Hank Azaria

i was mimicking things as early as i can remember. i thought everyone could do it. i didn't realize it was a special skill until i was about 10 or 12. it was fun being on the friends set. it was sort of like seeing some weird 90s version of beatlemania. thanks!

it was a chance meeting. i very early in my career did the voice of a cartoon dog called Hollywood Dog for a Fox pilot that failed miserably but i got the audition for the simpsons based on that. and the rest is history.

it was not my favorite role, although i loved the show. it was a very difficult role to play because it was so emotionally wrenching all the time. also i felt like all the other characters in the show were so colorful, and i was mostly just listening to them and reacting to their insanity. it ended because the ratings weren't great and les moonves took over showtime and i don't think he liked the show.

my favorite character to voice is Professor Frink just because I enjoy how silly it sounds. they really have to stop me from doing it once I get started. I just want to do more and more takes that get sillier and sillier. no running characters are my regular voice but i use my regular voice a lot in the show, mostly for straight man voices. people don't usually recognize my voice in public unless i'm running around screaming like moe or ordering a coffee as apu, which I don't.

that was a surprisingly difficult and not that fun movie to make. i loved hanging around with ben, janeane and bill, but we should have had more fun than we did making that movie. i'm much more fond of it now than i was at the time.

Simon Pegg is literally my hero. He is absolutely as sweet and hilarious in person as he is on screen. and i really admire his creativity in front of and behind the camera.

that is true. be careful how you use the term "straight" face

worst. question. ever.

that role was originally not supposed to be latin. once they decided to make him spanish, they pretty much let me transpose the dialogue into "guatemalan-ness," for lack of a better term. most of that dialogue was scripted. we rehearsed very intensely for two weeks and all the adlibs that mike nichols and elaine may liked got put in the script, and then we were encouraged to stick to those when we were shooting. i managed to sneak in a few weird touches though like saying "come on, gloria" when i picked up my boombox and things like that.

no.

hold on, i'll check

wait a minute, if i ever find you, i'm gonna (insert violent Moe joke here)

you can get season 2 on amazon, thanks

1. Professor Frink.
2. that changes over the years. I've loved Ralph Wiggum, Kent Brockman, Krusty the Klown and I get a huge kick out of Cookie Kwan

that's a good question. early on, i would really spend hours trying different voices out loud for different characters. then over the years i got quicker and quicker at just instinctively assigning a voice to a character. if i'm really not sure, i'll ask the writer how he hears it, who it sounds like to them, etc. sometimes they'll tell you in the stage direction "should sound like robert stack" or whatever. and then, if they don't like what i'm doing, they're not shy and they'll tell me and we'll adjust it.

i can definitely use them in public on talk shows and appearances, etc. i can't go on another show as moe or apu doing scripted stuff, getting animated, unless we get approval from 99 lawyers which we will never get.

i have actually taken out a contract on the life of billy west, so it's funny you said that

why should you be any different than my wife?

some voices require weirder faces than others. wiggum and frink are particularly goofy. you can't do a good vocal performance without committing to it physically so you pretty much look insane no matter what voice you are doing.

no, that has never come up. i think you can either do this or you can't, so for me it's kind of the easiest thing in the world to do. but if you can't do it, it's impossible.

again, changing my voices is just really easy for me. it always was, and then year after year of doing the simpsons has made me even more of a savant at that skill. sometimes i think all my talent is just centered in 1 cubic inch in my throat. that said, some voices or accents require a little bit of work especially if i'm trying to do like an authentic french or polish accent etc. once i hit on imitating boris karloff for night at the museum, which started off as a joke by the way, it was certainly easy to remain in that character. then once i have the voice, the physicality tends to follow naturally.

yes, many times. i'll always do 2 takes exactly as written and then i start to play around and they use what they like in editing

i'm surprised i expressed any reservation at that. it's an interesting question because you don't want to commit "character assassination" and do something you feel your character would never do; however, a lot of the fun of Moe and many of the simpsons characters is that over time they get more and more outrageous. i think as long as it's funny it's ok.

