Yesterday, information broke that Sir Patrick Stewart died at age 86. Along with his background performing Shakespeare and his unbelievable sense of dignity and gravitas, Stewart is being celebrated primarily for his work as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology, in addition to being the proper man to painting Professor Charles Xavier within the X-Males movies. However whereas he was beloved for the dramatic weight he dropped at his roles, it is price acknowledging that the person pulled off some extremely memorable comedic performances, one of many first was on The Simpsons, the place he guest-starred within the season 6 episode, “Homer the Nice.”
Written by Simpsons legend Jon Swartzwelder, “Homer the Nice” is about Homer (Dan Castellaneta) becoming a member of a Freemason-like secret society referred to as the Stonecutters. The episode begins with Homer discovering out in regards to the group and begging to be a member. He’s lastly in a position to be a part of when he finds out his father is already part of the group. Finally, due to a birthmark Homer has which resembles the Stonecutters emblem, he’s elevated to the pinnacle of the group, however previous to that, the Springfield chapter of the Stonecutters is led by the mysterious “Quantity One,” voiced by Patrick Stewart.
Picture: twentieth Century Tv/Disney
Quantity One is the extremely dignified chief of the Stonecutters, who runs their conferences and oversees the initiation of recent members, however he’s additionally one of many guys. After Homer is initiated into the group with a sequence of humiliating rituals, Quantity One exclaims, “Now let’s all get drunk and play ping pong!”
That was simply certainly one of a number of foolish strains given to Stewart. One other memorable one got here throughout Homer’s initiation, when he says, “And now, the ultimate ordeal, the Paddling of the Swollen Ass — with paddles.” Stewart, being the skilled he’s, delivered these strains with the identical dramatic weight he would apply to Shakespeare, which is why the Simpsons writers on the previous DVD commentary for “Homer the Nice” praised Stewart so deeply.
“Patrick Stewart, certainly one of my all-time favourite visitor stars on this present,” mentioned Dave Mirkin, who was the showrunner on the time and got here up with the premise for this episode. “It’s in all probability certainly one of our greatest visitor performances, if not the finest visitor efficiency as a result of he’s so dedicated to this character and these jokes and he was simply making me roar the complete time. He was so into it. He was so excited to do that. He was having such a good time. He performed a really critical character on the Star Trek sequence and he simply so loved this and I simply so loved working with him.”
A bit of later within the commentary, after the ass-paddling line was delivered, Mirkin additional defined why Stewart was so good. “We gave him all these undignified issues to say and but he crammed them with dignity and such dedication. He did it so lethal critical. That’s what I imply by dedication, there was no signal that something is a joke. He did every part actually actually actual.”
The spectacular factor in regards to the efficiency is that this look was one of many first items of comedy Stewart ever did. Whereas he hosted Saturday Night time Reside the yr earlier than, The Simpsons was solely his second comedic position. After The Simpsons, nevertheless, he appeared to benefit from the occasional foray into comedy, making memorable appearances on Frasier, Household Man, and American Dad. He additionally performed the narrator on the 2 Ted movies. Maybe his finest comedic efficiency, nevertheless, got here on the Ricky Gervais sequence Extras, the place he performed a deeply perverted model of himself who was writing a undertaking for himself to star in simply so he might see a bunch of ladies nude.
As he did together with his Simpsons position, Stewart performed all of those foolish, undignified characters with the identical integrity he’s now being remembered for. He by no means winked on the digicam or did a foolish voice or phoned within the effort. Whereas which may appear apparent, it is the explanation why some dramatic actors battle with comedy. Stewart, nevertheless, obtained the joke.
I’d even argue that these comedic performances are a part of the explanation Stewart was so beloved. Whereas he all the time appeared sort in his interviews, and lots of of his characters had a trusting, fatherly persona, Stewart might have come off as austere had he not confirmed, again and again, how a lot he was prepared to make enjoyable of himself for a very good snort.