Image Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd; FoxWe swear this is true: David Mamet will pop up on The Simpsons. Simpsons executive producer Al Jean tells EW exclusively that the award-winning playwright/screenwriter (Glengarry Glen Ross) will lend his voice to an episode in which he plays a version of himself — one that was a writer on Thicker Than Waters, a hokey ‘80s family sitcom that Homer becomes obsessed with. In a scene that winks at Mamet’s penchant for using profanity, Homer winds up watching a documentary about the fictional comedy, which features old footage of Mamet getting an earful from one of the Thicker actors. “He just keeps swearing at him, saying, ‘Why don’t you f—ing learn how to f—ing write an f—ing script?’” explains Jean. “And David says, ‘Hmmm, f—. I can use that… ‘” (Obviously, the f-words will be bleeped out.) Jean adds that he was thrilled to include a Mamet cameo on The Simpsons. “Obviously, it’s an honor for us,” he says. “In fact, we clearly ripped off the Jack Lemmon character from Glengarry Glen Ross and used him as our underachieving salesman Gil.” The episode, titled “Homer the Father,” airs Jan. 23 on Fox.
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But the standard and practices guy is going to S * * t himslef.
Can’t wait for this.
I dunno…after that last Martha Steward episode, I don’t think I can take any more celeb spots. That was just painful to watch.
Are you serious? That was the highlight of that episode!!! – wish they had developed the Martha vignette into a full episode plot, that would have been hysterical.
Her reading off cue cards was attrocious…it was a lot like when they had Simon Cowell as a character. MS sounded like she read right off the cue card for the first time…no acting ability whatsoever…no rehearsals…sort of reading like I would imagine a zombie reads. The puppet part was pretty good though.
Woo-hoo!
Haha, awesome!
That reminds me of the episode where Lisa fails at her dancing class, and her parents try to cheer her up, telling her how she can still be their “Broadway baby”:
MARGE: You could write a play about people coming to terms with things!
HOMER: And you could load it up with swears — that’s what David Mamet does.
Cue cards? It’s a CARTOON!! There are no cue cards! She recorded her voice in a studio, reading right from the script. She was directed in the reading, and would have done it several times until the director was satisfied. If she sounded stiff, that was what they intended.
Yeah, the Simpsons really, really need to stop with the guest stars. It’s lazy writing. That Katie Perry garbage was the worst.
Mamet is my favorite playwrite. I look forward to this. I just wish he would co-write the episode in Mamet-style, now that would be funny! BTW XMas episode was awesome!!! Doors’ Strange Days, Run DMC Xmas in Hollis, Inglorious Basterds!!! Great Stuff!!
Kool
You know why some of the writing on the show is terrible? Conan O’brien is one of the script writers. He is soooo bad at comedy.
my God, you are ignorant.. conan has written some of the best simposons episodes..
Marge vs the Monorail, anyone?
Good For Papua Freedom, Please Healp!!
@Chris – Conan hasn’t been a writer on the show for ten years or more, not since he got his first NBC show.
Those glasses he’s wearing makes me think of Alias.
Mmmm….meta…gahhhhh!
I like simpson family ♥