Forget the Grammys and the Brits: you haven’t made it in music until you’ve been shrunk and condensed into a custard-coloured cartoon. The Simpsons has announced that it will welcome Pharrell Williams and his huge hat to join the show’s long lineage of musical cameos for an episode entitled Walking Big & Tall, that will surely poke fun at the celestial tone of his recent global campaign.
Airing on 8 February, the episode centres on a true story about a Milwaukee TV station in the 1980s that hired a composer to write a city anthem, which was later shipped out to other cities. In this episode, Springfield discovers its anthem is used elsewhere and “Pharrell offers to write a new anthem for the town,” explains Simpsons executive producer Al Jean.
The singer and peacekeeper will be following in the footsteps of rock veterans such as Tom Waits (Homer Goes to Prep School) and pop phenomenons such as Justin Bieber (The Fabulous Faker Boy)– in a tradition that stretches all the way back to Season 1 when the late Ron Taylor was in Moaning Lisa, and Tony Bennett stepped into episode Dancin’ Homer the first guest star to appear as himself. Other memorable artists include:
• Sigur Ros – The Saga of Carl
• Lady Gaga – Lisa Goes Gaga
• Chris Martin – Million-Dollar Maybe
• 50 Cent – Pranksta Rap
• Yo La Tengo – D’oh-in in he Wind
• Cyndi Lauper – Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken
• Dolly Parton – Sunday, Cruddy Sunday
• Elton John – I’m With Cupid
• Elvis Costello, Lenny Kravitz, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards – How I Spent My Strummer Vacation
As a fellow vegetarian and Beatles fan, my favourite cameo has to be the both nutritionally beneficial and enjoyable appearance of Paul and Linda McCartney, who subliminally share their lentil recipe at the end of Lisa the Vegetarian (one medium onion, chopped, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, one clove of garlic, crushed, one cup of carrots, chopped, two sticks of celery, chopped, half a cup of lentils, one bay leaf, one tablespoon of freshly-chopped parsely, salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste, two and a quarter cups of vegetable stock or water, for you pulse-based soup fans out there).
But what are your favourite cameos? Let us know in the comments below.
