Homer Simpson’s Voice Acting Error Was So Perfect That ‘The Simpsons’ Team Kept It in the Show
The Simpsons is an animated satirical sitcom that has been on the air for decades. As the longest-running American sitcom, The Simpsons is a staple part of many people’s childhoods. Hilarious and poignant, The Simpsons has received critical acclaim for the whip-sharp writing and clever character development. Still, there have been more than a few errors involved in the show’s creation over the years, with one particular error leading to one of The Simpsons‘ most iconic and hilarious moments.
‘The Simpsons’ is one of the world’s most influential comedies
The Simpsons debuted on television in 1989. The show has a simple premise and follows the lives of the fictional Simpson family, consisting of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Featuring an ensemble cast of vocal talents, The Simpsons received a great deal of critical praise during the early years of the series, and although in recent years, it has weathered accusations of quality decline, fans still enjoy the show.
It has influenced pop culture in indelible ways, and a number of Homer Simpson’s catchphrases have become part of the national language. Words like “yoink,” “D’oh!” and “meh” are all popular catchphrases now, primarily thanks to The Simpsons. It has also influenced many other television shows and movies. Perhaps the weirdest tribute to The Simpsons is the fact that many fans believe that events in the show have predicted actual world events. Over the past few years, a number of memes have made the rounds online, pointing to The Simpsons for predicting things like Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl performance and, more recently, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Still, many of these stories have been debunked.
Dan Castellaneta voices Homer Simpson
The Simpsons features several talented voice actors, most notably, Dan Castellaneta as the voice of Homer Simpson. Castellaneta has lent his voice to many animated productions over the years, but his work in The Simpsons is by far his most high-profile role. He has voiced Simpson throughout the entire three-decade run of The Simpsons, and has reprised his role in various spinoff and auxiliary works, including the feature film, and has been honored with several awards for his work as the character.
There’s no doubt that Castellaneta puts in a lot of work in order to perfect Homer’s voice. However, one of his most iconic moments actually stems from an error that the voice actor made during a recording session.
Dan Castellaneta’s voice acting error led to one of Homer Simpson’s most hilarious moments
A famous episode of The Simpsons is “Homer Goes to College.” The episode, which, according to IMDb, aired in the fifth season, features Homer’s discovery that he is not qualified to do his job at the power plant, which jumpstarts his ambitions to go to college and pursue a degree. When Homer receives his acceptance letter, he gets so excited that he jumps around the house, inadvertently setting his house on fire, all while chanting “I am so smart!” — misspelling the word “smart” in the process.
The moment where he misspells “smart” became a hugely popular one with fans of the show and still stands today as one of the defining moments in the character journey of Homer Simpson. Interestingly enough, as fans on Reddit discussed, the moment was actually a flub on Castellaneta’s part, as he mistakenly sang “s-m-r-t” instead of the correct spelling of the word. Showrunners ended up liking it so much that they kept it in the finished episode — their decision proved to be a great one since fans still talk about that specific episode to this day.
