Since we crank out so many stories each week some really good ones get lost in the cracks. And since so many new people visit Guyism every day (thank you), we thought we’d start taking some time on the weekends to share some classics that many of our newer readers may have missed.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Over the years (er, decades), The Simpsons have welcomed a staggering amount of guest celebrities to the town of Springfield. So much so, in fact, that the show currently holds the record for most celebrity guest appearances for a sitcom of all time. Not all of these celebrities are your run-of-the-mill movie star or musician, however. For all you nerds out there, here are your ten biggest heroes to ever appear on The Simpsons.
11 Mark Hamill
Star Wars is perhaps the most nerd-friendly blockbuster movie of all time. Forever remembered as the lead character, Luke Skywalker, it’s safe to say Mark Hamill has his fair share of nerd fans. Hamill appeared in a 10th-season episode of Simpsons. During the episode, he greets fans at a sci-fi convention, performs in an awful rendition of Guys and Dolls and gets saved “Bodyuard-style” by Homer.
Memorable quote You know, “I’m here today as Luke Skywalker, but I’m also here…to talk about Sprint.”
10 Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon appeared in a bookworm-friendly episode of The Simpsons along with fellow authors Jonathan Franzen, Gore Vidal and Tom Wolfe. In the episode, Moe becomes an idiot-savant poet of sorts and gets invited to the Wordloaf Literary Conference. Chabon is one of the many authors he meets at this fictional conference.
Michael Chabon: You can’t make this stuff up.
Jonathan Franzen: Maybe you can’t.
Michael Chabon: That’s it, Franzen! I think your nose needs some corrections!
9 Gary Larson
The Far Side is one of the most cherished comic strips of all time. Its author, Gary Larson, made an appearance on The Simpsons earlier this year. In the episode, Homer, Lenny and Carl are being courted by a rival nuclear power plant in Capital City. During a tour of the rival plant, the owner (Gator McCall) shows the trio all the nice perks of working for Capital City. Among these perks, is an in-house Gary Larson who draws custom Far Side cartoons just for the plant employees.
8 J.K. Rowling
The Harry Potter book series has captured the hearts and minds of nerds everywhere. During a trip to London in the 15th season, The Simpsons encounter a number of British celebrities. Among them, is Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling. Lisa meets the female author outside of a London bookstore. When Lisa asks, “Can you tell me what happens at the end of the series,” Rowling responds: “He grows up and marries you. Is that what you want to hear?”
7 Stephen Jay Gould
As both a celebrated evolutionary biologist and author, Stephen Jay Gould is one of the biggest nerd heroes in the world. Given his status as a scientist, it’s fitting that the Simpsons would encounter him in an episode that finds the city of Springfield uncovering a supposed statue of a fallen angel. Ever the skeptic, Lisa brings a fragment of the statue to Gould for him to analyze.
6 Dudley R. Herschbach
It’s pretty safe to say that few other sitcoms on the planet would seek out a Nobel Prize winner as a celebrity guest star. However, Dudley R. Herschbach is a Harvard chemist who has worked with both “crossed molecular beams” and the writers of The Simpsons. During one of the Treehouse of Horror specials, Hershbach is seen presenting the Nobel Prize in Physics to Professor Frink (alongside Jennifer Garner):
Jennifer Garner: You know Doctor Hershbach, our jobs are actually not that different.
Doctor Hershbach: I disagree.
5 Matt Groening
Big surprise that creator of The Simpsons would eventually appear on the show himself. However, just because Groening is a no-brainer celebrity guest star, that makes him no less of a hero to the nerd community. When it comes to nerdy conversation, The Simpsons is one of the most-quoted television shows of all time. Groening is credited as appearing in two episodes, one in which Skinner and Krabapple get married and another in which Homer is cast as a superhero.
4 Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy has also appeared in two episodes. In the first, Star Trek’s favorite half-Vulcan comes out to help Springfield witness the maiden voyage of their newly built monorail. In the eighth season, he returns as the host of The Springfield Files, an episode that features three short sci-fi related stories.
Memorable quote: “Hello. I’m Leonard Nimoy. The following tale of alien encounters is true. And by true, I mean false. It’s all lies. But they’re entertaining lies. And in the end, isn’t that the real truth? The answer is: No.”
3 Alan Moore
Alan Moore appears along fellow graphic novel heroes Art Spiegelman and Daniel Clowes in an episode that finds Bart and Lisa visiting a hip new comic book store in town called Coolsville. During a book signing, the creator of the Watchmen, V. for Vendetta and countless other graphic novel chastises Milhouse for asking him to sign a copy of Watchmen Babies in V for Vacation and soothes himself by reading Little Lulu.
Bart Simpson: Alan Moore! You wrote my favorite issues of Radioactive Man!
Alan Moore: Oh really? So you like that I made your favorite superhero a heroin-addicted jazz critic who’s not radioactive?
2 Stan Lee
Stan Lee is probably the best-known name in the comic book industry. As the creator of Spiderman, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and countless other elite superheroes, he is one of the most respected men in the nerd community. Stan Lee appeared in another comic book centric episode that had Bart drawing a comic called Angry Dad.
1 Stephen Hawking
When it comes to the nerd community, it doesn’t get any more famous than Stephen Hawking. As a world-renowned astrophysicist, the wheelchair-bound genius is one of the smartest men of our generation. As proof that this deep thinker also has a sense of humor, he’s also appeared on three different episodes of The Simpsons.