Toronto journalist's Trudeau impression lands guest spot on The Simpsons

[spaminator]

Toronto journalist's Trudeau impression lands guest spot on The Simpsons
Bryan Passifiume
Published:
April 22, 2019
Updated:
April 22, 2019 6:23 PM EDT
Toronto journalist Lucas Meyer — or at least his voice — will appear in the April 28, 2019 episode of The Simpsons, portraying Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A reporter at Toronto radio station NewsTalk 1010, Meyer got the attention of Simpsons producers after a video of his impressions — originally meant to entertain fellow journalists in Calgary, Alta. — went viral on YouTube last year.Bryan Passifiume / Toronto Sun
What began as entertainment for friends and colleagues has landed a Toronto journalist a coveted guest spot on The Simpsons — playing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
For the past seven months, NewsTalk 1010 reporter Lucas Meyer kept quiet about his cameo on the venerable animated sitcom, and it’s a secret he’s relieved to finally let out of the bag.
“It’s surreal, it’s unbelievable,” said Meyer, grinning ear-to-ear during an interview Monday outside Toronto City Hall.
Last September, Meyer got an e-mail from a Simpsons casting producer asking if he’d be interested in voicing Trudeau in an upcoming episode.
Naturally, he leapt at the chance.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as portrayed on The Simpsons. Toronto journalist Lucas Meyer was hired to provide Trudeau’s voice. THE CANADIAN PRESS/CityTV
Writers had originally hoped Trudeau would appear on the show, but a PMO spokesperson told The Canadian Press the request was “politely declined.”
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The episode, penned by Emmy-award winning writer and Exeter, Ont., native Tim Long, centres around Lisa being mistakenly granted asylum in Canada during a family outing to Niagara Falls.
Long told The Canadian Press “there may be mention of a current scandal” — suggesting the SNC-Lavalin controversy may get some airtime.
Meyer’s impressions were well-known among fellow journalists in Calgary, where he worked for local radio station, 660 News.
In Nov. 2017, a video of his various send-ups vent viral on YouTube — featuring his takes on Don Cherry, Gary Bettman, Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, and — most famously — Trudeau.
After a successful phone audition, Meyer found himself in a downtown Toronto recording studio a week later — laying down his lines for the show.
A successful impression goes deeper than just the voice, said Meyer, especially for Trudeau.
“It has to be visual; it’s the eyebrow, and when he gets exasperated, he puts his arms out,” he explained with a laugh.
“It’s the tiny details, the idiosyncrasies that make it, and I think that’s the key.”
The episode of the Simpsons featuring Meyer airs this Sunday at 8 p.m. on CityTV.
— With files from The Canadian Press

http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...u-impression-lands-guest-spot-on-the-simpsons

 

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'The Simpsons' writer reveals details on Sunday's Canuck-themed episode
Canadian Press
Published:
April 25, 2019
Updated:
April 25, 2019 2:55 PM EDT
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TORONTO — “The Simpsons” consulting producer Tim Long grew up in Ontario and has always sensed something secretly Canadian about Lisa, the middle child and most critically-minded member of the enduring American animated family.
“She’s the one who’s had the most barbed critiques of the United States,” Long, a writer-producer who was raised in Exeter, Ont., said in a recent phone interview.
“I thought Bart was sort of like America: brash, unreflective, much more sure of himself. And Lisa was sort of the intellectual, quiet, thoughtful, rational one. And I’ve always felt like that was sort of the relationship between America and Canada, too.”
So when it came to this Sunday’s Canadian-themed episode, it felt natural to make Lisa the one who spends time on this side of the border, said Long, who has won five Emmy Awards.
It happens when the Simpsons visit Niagara Falls and, through a series of wacky mishaps, Lisa goes over the powerful flow of water that separates Ontario and New York.
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She lands on the Canadian side and is admitted to hospital, where she realizes Canada is the place for her.
The episode, “D’Oh Canada,” airs on Citytv and Fox.
“She is not unscathed, but because of Canada’s incredibly generous health-care system, she ends up just fine,” said Long, who co-wrote the episode with his wife, screenwriter Miranda Thompson.
“The Simpsons, when they see her in the hospital, are fully prepared to go bankrupt, because that’s what would happen to them in America. But they’re stunned and amazed and delighted to find the health-care system takes care of them.”
Yes, much of the Simpsons clan also visits Canada in the episode, which Long said has “a shocking number of Canadian things” that “95 per cent of the American audience won’t get.”
“They’re briefly there but then Homer gets belligerent and they’re asked to leave, except for Lisa. Then much of the rest of the show features the Simpsons plotting to get her back and trying to convince Lisa that she should come back, because she’s at least initially very happy.”
Earlier this week, Toronto journalist Lucas Meyer revealed he voices Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the episode.
While Meyer recorded his role in September, Long said they write episodes “until the very last second,” leaving room for current references.
One of those references on Sunday might be the SNC-Lavalin controversy, Long suggested when he said “there may be mention of a current scandal that” Trudeau is in.
“Compared to putting immigrant children in cages, this scandal feels a little bit like small beer to me,” said Long, referencing 2018 footage of migrant children housed in fenced-off cages at U.S. border facilities.
“But I know also that it’s serious and maybe not everyone has been forthcoming about what happened. I understand he’s behind in the polls, which I think would shock most Americans.”
Long was born in Brandon, Man., and moved to Exeter with his family when he was four. He got his big break as head writer of “Late Show with David Letterman” and joined “The Simpsons” in 1998.
He lives in Los Angeles but has found himself back on home soil lately, in Almonte, Ont., shooting the film “The Exchange.” Long wrote the comedy, which is set in Canada and loosely based on his experience with an exchange student as a teen.
On “The Simpsons,” he’s one of three Canadian writers, the others being Joel H. Cohen and Jeff Westbrook.
“Canada is always in the air” in the writers’ room, said Long.
“I remember the day when we taught them that the Canadian one-dollar coin was called a loonie and the two-dollar coin was called a toonie. Oh, that shut down work for several hours, because nobody could believe it.”
The show has referenced Canada before, including an episode where Homer and Grandpa Simpson smuggle prescription drugs from here.
“With the Canadian references, my instinct when I first started was not to make too many of them, because I wanted to fit in,” said Long. “But I find that the kind of American who writes for ‘The Simpsons’ is fascinated by it.
“So you’ll often find that the references on the show to Canada haven’t been written by Canadians, but they’ve been written by Americans looking across the table at a Canadian and thinking, ‘What the hell is with that guy?”‘
http://torontosun.com/entertainment...eals-details-on-sundays-canuck-themed-episode