Tim Curry was an idol of mine. in fact i showed him a picture of me at age 15 in a rocky horror tshirt. doing spamalot was the closest i'll get to being a rockstar. there was such an insane response and love for that show. i was such a crazy python fan growing up that i wasn't kidding when i said i was off-book (meaning i had my lines memorized) from the time i was 12. and my inspiration for sir lancelot was john cleese, who else? as i am not philip michael thomas, i will not be trying for an EGOT. who gets that reference?

absolutely not, but i would try to live out some real life version if i could.

that's a really interesting question that i've never been asked before. i would say i'm a cross between carl and comic book guy.

i desperately wanted to be joey on friends and even auditioned twice for it after they had already rejected me once.

i'm a tremendous fan of seth macfarlane. both his vocal work and his writing. i'd look up to him if he wasn't so much younger than me. damn him.

i'm certain i will be back with rich eisen soon, and we are very close on making a funny or die jim brockmire movie as well.

• favorite episode is cape feare.
• favorite recording moment was being moe with mick jagger
• hard to pick, i loved the honeymooners, the odd couple, all in the family, deadwood, star trek (the original and tng)
• favorite joke is from cape feare, when sideshow bob kept stepping on the rakes

seeing as the first one very nearly killed my career, i would say no.

it's hard to pick. it would probably be a moe line, but it would be like sophie's choice to single one out.

i'm going to really hope i never encounter any of these animals. i do get tired of doing some voices, especially the ones that hurt like duffman and bumblebee guy. for some reason, i don't really like doing luigi. i don't know why, but i've told the writers i feel this way. i more often get asked to stop doing so many voices than to break in to them. my son barely tolerates them.

i actually don't mind answering this question, but i probably shouldn't answer this question for legal and other reasons.

that said, you can probably google a pretty close approximation of what we all make...

this is a good question because there are times when, especially with celebrity impressions, i'll feel like they made a mistake assigning it to somebody else. harry, dan and i all do a lot of impressions and it kind of broke my heart that i didn't get to do johnny carson and woody allen. and count dracula, for some odd reason. that said, harry's and dan's versions are brilliant.

then there are times that i get assigned ones that i feel harry or dan would do better than i would. like they gave me yogi bear, but my yogi bear sucks so dan ended up doing it.

if you sign a waiver releasing me from any responsibility for any medical consequences

i have hosted a weekly game at my house for many years now. mostly with the same 20 or 30 guys who come in and out. i play more cash game than tournament poker. i've played in vegas often over the years. i like the room at the wynn and the venetian, but pretty much any poker table in any room makes me happy.

i think if it hasn't happened by now, it probably will not. on occasion, i sit in on the writers' session and pitch jokes, but mostly i prefer to do that as i'm recording. they do such an unbelievable job on the show, that i feel i really can't improve upon it. so i focus my writing elsewhere.

probably a lot. it would probably either get me killed or save my life.

everyone knows how witty and spontaneous robin is and he was certainly hilarious during the birdcage. not many people know just how clever nathan lane is off the top of his head. the two of them together was truly like watching some amazing comedy team that had worked together for years. robin is also one of the kindest, most genuine actors i've ever worked with. and when he's not making everyone laugh, he genuinely listens to people and cares about them and takes the time to get to know everyone. mostly i remember fighting not to laugh during takes and ruining the movie. i didn't want to leave the set even when i was done working because it was so funny all the time, on camera and off.

hi myra! and i would say that yes they were.

i'm always a little surprised that people liked that show. i guess it was fun, and i certainly loved making it and learned a lot, and was grateful for the job, and loved all the people involved with it...but to be honest, the show was never my cup of tea. i feel bad saying that because i'm glad you liked it, but it is the truth.

almost every role that you lose out on, especially early in your career, you're kind of devastated by. my ex-wife once, when i was particularly heartbroken over a role i lost, took me by hand to the video store (when they still existed) and pointed out how many roles in many many different movies she didn't get that she was sure, at the time, would have made her a huge star. and i swear that 99% of those movies and roles were all silly, and major disappointments. after that, i really put that kind of thing in perspective and didn't worry about it too much.

a woman who worked for me left my employ to become a teacher. then a few years later came to me with the idea and i was in immediately...and it's worked out great.

my son...and dana carvey.

