This week in Masters in Business, we sit down with Harry Shearer of The Simpsons, Spinal Tap and SNL.
Perhaps best known for the many characters he gives life to on The Simpsons for the past 26 years (Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, Dr. Marvin Monroe and many others), Shearer discusses the economics of voice actors on “an outrageously successful show.”
Shearer, a resident of New Orleans, made a documentary about Katrina called “The Big Uneasy,” where he makes a persuasive case that Katrina was an “Unnatural Disaster.” Appropriately, our conversation took place on Katrina’s 10th anniversary. He also hosts the radio program Le Show, which covers topical issues and politics.
The full podcast is available on iTunes, SoundCloud and on Bloomberg. Earlier podcasts can be found on iTunes and at BloombergView.com.
Next week, we speak with Jason Zweig, author of the Devil’s Financial Dictionary.
Harry Shearer, the Comedian and the Voice
“Talent is good, luck is better, but nothing compares with good, hard work for moving forward in your career.”
Great interview, Barry. The word on Shearer is that he’s a perfectionist/difficult to work with. Reminded me of the Hoffman character from “Tootsie”. Dynamic talent often works best alone and/or old friends. Shearer found the right fits long ago with Le Show, The Simpsons and the Spinal Tap “crew”. Great reference to the synchronized swimming piece from SNL. That piece was ahead of its time and was one of my mother’s very favorite sketches.