Homer's Emotions Made It Difficult For Dan Castellaneta To Perfect His Voice On The Simpsons
"The Simpsons" has done what no other animated series has ever done before, thanks to its popularity and viewer engagement. Beginning all the way back in 1989, the series is still going strong today with its 34th season (via Parrot Analytics). This popularity has led to video games, a feature film, and more recently, a "Death Note" parody. Part of that ongoing success is thanks to the massive cast of characters residing in Springfield and how they always have a funny quip up their sleeves.
Among the most popular characters since the early days of "The Simpsons" is Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta), the father and husband of the titular family. Though Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright) was one of the original selling points for the series, Homer's increasingly goofy antics and good-natured stupidity kept him as the central fan favorite for decades. Of course, Castellaneta's energetic and hilarious line readings helped to sell the character to the audience, but according to the voice actor, playing Homer can sometimes be a real challenge.
Homer's sudden shifts in emotion can be hard to vocalize
On an episode of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Dan Castellaneta showed off his wide range of vocal talents for the host and his audience. First, he spoke as Krusty the Clown before switching over to several other characters, finally ending with Homer. While this seemed to come naturally to the actor and was impressive, Castellaneta also pointed out that being Homer is more of a challenge than other characters due to the way his emotions often change so quickly.
"His emotions change so quickly [that] it was hard to do it all over the place," Castellaneta said. "So it sort of found a place in the throat down here," the voice actor added, changing into Homer's standard voice. He then showed off Homer's wide range of emotions, like fear, hunger, etc. Watching all of the sharp vocal changes come from the mouth of one man was a bit uncanny to see, especially when fans are so used to this voice coming out of Castellaneta's iconic, animated counterpart.
Of course, this just goes to show how good Castellaneta is at what he does and why he's helped to make the character such a pop culture icon. The actor remains the voice of Homer even after all of these years and will likely continue to do the memorable voice for as long as "The Simpsons" is on the air.