Alex Désert made his debut on The Simpsons last night, replacing Hank Azaria in the role of Homer’s black friend and colleague, Carl Carlson.
It was announced earlier this year that The Simpsons would no longer feature non-white characters being voiced by white actors, and Carl was one of several roles to be recast.
The episode, entitled “Undercover Burns”, was the first episode of the popular cartoon’s 32nd season, and featured a storyline in which Springfield power plant owner Mr Burns (Harry Shearer) puts on a disguise to ingratiate himself into his employees’ lives.
Viewers were keen to hear what Désert would make of the role of Carl, with many posting their reactions to the change on social media.
“I didn’t know how I felt originally about Carl getting a new voice actor, but after this episode I must say that I feel much better about it,” wrote one Twitter user.
“I’m glad to see The Simpsons are changing with the times.”
While one person wrote that it “might take a while to get used to Carl’s new voice”, others were commending Désert’s mimicry.
“The new Carl voice actor is dead-on,” noted one commenter, while another said: “He sounds the same to me.”
Someone else wrote: “Just watched the new Simpsons episode and unsurprisingly the new Carl voice is absolutely fine.”
“Marge is very much sounding 70 years old though, let her have a day off,” they added, referring to the fact that Julie Kavner, who voices the Simpsons’ 34-year-old blue-haired matriarch, is now more than twice her character’s age.
Popular Simpsons fan account @DailySimpsons offered this verdict: “@Alex_Desert’s Carl is great.
“It doesn’t sound any different than the other original voice actors current interpretation of their own characters, which have all already changed at varying degrees in the last 30 years.”
