Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons On Sundays post. It’s my 51st birthday, but more on that below. First, I did not expect Hank Azaria to be doing something like singing Bruce Springsteen tunes in a tribute band. However, he is. https://boingboing.net/2024/05/24/simpsons-hank-azaria-has-a-bruce-springsteen-tribute-band.html
On the birthday front (besides me) the great Danny Elfman turned another year older on Thursday and we know why he is mentioned. However, most may not know that he is also a huge fan of nü metal and to find out that he was a part of the Sick New World festival in April, along with a band like Slipknot is really cool. If you are a long time reader, you know how much I love the masked 9 man wrecking crew from Des Moines Iowa and how I wish they would relent and allow themselves to stop by Springfield, or even an individual member to do the same. Next, B-Real of Cypresshill, turns 54 today,as well as Stacy Keach turning 84.
This week, since I am turning 51 today, I thought I would talk about a book by a main cast member, which came out during the cOVID-19 pandemic. Before I do, I wanna make it clear that I am heterosexual and you will know why further down.
Nancy Cartwright now has two similarly titled books about her being a 10-year-old-boy and her latest is called I’m Still a 10-Year-Old Boy, which is a follow up to her 2000 book My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy. Nancy narrates both audiobooks and does her Simpsons voices, tells stories about her life as a person, a Simpsons voice actor and the writer of an episode in recent years. Here is a good chunk of what Apple Books has to say.
“Nancy Cartwright, the ultimate Simpsons insider, gives voice to the boy immediately recognizable as none other than Bart Simpson. In this memoir, Nancy traces The Simpsons’ rapid rise to wild popularity, offers hilarious anecdotes about cast members and guest stars, and reveals what it’s like to be at the center of an American institution – one that reinvented the sitcom, rocked the TV networks to the core, and forever changed the face of television.”
“This new and updated audio edition represents a substantial revision of Cartwright’s 2000 book, My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy. Now enhanced with multiple audio clips featuring celebrity cameos from the The Simpsons, I’m Still a 10-Year-Old Boy is uniquely suited to the audio experience. Audio cameos included are by Danny DeVito, Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Meryl Streep, Kirk Douglas, J.K. Simmons, and Beverly D’Angelo as well as Simpsons main characters.”
“Since its debut on the Fox Network in 1989, Matt Groening’s series The Simpsons has become the long-running (more than 30 years strong, sitcom on television. It is a beloved and often prescient satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, consisting of Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie, and – of course – mischievous, rebellious, irreverent Bart. It continues to offer a biting parody of American culture, society, and television as well as the human condition itself.”
One thing Apple Books forgot to mention is that we also get to hear the late great Daws Butler, the man who had trained Nancy and as I had mentioned before, worked with Stan Freberg on some of his records. For example: Green Christmas with Stan Freberg as Scrooge and Mr. Butler as Bob Cratchit. We get to hear a recording Daws had done for Nancy back then and we also get a treat, to hear a young Nancy Cartwright as she sounded when she was about 20, replying to Daws on tape. Nancy still sounds about 20 to me, or rather 25 to 30 years old even though she is 66 going on 67 years-old in October.
Nancy also revealed that she was a premature baby, as I also was. I was in the hospital for three months, while Nancy said she was in there for about two months after she was born, but she said she wasn’t quite sure how long. Either way, Nancy was luckier than me in that she has sight and I was born blind, after being in an incubator. According to the book, Nancy says she was about 5 pounds at birth, while I was 2 pounds and 6 ounces. Either way, we are both short and I am also slender.
Both books are the same story, namely about Nancy’s life in and outside of The Simpsons. Altho, she goes into more detail on some matters I will get into below. Nancy talks about everything from how episodes are made and now, how they are written. Don’t forget that Nancy had written the Season 30 episode Girl’s in the Band and Nancy reminds us in this book (like her previous one) how the writing of an episode is credited to her, but is actually a collaborative effort between Nancy and a bunch of other writers in the writers room. It’s fascinating to hear it from Nancy herself, as she is honest and forthright, telling us things an insider would already know.
Nancy also goes through the same guest stars as she did in 2000, from Mickey Rooney, Ernest Borgnine, Meryl Streep and others. Yes, she also reviews how Elizabeth Taylor came to Guest Star twice during Season 4. Nancy also dedicated a full chapter to meeting Phill Hartmann and finding out about his death in 1998 after arriving record for The Simpsons that day.
Nancy also went further into her mother passing away and touching her mother, before the funeral. Her mother felt like a fish? I guess that Nancy touched her mother’s hand and that’s the only way what she had said to another of her siblings could make sense to me. Then again, before Nancy’s mother died she revealed that her mother’s hands were soft like a baby. Mine are also soft and I like to keep them that way. If you are a woman and you like a man with soft hands and who is short and thin, that’s me. I also love being silly too.
Something else Nancy had talked about was being in a car accident in 2009 and finding out that her back was broken because of it. I don’t want to even know what being in a vehicular accident is like, let alone having a broken back. When I was younger, I thought that a broken bakk or a broken neck were both death sentences. Thankfully, they aren’t and you can apparently hurt yourself in both of those areas and not kill yourself. No, I don’t wish to die like that and I hope that nobody I know meets their end that way either. When I had heard that chapter, I had no idea what she was talking about, when going into detail about where she was in her car and what had happened, until she decided to wiggle her ankles, then trying to sit up from being slumped over. Hearing her say “ow” repeatedly and louder each time in the audiobook made what she had gone through clearer, along with her being told what had happened to her by the doctor. First of all, how do you crap with a broken back when you can’t sit to shit? I’m just asking……..
There is more and I hope that her engineer Kyle had as much fun recording Nancy, as it was for us listening to her talk, doing her voices and telling stories through both her own words and samples of Simpsons characters and other people, including her younger self. Anyway, I hope that you get a chance to hear Nancy’s book, as well as read it. I have both books on my phone and I can listen to them any time I wish, provided they are both downloaded as they are to my iPhone.
I am now 51 and despite my age, I am still a kid at heart. I like being silly and I like talking like a four-year-old, complete with not pronouncing the letter R. Of course, I do it with people who are understanding that I don’t speak that way all the time and this does not include family members. Most of all, I love making people laugh by doing voices, including the voice of a child. I find it always gets a kick out of people who don’t expect to hear a squeaky high voice coming out of a grown man who talks in a baritone voice, but there it is. Even making sounds with my mouth and my vocal cords is not out of the question, in order to get a rise of people and make them laugh. I also like hugs and I haven’t had a hug in quite a while.
So, what else do I want for my birthday this year? A Sharp Talking Calculator from the 1980s, a ride on a school bus, a chance to meet a cast member, or all cast members of The Simpsons at some point in person. I have many wishes that will not come true right away and I don’t mind that. The calculator is probably the most practical one of the bunch, as I’ve had one before and I know how to use it and install the batteries. It has a clock and calendar, along with an alarm and a timer. The best example of what the device sounds like is in this song by a classic 80s synthpop band. Unfortunately, this particular model of talking calculator can only be purchased on sites like eBay and honestly, that sucks. https://youtu.be/VWiC_DiGQGA?si=BmQPrKBFpCc7mi19
Anyway, I hope to have a happy birthday and I hope you all have a great day, where ever you are reading this post. It would be nice if Nancy Cartwright also can see this post too.
Simpsons on Sundays 