Top 10 Favorite “The Simpsons” Celebrity Cameo’s

The end of this year will mark a very impressive anniversary. It was thirty years ago that The Simpsons spun off from The Tracy Ulman Show and became it’s own series. Yeah, amazing isn’t that this was originally a bunch of filler shorts?? Anyway it became it’s own show… And I avoided it entirely in 1989. Why? Because as hard as it may be to believe, The Simpsons was controversial in its day. Yeah I was around then and find that baffling. I guess Bart was a poor role model or something. It would take a few more years for people to start accepting not EVERY show had to be wholesome and educational, leading the way for Family Guy, South Park, and many others. The Simpsons truly was a game changer, as much  as I hate that overused expression it really applies here. But I covered the shows that were inspired by this one in another article. I don’t remember when I first tuned in, but it wasn’t right away. One reason was the "controversy".  The other reason I didn’t watch was also the small fact that the show originally aired opposite The Cosby Show and nothing was going to make me not watch that!

But the show was a smash and was soon EVERYWHERE. In fact the Simpsons even presented on the Emmy Awards one year! I did finally watch re-runs when I was in college, and found the show could be really good. I was never a die hard fan but I certainly had no problem with the series. I tune in occasionally, especially if there is a stunt going on like the Family Guy crossover (yes I know that was  a Family Guy episode). It’s also a Halloween standard at this point, who doesn’t watch as many of those “Treehouse of Horror” episodes they can? And of course the amazing thing is that, for some reason, IT’S STILL ON!! I mean, what the hell? Who is still watching these?? In fact it’s gonna plow right through its 30th season and start setting records to the longest scripted television series…..ever! That’s crazy!

So it seemed only fitting to discuss this show since whether you love it o hate you can’t deny it’s a major part of pop culture. It’s hard to believe there was a time when this show didn’t exist. So since I talked about the Halloween stuff to death, what other area could I cover? And that was an easy choice. One of the many cool things about the show are all the celebrities who have done cameo’s on it. So here are my ten favorite. And I am only counting when the actors played themselves, actors playing an actual character is another list my friends (one I am sure I will get to).

#10.Betty White
If you’re going to be angry and hate celebrities, you may not want to approach the sweetest and kindest celebrity ever!

#9.Jay Leno
One of the few times I watched the show in first run was when Leno was on. I have always been a huge fan so I was naturally curious.

#8.Michael Jackson
Ok I am cheating here since he isn’t quite playing himself, which is why it’s so high, but Michael Jackson lending his voice was just amazing. How did they ever convince him to do it?

#7.Bob Hope
This is one that surprises me, how did they got Bob Hope to do this? You gotta figure the audience for this show probably hardly knew who he even was.

#6.Paul & Linda McCartney
Linda McCartney was a thousand levels of awesome and this cameo of her and Paul is simply adorable.

#5.Stephen Hawking
This is awesome just because it exists. How do you get Hawking on a show like this? Then again he did Star Trek and Big Bang Theory so obviously he had a pretty daan good sense of humor.

#4.Stan Lee
I talked about this one before but it’s worth another look at a great cameo from a great person (Bill Maher can suck it). Course Stan Lee did a ton of voiceover work so of course he rocks.

#3.Bette Midler
Midler rocks and this cameo is awesome. You better not litter on her highway!!

#2.Adam West
The great thing about West was that he had no problem acting like he was completely out of his mind, as he does here.

#1.Leonard Nimoy
“Marge vs The Monorail” is generally considered one of, if not THE, best episodes of the series. And I am glad I saw it in re-runs, and can say that it really is a great episode. The topper is Leonard Nimoy’s cameo. I love how dedicated he seems to be, it doesn’t sound like he’s just reading the lines he’s really putting effort into the basically pointless appearance. Or was it pointless? Hmmm

Finally, an honorable mention since it’s not fully animated. One of my favorite Halloween segments has this live action segment where Bart and Lisa crash Regis & Kathie Lee :

There are tons of these I missed, some I’m sure I didn’t even know were out there (like Lady Gaga who should be on here!), so feel free to comment and let me know your favorites. Hopefully I’ll have a few more Simpsons articles this year. And I guess I’ll have to do celebrities voicing actual characters, either recurring or one shot only, but man is that gonna be a hard list!