In The Simpsons episode “Homer Is Where the Art Isn’t”, Homer is the chaperone on a school trip to the Springfield Museum of Fine Art. When a million-dollar painting goes missing, Homer is the prime suspect. Now his life is in the hands of a detective from the 1970s named Manacek. Manacek is based on the 1970s show Banacek (the late, great George Peppard played the suave private detective who collected rewards from insurance companies). On The Simpsons, the voice of turtleneck-wearing Manacek belongs to Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader. It isn’t the first time Hader’s been on The Simpsons. In the 2012 episode “The Fabulous Faker Boy,” Marge earned money to pay for Bart’s music lessons by giving Slava (Hader) driving lessons (see image below).
The Simpsons, “The Fabulous Faker Boy” © 2013 TCFFC
Bill Hader is currently filming Barry, a new dark comedy series for HBO. He plays the title character Barry, a depressed hit man from the Midwest who moves to L.A. and gets caught up in the city’s theatre arts scene. Henry Winkler co-stars. (Barry premieres on Sunday, March 25.) The Simpsons airs Sundays at 8pm on FOX, right before Brooklyn Nine-Nine starring another SNL alum Andy Samberg.