no one could have ever predicted the success of the simpsons. anyone who says they did, is lying. we laughed a lot making the show and still do. i often have to run away from the mic so as not to ruin takes by giggling like an idiot.

that was about the 3rd or 4th time i had worked with ben. i enjoy him personally and professionally. that role was written to be french...in fact probably 98% of what i say in that movie was scripted even though it seems like it was being made up.

there was a really stoned guy in vegas who shook my hand and wouldn't let it go and kept complimenting my shirt. there was a really creepy guy in manhattan who came up behind me and whispered in my ear, "you think because you're carrying a red backpack that no one will recognize you?" took me a while to shake that one off.

no, if by "girl" you mean "donut at the craft service table." that's right, paul and i call donuts "girls."

it's the same as it's been for many years. i run and lift weights. sometimes i chase smurfs.

that's a really good idea. what's your number?

i'm sure the show will still be running in syndication then, so i'll let them decide. mostly i'll be saying "you see that yellow guy? that was me!"

this is going to sound sappy, but it is by far the raising of my son.

we often don't record with the guest stars. i definitely remember laughing really hard hearing mel gibson have to say "glaven!" recording with tom petty, elvis costello, david byrne, mick jagger, and aerosmith really freaked me out. i didn't realize until i met those guys what a rock and roll geek i was. i was amazingly impressed watching steve carrell work.

cold. lonely. also i've never been.

i have never witnessed it, but there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to prove that it has happened.

i'll probably sound like him. that question made me giggle.

DTS is a local LA educational non profit. We take at-risk socio-economically challenged kids in 6th grade who show a willingness to learn and are quite literally Determined to Succeed. we mentor and tutor them through junior high and high school, help keep them off the streets and out of gangs in the summertime, and help them with their college admissions. our first group of students had 100% college acceptance rate. You can help by donating to my Birthday Wish: http://www.causes.com/actions/1744700-hank-azarias-birthday-wish-raise-10-000-for-determined-to-succeed

i experience it as a tingling in my midsection, and it really is quite an honor and remains tremendously fun to do.

I have done a guest spot. I was zoidberg's uncle harold zoid.

the best thing to do is to find a good voice teacher. most of them are in new york or la, but they certainly exist elsewhere...and create, with their guidance, an audition reel once you've honed your skills. then, get impossibly and unbelievably lucky. that is my advice.

i never did meet stephen glass. i really loved working on that movie. billy ray is a great writer and a passionate filmmaker. i really enjoyed playing a role so low-key and interesting in a movie that was so fascinating. i don't get to do it that much.

not quite sure how to break this to you my friend, but i was never in workaholics. now i'm very curious who you thought i was, or if you even know who i am. you must have me mistaken for some other devastatingly handsome, vocally gifted individual.

not if you can control the volume, but otherwise kind of. that scene was shot on our mutual birthday, april 25.

another good question...i think i'd like to hang out with moe and tell him that everything is going to be alright.

i haven't cuddled with anyone. i've only made out with matt groening, but that was just that one time.

i really like when he's taking the lie detector test and the thing keeps beeping because he's lying about what he's going to do with his evening.

one of the amazing things about doing the simpsons is that i can literally record it from anywhere in the world, and have...new york, paris, vienna, czechoslovakia, so i have never had to turn down anything because of my simpsons commitment. i never get tired of doing the show. it remains a true joy.

it would be cool to have bruce springsteen do the simpsons. i'm really in to game of thrones right now, i wouldn't mind jumping in on that insanity. also love american horror story. i love family guy, but i actually just recorded a voice for that show.

mostly i'm too close to the show and love doing it so much to have an objective opinion. i do what i've always done, which is show up and enjoy making what they've written come to life. the show still really makes me laugh. i've certainly seen online over the years, and elsewhere, people criticizing the show. it reminds me of the beatles anthology. there's this section where people are talking about how the white album isn't so good...that it was too long and that a lot of the tracks didn't work, and you see various people saying it wasn't up to snuff. and then, they cut to paul mccartney who says "yeah, i've heard people don't like the white album, but i say it's the bloody beatles white album. it's fucking great." that's kind of how i feel about the show.

i eat healthily to an almost annoying degree and i pretty much only eat fruit in the morning

what the fuck is that supposed to mean?

