The episode’s credits specifically say “Stephen Hawking as Himself”. I don’t think they would have been allowed to credit him as such if he had not performed the lines himself. The entertainment industry has rather strict rules about crediting. Producers have been fined large amounts of money for violating them–the industry takes credits seriously.
Based on Hawking’s public persona, I’d be willing to bet he enjoys reading his lines on the Simpson’s and probably wouldn’t phone them in even if he could. And the Simpsons guys seem like the kind of people who would want to meet Steven Hawking.
I think you are forgetting that Hawking is also human and a fan of the Simpsons. While you are correct that there is no reason for him to be there technically, why are you dismissing the other reasons? Would you phone it in, or would you take the chance to see the crew and be there to see them work? I know what I’d do
This is true of Futurama, on which Hawking has also appeared. I think it was David X. Cohen who mentioned in the commentary for “A Leela of her own” that if a voice actor can’t make it to the set for some reason, they’ve got some kind of high-end phone connection they can do the recording with.
It would have to be something like VOIP or other non-standard telephone connection. The phone system was designed to limit the frequency range it carried to save bandwidth, so if an actor used a standard phone, you’d be able to tell immediately.
Recording studios have some times have fiber optic lines connecting them to other studios so that performers who can’t manage to be in the same location as one another can still cut tracks “together”. Supposedly, that’s how Sinatra’s Duets album was done.
At least one Simpsons guest appearance was phoned in: Maggie Roswell quit the show after Fox refused to raise her pay to allow her to travel from where she lives to California to record. After having a replacement do the voice of her character, Maude Flanders, for a short while, the show killed Maude off. In a Halloween episode, Maude’s ghost made an appearance. Roswell provided the voice in her own recording studio, sending the file over the Internet to California.
“You’re looking at the owner of the new Little Caesar’s down the street. Pizza pizza! Pizza pizza! Pizza pizza! Sorry, that button sticks.”
I would imagine that this is the sort of thing they’re talking about. I didn’t mean to imply that they literally had actors call in from any available phone. I won’t have access to my DVDs until Sunday, but if anyone else has season 3 of Futurama and half an hour to kill, I’d love to see exactly what they say in the commentary.
This is someone ho’ve taken advantage of that fact, to make science/gansta rap as “MC Hawking”. Last I heard, the real Hawking thought it was funny.
And for once on the SDMB, I get it 
You beat me to this one, but I’ve got another musical exploitation of SH’s voice synthesizer… Pink Floyd. In the song “Keep Talking” (album: Division Bell) there is a speech at the beginning, repeated in the middle, given in his voice.
I coulda swore I read in either the liner notes or in an interview with Gilmour that, while the use of that voice was definitely inspired by Hawking, and perhaps even used with his blessing, it in fact was replicated by means other than the machine that SH uses. Can’t find an authorative cite at the moment (will try again at home, perhaps). Can anyone defend/refute this?
Speaking of that machine… *When you first heard it, tell the truth - didn’t it remind you of the video game Gorf? The voice is certainly distinctive but at times hard to understand. Isn’t it time Hawking upgraded his system to something more melifluous?
- Absolutely no disrespect intended… I deeply admire Stephen Hawking for his contribution to science, for his overcoming near-impossible obstacles in his achievements, and for taking the time to write such an effective layman’s guide.
Okay, I found a few “refutes”
These sites credit Hawking as having contributed to “Keep Talking.” I must be suffering from a false memory (wouldn’t be the first time).
And of course, Radiohead used the same voice synthesizer Hawking uses in “Fitter, Happier.”
Whenever I heard Hawking, I’m reminded of an old movie program called Hollywood by Theatrix. All of the speaking voices sounded like that, and I’m pretty sure one was exactly the same as what Hawking uses.
Well, that settles it. No one has ever put a fake or misleading credit on a movie or TV show.
Except the Cohen Brothers and Allan Smithee, of course.
Are guest star credits like “Stephen Hawking as himself” often misleading? I know of two Simpsons guest stars who were credited under fake names, but nobody who was falsely credited as himself.
The voice on “Fitter, Happier” is actually “Fred”, one of the text-to-voice options which ships with the Macintosh OS. Fred is often mistaken for Hawking, and in fact may be what MC Hawking is using. The two are actually only superficially similar.
And I finally plonked down my fifteen bucks just to clarify this point.
The line didn’t have “as himself” next to it, just that Stephen Hawking was a special guest voice. I can’t think of any guest appearances that had the name of a character they played next to it on The Simpsons, except for a Christopher Walken impersonator and perhaps if anyone did a guest voice in Old Money, in which all of the characters played by each actor were named in the credits.
I’ve read that the same guy (Fred) is the basis for both programs, so perhaps I got confused somewhere. Anyway, welcome aboard!
You’re right. Still, I think that’s reason enough to conclude it was Hawking.
By Wiki, you’re right! I’m looking for more verification, but I don’t really doubt it. I’ve been thinking about my previous comment about the ‘superficial’ difference, and it occured to me that it actually could be down to the sophistication of the technology. And thanks for the welcome. I’ve certainly been lurking long enough - probably around four years on and off, and two solidly.
Anyhow, enough hijacking from me. Here’s another cite demonstrating that Hawking does go into the studio, from here:
*Mula described meeting many other celebrities who come into the studio to record vocal tracks for “The Simpsons.”
“The only time I ever asked for an autograph was when Stephen Hawking came in,” he said.*
:dubious:
You’re forgetting Joe Piscopo. Though his character was unnamed, he was clearly playing himself.