by Dennie Chong
Photo Editor

Harry Shearer is best known for his voice work on “The Simpson’s,” but it was his worldly observations, satire and jokes that recently brought crowds to the Moore Theatre.

Apart from his job as voice actor of Montgomery “Excellent” Burns, Ned Flanders, Otto, and dozens of others on “The Simpsons,” Shearer is a musician, actor, author and host to a well-regarded weekly NPR (National Public Radio) program called “Le Show.” His popularity also comes from acting as a musician with his friend Christopher Guest in movies like “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Mighty Wind,” and “For Your Consideration.”

The recent Moore Theatre performance was akin to watching a live version of “Le Show.” Shearer came out to a warm reception and did a combination of political humor, songs, and opinions. To the audience’s amusement, a couple of “b-roll” videos were also shown of Dan Rather and Larry King. A few times in the night, Shearer’s voice suddenly turned into Rainier Wolfcastle, Kent Brockman and one of the many Simpson’s characters that he does.

A self-described “adopted New Orleans,” resident, Shearer also blogs on Huffingtonpost.com about what has happened to his hometown and visits there at least once a month. Shearer said that the two major disasters that occurred in the last six years were the failure of the levees in New Orleans and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

When Shearer was finished assessing the world, he had a “question and answer” session from the audience. Some of the most informative information about Shearer came from this “Q & A” session. The questions ranged from kids with their parents asking about “The Simpsons,” to adults asking about his experiences on Saturday Night Live.

One questioner asked him how he felt about “The Daily Report” with Jon Stewart and it’s spin-off, “The Colbert Report.” Both shows are very similar in style and tone to Shearer’s “Le Show.” Shearer replied that he admired both of those shows for what they do, but doesn’t watch them (except maybe when he was on one of them).

Another query asked about the intensity of his training with regards to his voice work. Shearer worked with Mel Blanc, who’s legendary for most of the voices of the classic Warner Brothers cartoon characters (Bugs, Daffy, Porky, and Tweety, to name just a few. Shearer said that he didn’t really get advice from Blanc, but it was the Radio Hall of Fame team of “Bob & Ray” that he got influence from and tried to copy as a kid.

“Bob & Ray kept me alive as I hung on every word,” said Shearer.

It was also interesting to hear from the very successful Shearer that he “runs away from the computer after 20 minutes” when he’s trying to write. He went on to explain that he realized he was always “pre-writing” in preparation for his material. This “pre-writing takes place in his head while he’s running an errand or doing other tasks and it helps him get his information together.

After the Moore Theatre performance, Shearer came out to the lobby to sign copies of his latest book, “Not Enough Indians,” and his latest CD “Songs Pointed and Pointless.”