-Hey, so, Hank, this is crazy.
But you have been now doing 32 years of "The Simpsons."
You were a young man when "The Simpsons" began.
What was it -- Did you have any sense of what it would be --
I mean, certainly, no one would've had a sense
of how long it would've gone on.
But what was it like at the beginning
when you went in to record voices?
-You're talking 33, 34 years ago.
I was 22 or 23 years old.
It was an audition like any other.
I kind of strolled in.
Matt Groening and the late great Sam Simon were sitting there.
Jim Brooks wasn't there, but the other two co-creators.
And I didn't know -- No one knew what the show was.
It was a year or two before it got released.
And the first voice I auditioned was Moe.
[ As Al Pacino ] And I was doing a sort of Pacino impression.
A young, kind of "Dog Day Afternoon" Al Pacino impression
I thought might be good for me.
[ Normal voice ] And they were like, "Can you make that gravelly?"
[ As Moe ] And so I kind of made it gravelly.
And that sounded like Moe.
[ Normal voice ] And they said, "Cool. Will you come record?"
I'm like, "Now? Like, right now?"
They were like, "Yeah."
And I walked over with them on the Fox lot.
Like, I'm 22.
I don't know what's going on in general anywhere,
let alone in this circumstance.
I recorded -- -That's crazy.
-Yeah, and then every week, they had me back,
and then the show didn't air
for like another year or two after that.
-This might be an ignorant question.
But do you always see the art of the character
before you come up with a voice?
-Never. -Wow.
-Sometimes in certain animation projects,
they'll kind of show you what they're thinking.
But in this case, no.
I had no idea what anything would look like.
I just did voices.
And they were very meticulous, which I realized --
I didn't know then 'cause I had nothing to compare it to,
but they were very painstaking about takes
and trying it this way, trying it that way.
So it was a lot -- In the first year or two of the show,
we were there a long time recording.
Now it's kind of like clockwork, as you might imagine.
-Sure, yeah. Did you --
So your son's 11.
Growing up when you were, you know, reading books to him
and being a father in general,
was he impressed with your ability
to come up with voices and be a mimic?
-No. He was, if anything, frightened and annoyed.
Like, "Why are strange noises coming out of Daddy?
It doesn't make any sense."
And when we were pregnant, we ran into Robin Williams,
who I knew and worked with a few times.
And, of course, Robin being Robin did a 20-minute schtick
on my wife's pregnant belly.
And in between crazy jokes, said, "You'll see" --
'cause he knew I was a voice guy.
He said, "You'll see.
Your kid won't let you do voices
for like the first six years he's alive."
And he was completely correct about that.
And then over the years, he has eased his policy.
But then it had to be, like --
Certain voices would scare him and still do.
Like, I can do a pretty good villain, you know.
[ Gravelly voice ] I can start with this stuff.
You know, and [Growls]
[ Normal voice ] And he's like, "Ah, Daddy, no, no!"
-[ Laughs ]
My son will be saved from that by my terrible voice work.
Hey, last thing. This is a real --
I want to shout you out.
The Brockmire jacket, which is a worthy inclusion,
is currently in the Hall of Fame, Baseball Hall of Fame.
-It is. Next to the "Simpsons" display
for the "Homer at the Bat" episode
is the Brockmire jacket and old-timey microphone.
I think the folks over there are big "Brockmire" fans.
I'm very bad at selling my own projects.
But I love this show so much, "Brockmire," I mean.
I love "The Simpsons," too.
Take the "Brockmire" challenge, Seth Meyers' audience.
It's all on Hulu, all four seasons.
You can binge it now.
It's eight episodes per season, 22 minutes.
That's one quarantine afternoon.
I mean, come on. -Absolutely.
-Watch the first five minutes of Season 1.
If you don't -- of Episode 1, Season 1.
If you don't laugh, you have my permission to stop watching.
-And I also want to stress,
because I think my new favorite thing
is if you can have a 22-minute show
that also has some drama in it, that's a gold mine for me.
And "Brockmire" has a lot of that.
So, I highly recommend it, as well.
Hank, it's always a pleasure to see you, buddy.
-Thank you very much, Seth Meyers.
Keep up the wonderful work.
-[ Laughs ]