The Simpsons producer: We would love to do a world tour with Ricky Gervais
Showrunner Al Jean says he would be keen to take The Simpsons live musical show overseas
Best. Idea. Ever. To celebrate the beginning of its 26th series in the US, The Simpsons has been throwing a bit of a party. It killed off a beloved (if obscure) character. It crossed over with Family Guy. An American channel showed every episode ever, back to back. And, most exciting of all, they staged an all-singing, all-dancing three-day live musical show in the Hollywood Bowl. And now they want to take it on a world tour.
“It would be great to do it in New York, London and Sydney,” says showrunner Al Jean, “but it’s not in any way going to happen for sure. We haven’t approached anybody, it was just us talking after the show, but it’s possible and it would be really fun.”
Part of the problem, Jean explains, is that while guests like talk show host and former Simpsons writer Conan O’Brien appeared in Hollywood (if you haven’t seen him sing the Monorail song, you’re missing out), they can’t be expected to go on tour. “Our cast would definitely do it: Hank [Azaria] and Yeardley [Smith] and Nancy [Cartwright] love doing it. People like Conan did it as a favour, so I don’t think he would do it again necessarily, so we would have to fill that gap.”
Any ideas for who could take his place? “If we did it in London we would ask Ricky Gervais – a great musical Simpsons guest star – if he would do it here.“
Somebody get Gervais on the line. This needs to happen.
