JamesG
07-17-2017, 03:48 PM
First Look at Ed Sheeran's Character on "The Simpsons"
by Dan Snierson
July 17, 2017
Following his turn as a singing soldier in the "Game of Thrones" Season 7 premiere Sunday night, the British pop star will be Simpsonized: Ed Sheeran is lending his multi-platinum pipes to the animated Fox comedy for a musical-themed episode, titled “Haw-Haw Land,” in the upcoming 29th season.
EW has learned that he’ll be playing a musician named Brendan (think along the lines of Ryan Gosling’s character in La La Land) — and Lisa is instantly smitten with this slightly older fellow.
“He keeps alternating between, ‘You’re not that great, but you could be fantastic,’ and she keeps falling for him because of his talent,” executive producer Al Jean tells EW. There’s actually a love triangle forming as well with Nelson, who tries to impress Lisa with his singing talent.
How is Nelson’s voice? “Well, you’ll hear,” says Jean with a chuckle. “He sings ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’ with new lyrics, and he kind of bullies those notes.”
Sheeran as well does a brief bit of crooning in the episode when he meets Lisa, and it sounds like the Lisa-loving Milhouse will not be pleased with this Brendan character.
“When Lisa meets Brendan, Milhouse comes in and he goes, ‘I’ve brought three kinds of waters — cold, warm, and lukewarm,'” teases Jean. “Lisa goes, ‘I’m not thirsty anymore,’ and ‘Milhouse goes, ‘Dammit!’ That’s the effect he has on somebody else…. The girls love him but he’s difficult.”
And what exactly brought Sheeran himself to Springfield? Longtime "Simpsons" producer Mike Scully heard that the musician — a "Simpsons" fan who rocks a tattoo of Blinky the three-eyed fish — was interested in appearing on the long-running comedy.
“We had a perfect part for him,” explains Jean. “So we said, ‘Oh, great, we’ll have him do this!’ And we recorded him over the phone from England.”
Season 29 of "The Simpsons" kicks off October 1st.
Sheeran's episode is slated to air in late fall.
http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/17/the-simpsons-ed-sheeran/
by Dan Snierson
July 17, 2017
Following his turn as a singing soldier in the "Game of Thrones" Season 7 premiere Sunday night, the British pop star will be Simpsonized: Ed Sheeran is lending his multi-platinum pipes to the animated Fox comedy for a musical-themed episode, titled “Haw-Haw Land,” in the upcoming 29th season.
EW has learned that he’ll be playing a musician named Brendan (think along the lines of Ryan Gosling’s character in La La Land) — and Lisa is instantly smitten with this slightly older fellow.
“He keeps alternating between, ‘You’re not that great, but you could be fantastic,’ and she keeps falling for him because of his talent,” executive producer Al Jean tells EW. There’s actually a love triangle forming as well with Nelson, who tries to impress Lisa with his singing talent.
How is Nelson’s voice? “Well, you’ll hear,” says Jean with a chuckle. “He sings ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’ with new lyrics, and he kind of bullies those notes.”
Sheeran as well does a brief bit of crooning in the episode when he meets Lisa, and it sounds like the Lisa-loving Milhouse will not be pleased with this Brendan character.
“When Lisa meets Brendan, Milhouse comes in and he goes, ‘I’ve brought three kinds of waters — cold, warm, and lukewarm,'” teases Jean. “Lisa goes, ‘I’m not thirsty anymore,’ and ‘Milhouse goes, ‘Dammit!’ That’s the effect he has on somebody else…. The girls love him but he’s difficult.”
And what exactly brought Sheeran himself to Springfield? Longtime "Simpsons" producer Mike Scully heard that the musician — a "Simpsons" fan who rocks a tattoo of Blinky the three-eyed fish — was interested in appearing on the long-running comedy.
“We had a perfect part for him,” explains Jean. “So we said, ‘Oh, great, we’ll have him do this!’ And we recorded him over the phone from England.”
Season 29 of "The Simpsons" kicks off October 1st.
Sheeran's episode is slated to air in late fall.
http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/17/the-simpsons-ed-sheeran/