The Simpsons sitcom has been running for so long that it has gone from incorporating pop culture icons into their episodes to becoming a pop culture icon itself. The cartoon is instantaneously recognisable by legions of fans and non-fans (what’s wrong with you guys?) alike.
It has throughout its 25 golden years blown through so many celebrities (approximately 500) that it’s easy to forget who has been on the show and for which episode. We’re feeling a tad nostalgic at the thought of the 26th season hitting television screens soon with its 2015 celebrity line-up in tow (Pharrell Williams – and his hat, Elon Musk and the cast of Futurama) so we decided to get down to rounding up some of our favourite celebrity cameos on The Simpsons.
10. Russell Brand
Episode: Angry Dad: The Movie
Favourite Quote: “It’s great to be here with all my old friends I haven’t seen since rehab. No, I’m just kidding – none of you are my friends.”
9. Alec Baldwin and Kate Basinger
Episode: When You Dish Upon a Star
Favourite Quote:
Kim Basinger: Wow, Homer. You got everything. Even the Oscar polish!
Alec Baldwin: Honey, don’t you think you’ve polished that enough? You’re taking the finish off.
Kim Basinger: When you win one, you can take care of it how you want.
8. Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman
Episode: The Daughter Also Arises
Favourite Quote:
Jamie Hyneman: Tonight we take on the classic myth that a cat will always land on its feet.
Adam Savage: We didn’t want to hurt a real cat so we took this Build-a-Bear carcass…
Jamie Hyneman: Stuffed it with ballistic gel, shot it with a 20-foot barrel steam cannon…
Adam Savage: And made a scatter plot of the remains. Booyeah!
Jamie Hyneman: What was it we were trying to prove again?
Jamie Hyneman: Don’t know, don’t care.
7. Benedict Cumberbatch
Not many people know this but it was voice chameleon Benedict Cumberbatch that voiced Alan Rickman’s role as Professor Severus Snape.
Episode: Love is a Many-Splintered Thing
Favourite Quote: “Love is more powerful than my magic.”
6. Neil Gaiman
Episode: The Book Job
Favourite Quote:
Neil Gaiman: I’m so proud of us.
Bart Simpson: You didn’t write any of it.
Neil Gaiman: Hey, that tuna didn’t salad itself.
5. Stephen Hawking
Episode: They Saved Lisa’s Brain
Favourite Quote:
Dr. Hibbet: [MENSA Club is giving a public speech] When are we going to get to my speech?
Comic Book Guy: Quit butting in please. Your IQ is a mere 155 while mine is a muscular 170.
[singing to the Star Trek theme]
Comic Book Guy: I am smart. Much smarter than you, Hibbet!
Professor Frink: You should do what I do. My IQ is 199 for crying out glaving.
[accidentally bumps his head]
Professor Frink: 198… 197…
Stephen Hawking: Big deal. My IQ is 280.
4. Agent Mulder & Scully
Episode: The Springfield Files
Favourite Quote:
Mulder: Look at this, Scully: there has been another unsubstantiated UFO sighting in the heartland of America. We’ve got to get there right away.
Scully: Well, gee Mulder, there’s also this report of a shipment of drugs and illegal weapons coming into New Jersey tonight.
Mulder: I hardly think the FBI is concerned with matters like that.
3. Leonard Nimoy
Episode: Marge VS. The Monorail
Favourite Quote: “A solar eclipse. The cosmic ballet goes on.”
2. Johnny Cash
Episode: El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer
Favourite Quote:
Coyote: I speak of a deeper wisdom. The problem, Homer, is that the mind is always chattering away with a thousand thoughts at once.
Homer: Yeah, that’s me all right.
[gets a glazed look in his eyes as the wind blows his hair]
Coyote: Clarity is the path to inner peace.
Homer: Well, what should i do? Should I meditate? Should I get rid of my posessions?
Coyote: [snorts] Are you kidding? If anything, you should get more posessions. You don’t even have a computer.
1. Michael Jackson as Leon Kompowski
Michael Jackson wasn’t technically credited with the voice of mental patience Leon Kompowski (due to contractual restraits we’re told) but there’s no mistaking the uncanny resemblence. The quote isn’t funny per se but we wanted to highlight the variety that is The Simpsons. It’s not always comedy gold as they’ve got a firm hand on the soaps too. Oh, the feels.
Episode: Stark Raving Dad
Favourite Quote:
Leon Kompowsky: You know Bart, when I was growing up I didn’t have much money. So you know what I did every time my sisters’ birthdays rolled around?
Bart: Stiffed them?
Leon Kompowsky: No Bart, I wrote them a song to show them I cared.
Bart: I can’t write a song! I’m only ten.
Leon Kompowsky: ONLY ten? When I was your age, I had six Gold records.
Bart: Hey, Looney Tunes!
[pulls out the Thriller album]
Bart: THIS is what Micael Jackson looks like! You just look like a big, fat mental patient!
Leon Kompowsky: You’d be amazed how often I hear that. Bart.
