James L. Brooks and President Bush
Not that many heads of state have actively chosen to appear on comedy shows. Sure, there’s President Nixon and “Laugh-In” (A precursor to Saturday Night Live that featured a young Goldie Hawn). King Abdullah of Jordan, who was educated in England, is an ardent Star Trek fan, and he once made a cameo appearance on a Trek show, while visiting America. Then, of course, there’s Tony Blair, who lent his voice to an England themed Simpsons episode. His successor, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has since refused an invitation to be on The Simpsons.
That’s all well and fine. Still, the catch for any TV show would either be a sitting president or the leading cannidates during an election, like back in 2000, when both Al Gore and George W. Bush did tapings for Saturday Night Live. Since then, Gore did do a Futurama-related clip. Bush, however, hasn’t done much. Perhaps, one thinks, this could be due to his poll numbers being in the garbage – even lower than Richard Nixon’s, at the time he was thrown out of office.
Still, that doesn’t change one thing. Producer James L. Brooks would like to lure George W. Bush to Springfield. His plans for the chief executive would not be fluffy promo bits, either. He thinks the current president would be a source of comedy gold, one that could be paired with just about any character in the Springfield universe – and if that’s the case, one could only dream of the Futurama possibilities. In England, in The Sun newspaper, there’s this:
Barney, Carl and Lenny are slouching over the bar at Moe’s before their drunken unconsciousness is woken by Homer, who strolls in accompanied by new pal, GEORGE W. BUSH, voiced by the man himself.
Unlikely, though, this sketch will ever appear on the Simpsons due a rare case of animosity towards the series by Bush’s mother, Barbara, who once questioned its influence on American society.
But, for writer JAMES L. BROOKS, that will always be his ambition, to lure the President to Springfield.
“A vulnerable moment with George would be great,” he said.
“You cannot go wrong with George. George and Homer, George and Bart, even George and Comic Book Guy.
“We’ve never got a United States president. We will take any United States president willing to pass his or her love of us.”
The rest of the article follows a standard profile/feature format.
The Simpsons, George W. Bush, President Bush, Bush, James L. Brooks, Barbara Bush
Leave a Reply