we recorded with phil many times, and i had many a pleasant chat with phil, but i can't say that i was close to him. it's either lionel hutz or troy mcclure. and it always struck me as hilarious that a man who could pretty much do anything with his voice did the exact same voice for both those characters. i'm sure he did that on purpose.

i have fond memories of jay thomas on the radio in new york when i was a lad. i don't know him personally. why, is he intolerable?

tons. i think that my hero is johnny depp or maybe robert downey jr. i really admire what amazing character actors these guys are. not to mention that they are giant movie stars. i would love to be able to be in the center of movies like these guys are. that said, i love being a supporting actor in films and love doing voice work, but it's always great to have a goal and to shoot for it.

thank you!

i'm a classic rock guy, so everything you'd imagine that would be on that playlist is on it. also a lot of the music from the 80s that i hated at the time i now have tremendous nostalgic affection for because it brings back so many good memories. god, i eat so healthy that there is so much to choose from for my last meal from cheeseburgers to pizza to fettuccine alfredo. these are all meals i dream about quite literally.

i haven't seen simon pegg's dick in so long i can't remember

i really loved working with jimmi simpson. it's always a genuine privilege to say words that aaron sorkin has written down. i was kind of going through a tough time personally during the run of that play, so it was not as much fun as it should have been...but i loved that show as well.

i really only like me. no no, my hero growing up was bugs bunny. then when i learned that was mel blanc, my hero became and remains mel blanc.

it's uh-ZAIR-ea

as i get older, i think i might have to just accept a cabinet post.

at least another couple of years. and hopefully beyond that.

i find all the lisa episodes particularly moving. it's hard to pick one.

sure, but in the future i would prefer a reason.

if it hasn't happened yet, i would seriously doubt it. plus that movie is a cult favorite but it really didn't make a lot of money.

all in one, my friend. sometimes i even talk to myself as 4 different people. occasionally, i will go through the scene one time as moe, and then on another take do it as apu if they are talking to each other. but usually we just let it rip.

that's very observant and correct. partially it's because my voice has gotten deeper over the years as the character became more real and gained more layers and depth, i felt it should be less squeaky and more "human sounding." i didn't notice it was happening while it was happening, but i prefer the current moe voice. which do you like?

i have only been to vienna, austria. i'm such a big beatles fan that i feel like i've been to germany because i've seen so much documentary stuff from the mersey beat era. i would love to go some day.

do you know something that i don't know? am i about to have my last meal or something? my tastes run much less fancy than that. i'd probably have pizza, but really good pizza from lombardis in downtown manhattan or sicilian pizza from ben's of soho.

i don't know about getting bigger and stronger looking. i can tell that i'm definitely not as strong as i was 20 years ago. if i don't work out, i really get antsy and crazy so i do it regularly.

i really loved grosse point blank and i loved how creative john cusack and his partners pink and devincentis were with the writing and conceiving of that movie. i remember that i liked to rehearse and i was working with an actor who hated rehearsing and refused to do it so a lot of the stuff we said on camera was for the first time and i especially had no idea what this guy was gonna say or do. it was kind of fun.

if you're asking me if i believe that the smurfs are real, the answer is no. that said, there are real live actors voicing them while i'm shooting those scenes and they're very good...so i have real scene partners to bounce off of. it's a little bit insane playing scenes with imaginary blue creatures and fake talking cats, but from years of doing the simpsons i'm well trained in doing scenes in which no one is there and we have to imagine the whole scene, so in a weird way i'm uniquely qualified for this job. i like playing gargamel...i hate the 2 hours/day of makeup i need to become gargamel.

kevin is a genuine poker buddy of mine. i see him quite a lot at the poker table. no good stories exist about kevin pollack.

i'm kidding of course. when kevin and i get together i think we tend to annoy the people around us because we're like giddy children trading vocal impersonations back and forth. we never get tired of it, but you can imagine that people at a card table, especially when they're losing might not be thrilled with it after a certain point.

i only teach actresses aged 18-23. that is a joke. i'm not teaching currently, and i'm moving to new york pretty soon where i well may teach again.

