‘SIMPSONS’ GOES LIVE WITH ‘OFFICE’ PARTY
Funnyman Ricky Gervais helped “The Simpsons” lampoon reality TV and skewer its own network in the process.
The putty-faced comic – best-known as the creator of the British comedy series “The Office” – wrote and starred in last night’s episode of “The Simpsons” on Fox. The show also featured a novel, “live-action” sequence that replaced the show’s animated characters with real-life actors for the show’s famous opening.
In the episode, Gervais, 44, supplied the voice (and likeness) of Charlie Heathbar, the husband of a stern professor from Yale, who agreed to participate in a reality-TV show with the Simpsons.
The show, called “Mother Flippers,” was a send-up of TV’s tacky spouse-swapping reality shows, “Wife Swap” on ABC and “Trading Spouses” on Fox.
The Simpsons signed up to appear on “Mother Flippers” while on a tour of Fox Studios in Hollywood, where they were exposed to fictional Fox reality shows such as “Dwarf or Midget?” and “Million Dollar Fart-off.”
In addition to writing and starring in the show, Gervais contributed two original songs.
Throughout the episode, Homer was on a quest to obtain a new high-definition, flat-screen TV.
It was a stellar episode.
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