“Funeral for a Fiend.” By Michael Price. Perf. Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria, Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, and Keith Olbermann. Dir. Rob Oliver. The Simpsons. Season 19, episode 8. Fox. 25 November 2007.I owe the discovery of this clip from The Simpsons to ShakespeareGeek (here, more specifically), who keeps an interesting and prolific blog on practically everything Shakespearean.
The clip itself is tremendously broad in its range of parody: it hits pedantic Shakespeareans, evil villains, Windows-based laptops, and Wikipedia, to name but a few:
Sideshow Bob: Let's not tarry. As Shakespeare said, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere best it were done quickly." Power on! [Laughs maniacally.] This time I've made no mistakes.
Lisa: Actually, you made one. What Shakespeare really said was "'twere well it were done quickly."
Sideshow Bob: Yes, I'm sure you've studied the Immortal Bard extensively under your "Miss Hoover."
Lisa: Macbeth: Act one, scene seven. Look it up.
Sideshow Bob [re-entering]: I shall! [Pause.] Come on, Wikipedia! Load, you unwieldy behemoth! [The laptop explodes] Oh, dear. Sideshow Bob: Hoist on his own petard.
Lisa: It's "hoist with his own petard."
Sideshow Bob: Oh, get a life.
Links: The Episode at Wikipedia.
The irony here is that Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Sideshow Bob, actually played Macbeth on Broadway in the 2000-2001 season--for ten days. It was first to open, and first to close. (Was the audience thinking, "That sinister voice ... now where have I heard that before? D'oh!")
ReplyDelete