The Mind-Blowing Dual Roles of 10 Simpsons Cast Members in Futurama

Summary

Both Futurama and The Simpsons have a significant overlap in voice actors, including Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Jan Hooks, Hank Azaria, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tress MacNeille, Frank Welker, and Maurice LaMarche.

On Futurama, The Simpsons has had several cast members make guest appearances. Dan Castellaneta has portrayed The Robot Devil, Nancy Cartwright has voiced a Bart Simpson doll, and Jan Hooks has played both Manjula and Angleyne. Additionally, the crossover between the two shows extends beyond the voice actors. Various guest stars have appeared as themselves on both Futurama and The Simpsons, and even fictional characters from The Simpsons have been depicted on Futurama.

When Matt Groening introduced Futurama in 1999, it was seen as his next project after The Simpsons. Unlike The Simpsons, Futurama avoided Halloween specials and embraced a unique animation style that combined hand-drawn animation with occasional CGI touches (something The Simpsons started doing in 2007). However, the two shows encouraged viewers to see them as connected, with a cameo appearance from Blinky, the famous three-eyed fish from The Simpsons, in Futurama's pilot episode, and crossover episodes featuring the casts of both shows.

In season 26, episode 6 of The Simpsons titled "Simpsorama," the entire main cast of Futurama made an appearance. This 2014 crossover episode had Futurama characters traveling back in time to Springfield. Nevertheless, many characters from The Simpsons had already appeared on Futurama, though some of these appearances were more obvious than others. Additionally, thanks to its current revival on Hulu, Futurama continues to feature a growing list of guest stars.

10 Dan Castellaneta As Homer Simpson And The Robot Devil

Dan Castellaneta is the leading member of the cast for The Simpsons, and with good reason. In addition to portraying the iconic character of Homer, he also lends his voice to other beloved characters such as Grampa, Krusty the Clown, Barney Gumble, Mayor Quimby, Groundskeeper Willie, and many more. When the show was first launching, there was a desire to create a connection with The Simpsons, which led to Castellaneta being brought in as a special guest star in season 1, episode 9 titled "Hell Is Other Robots." This particular episode showcased a different side of Castellaneta's talent as he produced a voice for The Robot Devil that was unlike anything he had done on The Simpsons thus far. His performance in this role was inspired by the actor Hans Conried. Since then, he has reprised the role of The Robot Devil on six different occasions.

9 Nancy Cartwright As Bart Simpson

In season 1, episode 8 of the show, titled "A Big Piece of Garbage," an interesting scene takes place involving Nancy Cartwright's voice. As Bender picks up a Bart Simpson doll, it unexpectedly utters the famous catchphrase, "Eat my shorts!" in its trademark style. Surprisingly, Bender responds with a casual "OK!" before proceeding to do just that. However, it is worth noting that the voice clip used in this scene was actually from an older recording, which explains why Cartwright did not receive credit for her contribution in this particular episode. Interestingly though, when the show's staff compiled a list of The Simpsons cast members who had appeared on their show for the audio commentary of season 3, episode 8 named "That's Lobstertainment!," Cartwright's name was still included.

8 Jan Hooks As Manjula And Angleyne

Apu's wife, Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon, made her formal debut in The Simpsons' ninth season. Jan Hooks voiced the character a total of six times before her passing in 2014. Tress MacNeille took over the role thereafter, with the character making numerous non-speaking appearances, rendering her instantly recognizable to most fans. In an episode titled "Bendless Love" from season 3 of Futurama, Hooks appeared as part of a love-triangle involving Bender, Flexo, and her character, Angleyne.

7 Hank Azaria As Moe Syzlak And Harold Zoid

Hank Azaria, known for his diverse voice acting roles on The Simpsons, performs a multitude of characters such as Moe Syzlak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Lenny, Cletus, Comic Book Guy, and Chief Wiggum. During the audio commentary for "That's Lobstertainment!," Azaria shared an interesting encounter with David X. Cohen, the showrunner of Futurama. They crossed paths at the recording studios that were used by both Futurama and The Simpsons. Azaria expressed his admiration for Billy West's portrayal of Dr. Zoidberg and requested to make a guest appearance as a relative of the character. This request led to the creation of the episode "That's Lobstertainment!," where Azaria initially assumed the role. However, Maurice LaMarche later took over the character when it made a brief appearance in Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs.

