Hank Azaria’s New Show The Artist Is "Downton Abbey on Acid" | The Tonight Show

-Hank Azaria, you are phenomenal.

I was just saying, how many -- you won multiple Emmys for a lot of stuff.

But your voiceover work in "The Simpsons," 37 seasons?

-Yeah, season 37 right now. [ Cheers and applause ] -That's unbelievable.

Did you ever think it would go -- it would go that long when you first started?

-You'd have to be psychotic to think that...

-Yeah, of course. [ Laughter ] -.

..that you would quadruple any other television show.

It was the early days of Fox.

You didn't even think that Fox was going to continue to exist.

-That's correct.

-Let alone an adult cartoon show.

But, yeah, here we are.

-Wow.

And how many voices now have you done?

Over 100?

-There's some website that says I have done over 100.

I think that's probably accurate.

-Oh, my gosh. -Yeah.

Every sound I can make as a human being has been farmed, harvested.

-At one point on "The Simpsons.

" -Yes. -And it keeps it fresh and keeps it going after 37 years.

-Some fresher than others, some seasons fresher than others.

But yes. -It's amazing.

Do you remember the first voice that you did?

-I do. Uh, a lot of my -- You know, they're based on a lot of vocal impressions.

And a lot of that, for me, as a young person was hero worship.

[ As Pacino ] So, I loved, um, Al Pacino growing up.

Young Al. Right?

"Godfather" Al, "Dog Day Afternoon" Al.

Like, "I'm dying here!

Everybody's coming down on me here.

" That Al. Thanks a lot.

-That's fantastic. [ Cheers and applause ] Thanks for remembering. -"I'm dying.

" -I'm dying here.

[ Normal voice ] So I get this audition for a cartoon show, and I do that voice for them, and they say, "Well, we want it to be gravelly.

" [ As Springsteen ] So, to me, another hero of mine who was gravelly was Bruce Springsteen.

-Wow. -So fun fact -- you take Bruce Springsteen on one end and young Al Pacino on the other, right in the middle there is Moe, the bartender.

-Oh, my God! [ Cheers and applause ] -[ As Moe ] He's a mash-up... -That's it.

-...of them two people.

-That's unbelievable. That's fantastic.

-Moe was born. -Moe was born.

-Yeah, he never made it as good as Springsteen or Pacino.

-Yeah, no, he did. He's a legend. He's a legend.

I want to talk about your new series, "The Artist.

" -[ Normal voice ] Yeah. -How do we set up the series?

And can we say who you play? We have to.

-I play Thomas Edison, very oddly, in this thing.

-Isn't that a great career where you go -- Do you ever think in your life you go, "I'm going to play Thomas Edison"?

That's fantastic.

-It was not on my bingo card.

Um, I kind of felt like I should have a different voice, so I sort of used the Superintendent Chalmers voice from "The Simpsons" for it.

It seemed to work. -And it worked perfect.

-Yeah, this show is like, uh, "Downton Abbey" on acid.

-Okay. All right, yeah. [ Laughter ] -Uh, it's really, really wild.

I like it very much. -Yeah.

You have some great, uh, co-stars in it, as well.

-Yeah, Mandy Patinkin and Janet McTeer and Zachary Quinto and Clark Gregg. [ Applause ] Really, I'll tell them you applauded.

-Yeah yeah yeah.

They watch, or some of them watch.

Yeah. They'll know. I want to show a clip.

Here's Hank Azaria in "The Artist.

" Take a look at this. Thomas Edison.

-That's two cellos and a clarinet.

Or two clarinets and a cello.

-Norman, I need a word. -I love the cello.

-I'll have you know that I heard a -- -You are a genius, sir. You are a genius.

-There's a rumor that this painter or this, um, artist, or whatever it is that the Rockefellers call them, he might be a murderer.

[ Music slows ] -Who's a murderer?

-Oh, hello. Um... [ Music resumes ] Oh.

-Thomas. Thomas Edison.

-I can't -- I can't move at all.

