'The Simpsons' Pays Tribute To Regular Guest Star Stephen Hawking

After the sad passing of Professor Stephen Hawking last week there have been a lot of tributes coming in from around the world.

Now The Simpsons - a show that Hawking enjoyed and made three guest appearances on has paid its own respects.

At the end of Sunday night's episode, entitled '3 Scenes Plus a Tag from a Marriage', producers included a picture of Professor Hawking flying off into the sky on his helicopter wheelchair with Lisa Simpson sitting on his lap.

It also carried the message: "In loving memory of Stephen Hawking".

The Simpsons' executive producer Matt Selman had previously paid personal tribute to him, tweeting: "Farewell to Stephen Hawking, the most intelligent guest star in the brief history of The Simpsons."

Hawking first appeared on the show in 1999 in an episode called 'They Saved Lisa's Brain' in which the cleverest people in Springfield form their own government of the city after the Mayor goes AWOL.

As their utopia inevitably crumbles they are visited by Hawking, who rescues Lisa from the mob (on his helicopter wheelchair, of course) and then goes for a beer with Homer.

This scene with Homer sees Hawking considering Homer's theory of a donut-shaped universe, which is actually a pretty well-considered theory.

It was described by showrunner Mike Scully as "a chance to get the world's smartest man and the world's stupidest man in the same place."

Matt Selman described Hawking as easy to work with, and said he didn't have any problems with jokes that poked fun at him.

He told the BBC: "I think if you're a true fan of the Simpsons you don't want the show to kiss your butt - even if you're Stephen Hawking.

"But what was really cool is that he typed all the lines into his own speech computer himself and that's what we recorded.

"So he went into the recording studio, put the script into his computer and then his computer spat it out - instead of us just getting the computer to read it out directly.

He continued: "I like that he would sit and take all the time to type the goofy lines into his computer - I like the fact that he had to put the word 'Fruitopia' into his special talking machine."

According to Selman, he was even OK with a joke that compared him to porn giant Larry Flynt (who also uses a wheelchair).

Current showrunner Al Jean also paid tribute, saying: "RIP Stephen Hawking. A sense of humor as vast as the universe."

Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

Topics: TV and Film, News, Stephen Hawking

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekends he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

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