Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has died
at the age of 76, but his contributions to
humanity will live on forever — including
what is arguably his life's most important
work ... his appearances on The Simpsons.
News of the late scientist's passing inspired
a number of tributes in the entertainment
world, which Hawking had an outsized influence
on.
As a public figure, the author never restricted
himself to purely academic appearances, lending
his likeness or voice to a number of high-profile
pop culture projects.
Outside of academia, Hawking appeared as himself
on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation,
as well as multiple episodes of The Simpsons,
Futurama, and The Big Bang Theory.
"I made a booboo.
And I gave it to Stephen Hawking."
He also lent his voice, a synthesized program,
to the Pink Floyd albums The Division Bell
and The Endless River.
After Hawking's death, Simpsons showrunner
Al Jean spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about
the experience of arranging the professor's
hilarious first appearance on the series'
season 10 episode, "They Saved Lisa's Brain".
"If you are looking for trouble, you found
it."
Jean explained:
"What we would do is send him the script and
then he would record it through his machine.
So it was his voice, his special audio program.
He did come to the studio when he was in America,
but he didn't ever go to record."
Over the course of his three appearances on
the show, Hawking was willing to go along
with just about everything the writers wanted
him to say — except one thing in his first
episode that rubbed him the wrong way.
Jean said:
"He did say at one point that he did not want
to be drunk onscreen.
That was the only note we got from him.
He didn't mind having a beer with Homer at
Moe's, but not more."
"Your theory of the donut shaped universe
is intriguing Homer.
I may have to steal it."
Hawking's first appearance, in which Homer
Simpson famously mistook him for Hustler magnate
Larry Flynt, came about thanks to a personal
connection.
Hawking's daughter Lucy knew one of the show's
writers, who wanted to pen an episode involving
him.
"I accepted immediately because it would be
fun, and because The Simpsons is the best
thing on American television."
Aside from the drinking scene, Hawking had
no problems with the way the long-running
cartoon series depicted him.
He said:
"My treatment in The Simpsons was always good-humored.
I was depicted as a somewhat surreal character
with enormous powers."
Jean added that the reason he scripted the
late academic the way he did was he saw him
as a superstar in his own right, saying:
"Everyone wanted to get their picture taken
with him.
It was an honor to be able to briefly interact
with the Albert Einstein of our time.
I still can't get over it."
"Time for this hawk to fly."
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