one of my favorite moments in life, and this doesn't happen a lot anymore because technology has moved us past this, but when the call waiting beep clicks in and someone tries to get on another call but it doesn't work and they're still talking to me but they think they're talking to someone else, i really enjoy putting on a stupid voice and seeing how long i can keep them talking.

i'm dying to go to comic con; i've just literally been busy every year that it's been on. i'm hoping to go this year.

moe = bad al pacino. wiggum = bad edward g. robinson. lou the cop = bad stallone. comic book guy = guy who lived next door to me freshman year. snake = another guy from college who was stoned a lot mixed with jeff spicoli (from fast times). professor frink = jerry lewis / nutty professor. apu = peter sellers from "the party."

i have never done that. i did once meet a girl in a bar who suggested that we go home together, but that i should talk as my character from along came polly (in a french accent) and i probably would have done that if her girlfriends hadn't pulled her away. i'm someone who's embarrassed by your average dirty talk, so busting out a character is really not going to happen. although in a way, it might be easier to talk dirty as moe than as myself. maybe i will try it.

i rarely watch the show as it's airing; i usually see it in reruns. i go through phases where i don't watch it at all, then other phases where i'll watch a ton of episodes in a row, usually from several years ago. the more time in between when i watch a show and when i've recorded it, the more objective i can be about it. that's true of on camera acting as well. when you've just performed something, you're very aware of what you were trying to do, other takes that they might not have used, better line deliveries etc. But with time you don't remember any of that and just look at the show or the performance for what it is, and usually i enjoy that much more.

the most fun i ever had performing was for mike nichols, but not in the birdcage even though that was a hoot. but the year i spent on broadway doing spamalot, it was not only my favorite job, it was my favorite life experience. i'm a huge python fan and working closely with eric idle and recreating all of that nonsense with people i loved so much was beyond unbelievable.

yes. there have been 2 or 3 times where i felt like i either made a mistake or felt like i could've found something more interesting or more believable for a character. even though i felt that it was successful, i've always wondered what if i didn't make my character in mystery men british like that. i had another idea that the director talked me out of that i wish i could've tried that was based on a cousin of mine who has a very nerdy and interesting way of talking.

i kind of went out on a limb with that voice. it was also based on a family member of mine. i really had a strong feeling that it would be fun and it would work. i'll never forget the look on the producers and director's face when i did it. i think they really thought i was insane. they encouraged me to try something else, but i really believed that character would work. and i think that after they got in the editing room and starting cutting it together, they really liked it. and it encouraged me to go even farther with it. it must have been so different from what they imagined the character originally, that i must have thought i was just nuts.

i'm glad i was nice and gracious. there have been phases of my life where i've been less tolerant of things like that. i'm happy to say that as i go on i get more and more happy to accomodate people on that level. i get asked that so much that you kind of gauge whether someone really knows it's you or is not sure, and if i'm feeling private or in a hurry and i can get away with saying it's not me, sometimes i will. but obviously in that case i misjudged it.

that sounds like it was the house i lived it. we were on the 3rd floor. i don't have any specific memories of specific acts on that couch. mostly i stayed up very late, smoking cigarettes and watching movies on cable on that couch. that's probably less legendary behavior.

that couch was out in a common area so i would not have likely been engaging in activities that would have frightened my roommates should they happen upon it. i think that was saved for my futon mattress in my room.

more often than not i have no recollection of what lines i've said or what a scene is about. i think it's because we don't have to memorize any lines of the dialogue. we read it at the microphone, so it doesn't stay in my brain like a role i have to embody would. also, i think we've done approximately 5,742 episodes, so it all kinda blends into one big episode in my mind.

as long as the actor does a great job, which most of them do, i'm fine with it. a lot of these actors are bringing their specific comedic and dramatic personalities to these roles and that's great. it's also obviously economically driven because it's easier for movie stars to sell animated films as well as live action films.

i really don't have a favorite movie role. i've liked and disliked things about all the jobs i've done.

no.

well, he's had a crush on marge for 25 years now. that floozy who's always hanging around with mayor quimby is probably a better match for him though. either her or maybe the crazy cat lady.

no and goodfellas.

who's your mom? and why did i borrow her umbrella?

it's really hard to remember the one-time characters. we've gone on for so long now that most characters worthy of expanding have been expanded.

