This Is the Celebrity Impression That ‘The Simpsons’ Hank Azaria Is Obsessed with Perfecting

Hank Azaria’s current vocal character is the first one that’s ever made him throw up out of nervousness before a performance — but that also could have been the Kwik-E Mart hot dog.

The Manhattan-born Simpsons star has always been a vocal-cord chameleon, and he has mastered a massive and diverse spectrum of characters, from Moe Szyslak to Chief Wiggum to, until 2020, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a role that Azaria famously retired in the wake of comedian Hari Kondabolu’s feature-length documentary callout The Problem with Apu. However, when Azaria agreed to give up his non-white voice parts on The Simpsons, he never signed anything preventing him from impersonating a New Jerseyan — even the Boss of the bunch isn’t off-limits, apparently.

For the past few months, Azaria has been hard at work developing his Bruce Springsteen impression as the front man of Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band, a Springsteen cover band that made its debut at Azaria’s 60th birthday party back in April. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Azaria even admitted that his efforts to capture the tone and timbre of the singer-songwriting superstar have made him so hoarse that he had to re-record many of his performances for the next season of The Simpson, telling the show’s producers vaguely of his side project, “I’m working on a thing.”

If Moe ever uttered such an ominous excuse, it would be grounds for a wellness check.

“My whole life is about sharing vocal impressions,” Azaria told his interviewer. “This, in some ways, is the ultimate of that to me.” Any audio engineer who worked on Azaria’s most recent recordings for his Simpsons performances can attest as much, as the actor had to be told to redo the parts where Azaria’s Springsteen-induced vocal strain was too distracting — imagine the kind of notes Julie Kavner gets.

“I think of it as a theatrical performance,” Azaria said of the Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band experiment, which has the Simpsons star looking forward to their first public gig at Le Poisson Rouge in New York on August 1st. “I’m staying in character as Bruce even though I’m telling stories about myself. It’s a performance piece, but I’m not a Bruce impersonator.”

Critically, Springsteen’s singing and speaking voices are two different challenges for Azaria, who says that The Boss’ baritone bellow is distinct from his conversational tone, which Azaria calls a mix of “Frank Pantegeli from The Godfather and Scatman Crothers.” 

Again, Azaria and his cover band crew debuted their act at Azaria’s 60th birthday party back in April, at which he treated “everyone I ever knew” to a surprise performance. Azaria told his invitees that the shindig would be scored by a “great Bruce Springsteen cover band,” but he failed to mention that he was the front man.

However, when it was time for Azaria to surprise-serenade his friends and family with his Springsteen impression, terror struck. “I was more nervous that day than I’ve been for any other performance in my life,” Azaria said of that evening. “I had a panic attack, to be honest with you. I was like, ‘What am I doing? This is insane. This is insane!’ And I had a full-blown panic attack. I was sweating and I actually threw up. I’ve never thrown up from nerves in my life.” 

Despite his anxiety, the performance was a hit, and it inspired Azaria and his bandmates to keep the music going. “I got offered two acting jobs that Monday morning (after the party),” Azaria recalled. “I turned them both down and spent all morning pursuing whatever’s next with the band.”

Thankfully, and despite the triage recording session he had to complete, Azaria’s current Springsteen obsession won’t prevent him from fulfilling his obligations to The Simpsons — and he has advice for any young voice acting professional looking to balance their passions as effortlessly as he has. “Get on a cartoon show that runs 36 years,” he joked. “And then don’t worry about anything.”