

The exact reasons for Shearer’s departure from the long-running show remain murky. Shearer has suggested that the conflict had to do with wanting the freedom to work on other projects, while showrunner Al Jean insisted to The Hollywood Reporter that Shearer already had that freedom. Jean also told THR, “I want to stress that we'd really like him to come back,” so the door at least seems to be open for a reconciliation. But if Shearer is truly gone for good, then Baker, a voice actor based in Los Angeles, seems ripe for taking over some of his characters. In his video, he says, “If [Shearer] doesn’t come back, consider this my audition for The Simpsons. Never thought I’d be saying those words.” Baker tries his hand (or should I say, his voice?) at a number of classic characters, including…

Mr. Burns

Waylon Smithers

Otto

Rainier Wolfcastle

Ned Flanders (“Okilly-dokilly!”)

Baker preempts questions of the “Hey, why didn’t you do [insert other character here]?” variety by saying, “If I couldn’t do the voice, or couldn’t even come close to the voice, I didn’t include it.” The ones he does include are pretty darn close, though. Check them out for yourself:

Images: YouTube(6)