they don't show us what the characters will look like, and often they will animate inspired by what we make them sound like.

i have not heard about dodgeball 2 yet. i will start nagging ben very soon and i think i gave a pretty long answer about how i assign voices to characters the last time.

i feel that a sandwich from moe would frighten my son.

and listen, what you just described is exactly how i got into doing voiceovers. i loved cartoons, mimicked them, found out they were all 2 or 3 guys...mel blanc, dawes butler, etc and they became my heroes. i did truly fall into it by accident and get lucky. that said, the only thing i know that you can do is to find a great voiceover teacher, study with them, and create a bunch of character voices with them. in many ways voiceover acting is more competitive than on camera acting because fewer people are doing more of the jobs because their voices are so versatile. here's what i believe about making it in showbusiness of any kind: if you have talent and you work hard at it, you will get opportunities. the business will let you know whether you have what it takes or not. so all you can do is put yourself out there as best you can for as long as you can and see what happens.

i'm really glad i get to do both. they're like different but related skills. one is like driving a truck and the other is like driving a motorcycle, for lack of a better metaphor. both can be tedious for different reasons. but it's so easy and fun to do the simpsons and really takes so little time, that it's kind of hard to get bored of it. especially when they pay me.

i'm pretty sure we'll go on at least a couple of years. the show will probably end eventually and we will do a big series finale when it does. it'll probably be like a 22 part "the entire season is a finale" kind of thing, but i'm happy to do them as long as they want to keep making them.

that was a crazy night. we were shooting in 0 degree weather in the canadaian rockies. i had to be blind throwing up drunk in that scene and i thought it would be a good idea to drink coffee laced with brandy all night, to warm me up and get me in to character. i drink wine in a scene once before when i had to play that i was stoned and it went really well. this went okay too until about 3 or 4 in the morning when we had to keep shooting and i was genuinely way past the point of doing anything effectively--driving a zamboni, acting, all these things became very difficult because i really got too wasted. i learned my lesson there and never drank again on camera or on stage. i decided to just to act those things. i do remember russell crowe looking at me like i was quite insane more than once that evening.

one of my favorite nights was when this gorgeous woman walked into the game, through the garage of my house, oddly. no one had ever seen her before, and she just stood there smiling at us for a while until somebody managed to say "can we help you?" she insisted that she was in the right place, and we kept assuring sure that she was not. it got really weird. we all kept looking at each other like "who called for a stripper and is not owning up to it?" finally, we understood that she was at the wrong address. she was headed to a big mansion a few houses down from me, and we were all pretty certain that she was a call girl. we all marveled at how good looking she was, but the main reason the story has become poker legend in my game is because i kept insisting that her breasts were real while all the guys were positive that they were fake. and since then, it's been a running joke in my game that i can't tell real breasts from fake breasts.

I've done it approximately 468 billion times. that is of course a rough estimate. i'm actually give this away as a prize to 3 people who donate to my birthday wish: http://www.causes.com/actions/1744700-hank-azarias-birthday-wish-raise-10-000-for-determined-to-succeed

well i get to show those talents off, just not always on camera, if you know what i'm saying. nudge nudge wink wink.

i didn't see that, so i have no idea.

robin and i are starting our own clothing line. that's a joke.

we did voices in happy feet 2 together and i really loved seeing him and working with him again.

every 4 years everyone seems to float out the idea of the birdcage 2, but nothing ever seems to come of it.

my guatemalaness is probably a few quarts low. that kind of thing atrophies if you don't use it.

i was in a movie theater where it was playing once. that's about it.

glad i could be of service. to quote richard dreyfuss from the movie once around, "i wish you a life of great sex and joy."

don't know where john swartzwelder is, but wherever he is i'm sure he's being brilliant.

i actually arranged for george takei to return to the show after the howard stern incident, and i always wish that i had more of a chance to address all of that...either on the howard stern show or off. i was so bummed that i upset george and even more terrified that i pissed off howard. that was my way of trying to make amends.

as far as i know, there are no lost simpsons episodes. they always hold 4 or 5 from previous seasons to air when they want to, to fill holes in the television schedule. but i have less than no clue what those episodes are.