-Yes, I know. I just didn't recognize you because you've grown really old really quickly.

[ Cheers and applause ] -Congrats on the show.

-She's amaz-- They're both amazing.

-Unbelievable. -Mandy and Janet.

-Unbelievable.

-They -- they -- It's Emmy bait for them.

-Yeah, it is. -It really is.

-You were doing Springsteen earlier, and I know he's one of your favorites.

He's one of my heroes, too.

-[ As Springsteen ] I've seen you with him.

On the show, yeah.

-I Love Bruce Springsteen.

But you're in a Bruce Springsteen tribute band.

-I am currently in a Springsteen tribute band.

The EZ Street Band. [ Cheers and applause ] We play all over the country.

-[ As Springsteen ] Now, how do you end up -- how does one end up in a Bruce Springsteen tribute band?

-Well, Bruce, I'll tell you. -Thank you. Bruce.

[ Laughter ] -I was turning 60 years old a couple years ago, and I was, as the kids say, feeling a certain way about that.

So I decided to throw a reverse surprise party where I told all my friends, most of whom are Springsteen fans, that I had a Springsteen tribute band coming.

I did not tell them that I'd been working for months to front the band. -Yes.

-[ Normal voice] And I just got out in front of everybody, and we played for an hour and a half.

-No way. -Yeah.

[ Cheers and applause ] And we raised -- -You raised money? -We raised -- I said, "No gifts, but donate to my foundation, if you like.

" We raised like $30K that night. -Hey, good for you.

-And now we travel around.

All goes -- net proceeds all go to charity.

-And has the Springsteen universe, do they know about your tribute band?

-Uh, a good friend of mine is a dentist.

-Okay.

-And I get a video from him one day.

Uh, and... [ Laughing ] Bruce is in a dentist chair, and he goes, "Hey, Hank.

Um, uh, it's Bruce Springsteen," as if I didn't know.

[ Laughter ] "I'm sitting here with a terrible toothache, but while I have a terrible toothache, I've been fantastically entertained by your version of 'Prove It All Night,' which I gotta say was pretty darn good.

" -Come on! -And, uh -- [ Cheers and applause ] I know.

I quietly cried to myself for about three days.

-Yeah, you have to start crying. Of course.

-I absolutely did. And so, yeah, he's seen it.

-Oh, my gosh. -Yeah.

-He's the greatest. I mean, I hate to ever put anyone on the spot, but we always have a microphone...

[ Cheers and applause ] .

..with the best band in the world.

The Roots are right here. No, no.

Come on. You don't have to. -No, no, no, no, no.

Okay, okay. -Come on.

Come on, Hank Azaria! Come on, bud!

-The reason I came on the show.

[ "Prove It All Night" plays ] All right, Roots!

Greatest ban on TV.

[ Cheers and applause ] We got a little old-school Roots vibe going here.

All right. Ready?

♪♪ ♪ Well, I've been working real hard ♪ ♪ Trying to get my hands clean ♪ ♪ We'll drive that dusty road from Monroe to Angeline ♪ ♪ To buy you a gold and a pretty dress of blue ♪ ♪ Baby, just one kiss will get these things for you ♪ ♪ A kiss to seal our fate tonight ♪ ♪ A kiss to prove it all night ♪ ♪ Prove it all night ♪ ♪ There's nothing else that we can do ♪ ♪ Said prove it all night, prove it all night ♪ ♪ I'll prove it all night for you ♪ Come on, Jimmy!

-Hank Azaria, everybody!

The first three episodes of "The Artist" stream for free on The Network, November 27th.

More "Tonight Show" after the break.

Stick around! Come on.

♪ Prove it all night with you ♪ ♪ We'll prove it all night ♪ ♪ Prove it all night ♪ ♪ There's nothing else that we can do ♪ ♪ Said prove it all night ♪ ♪ Prove it all night ♪ ♪ Hank, I'll prove it all night for you ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -EZ Street Band, Jimmy Fallon.

-Hank Azaria! All right!

♪♪