Psycology Today

Harry Shearer, 62, is not merely an entertainer – whether writing or performing, he’s a wry provocateur who delights in exposing folly. As the talentless bass player Derek Smalls, he ridiculed heavy metal bravado in the film The is Spinal Tap. His new novel, Not Enough Indians, satirizes a town that covets a casino, and for the past 18 years, he’s given sardonic voice to a dozen characters on The Simpsons.

Has satire made you cynical?

Cynical is what political operatives are. Satirizing keeps me hopeful. I’ve always been naturally optimistic. Let’s put it this way: I grew up during the Cold War but I never once thought Russia and the U.S. would go to war.

Does being such a critic make you feel like a perpetual outsider?

Being an outside is what led to it. I’m the song of two immigrants, and I skipped two grades in school.

How do you make your characters lovable as well as ridiculous?

I make fun of the choices they make, not of them. Like me, the bass player in Spinal Tap would prefer to be playing music at any moment. I make fun of his musical – and sartorial – choices, but we’re both driven in the same way.

Do you mock the real people in your life?

My wife and I tease each other. Growing up, it was just my mom and I most of the time. So there was not a lot of teasing there. I did imitate my late stepfather, who told the same jokes again and again. And when I say “jokes,” I’m being highly expansive.

What’s your favorite Simpsons character?

It would be between Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders. One is the embodiment of evil and one is a guy who tries to be a very good Christian.

What aspects of yourself do you see in them?

I’m probably as much of “a righteous dude” as Ned. I try not to lie. I’m almost as much of a control freak as Burns.

Do you worry about all those voices in your head?

No. They live in little ganglions, like where songs live. You don’t mix up “Happy Birthday” with “Auld Lang Syne” until you’re very old. I can access them, but I don’t feel as though they’re with me all the time.

Harry Shearer on Satire

September/October 2006