6 Kevin Michael Richardson As Dr. Hibbert And URL

Following the backlash surrounding Apu in The Simpsons, Dr. Hibbert's role was taken over by Kevin Michael Richardson in 2021. In order to avoid a similar potential backlash, Futurama decided to recast several roles for its Hulu revival. Kevin Michael Richardson, who replaced John DiMaggio in both cases, now voices Barbados Slim and URL. Interestingly, Dawnn Lewis took a reverse approach, being the voice of LeBarbara on Futurama before becoming the new voice of Bernice, Dr. Hibbert's wife on The Simpsons.

5 Tress MacNeille As Agnes Skinner And Mom

Tress MacNeille, an incredibly talented voice actress, is a regular member of the cast for both The Simpsons and Futurama. In addition to bringing life to characters like Agnes Skinner and Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon, she lends her skills to numerous other roles on The Simpsons, including Dolph, Crazy Cat Lady, Lindsey Naegle, Bernice Hibbert (before the recast mentioned earlier), Cookie Kwan, Mrs. Muntz, Brandine Spuckler, and Shauna. On Futurama, she is the voice behind Mom, Linda, Hattie McDoogal, Ndnd, Turanga Munda, Dr. Cahill, and essentially every computer's voice. So far, she has participated in a staggering 134 episodes of Futurama and an incredible 623 episodes of The Simpsons.

4 Frank Welker As Santa's Little Helper And Nibbler

Frank Welker, with an astounding 889 acting credits on IMDb at the time of writing, is undeniably the most prolific voice actor in the world. His impressive range and talent have made him Hollywood's top choice for animal noises, earning him credits in iconic films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Independence Day, and Jumanji. Welker has also brought memorable characters to life, including Abu the monkey in Aladdin, the mischievous gremlins in Gremlins, and the beloved Slimer in the Ghostbusters cartoons. Adding to his remarkable resume, he has lent his voice to numerous animals on popular shows like The Simpsons and Futurama. Notably, when Nibbler's ability to speak was revealed in season 3, episode 7 "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid," Futurama wisely chose Welker to continue providing Nibbler's distinctive voice.

3 Maurice LaMarche As A Couple Of Burps And Calculon

Maurice LaMarche is known as Hollywood's go-to actor for animal noises, much like Welker. His talent for belching landed him a role in The Simpsons season 6, episode 18 "A Star Is Burns." He expertly provided the monstrous burps for both Jay Sherman and Eudora Welty. In addition, LaMarche showed off his George C. Scott impression during his time on the show.

Years later, LaMarche joined the cast of Futurama, lending his voice to several memorable characters such as Calculon, Kif, Lrrr, Morbo, Horrible Gelatinous Blob, Hedonismbot, Walt, and The Borax Kid. His contributions to Futurama were so well-received that he has since made 27 more appearances on The Simpsons.

2 Numerous Guest Stars As Themselves

The Simpsons and Futurama both frequently showcase famous guest stars, who lend their voices to portray themselves. Dick Clark, Leonard Nimoy, Conan O'Brien, Stephen Hawking, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Penn Jillette, Snoop Dogg, Matt Groening, Buzz Aldrin, Robert Wagner, Adam West, and Burt Ward have all made appearances on both shows. Additionally, other notable actors have played fictional characters, including John Goodman, Parker Posey, Karen Maruyama, Sarah Silverman, Lucy Liu, Bob Odenkirk, Mark Hamill, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Stewart, Wanda Sykes, Seth MacFarlane, and Kathy Griffin. Furthermore, The Simpsons has depicted several individuals like Al Gore and William Shatner, who have subsequently made actual appearances on Futurama.

1 Phil Hartman Was Supposed To Voice Zapp Brannigan

Billy West, who played the beloved character Zapp Brannigan on the show, was originally supposed to be voiced by Phil Hartman. The idea was to give him a recurring guest role similar to the ones he had on The Simpsons, where he portrayed characters like Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz, and Bill Clinton in a total of 52 episodes. However, after Hartman's death in 1998, creator Matt Groening decided to honor him by naming the character Philip J. Fry.