However, Shearer was dismayed that his background as a child star didn’t open any doors for him when he got older.
“I started at ground zero,” said Shearer regarding his career as a grown-up actor.
Trying to find his way in life, Shearer went to college with dreams of making a name for himself in journalism or politics, working for Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. But in his 20s, Shearer decided he would rather return to being a thespian than stay in the world of publishing.
Ironically, his first experience back in the business was on the air. In the late 1960s, he joined Los Angeles radio comedy group, the Credibility Gap. Over the next eight years, the group worked on radio, then records, television and club tours. On his Web site, Shearer describes the troupe as having been “unique in many ways.”
“We never improvised, we did daily radio and we never made money.”
Later in his career, Shearer was hired as a writer and cast member for a few seasons on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
Shearer continued working on big-time television shows and movies for some time, but describes the growth of his career as “gradual.”
“Every actor just wants to work,” said Shearer. And work he did, even if the quality of the projects he chose was akin to a “crapshoot.” He could never quite predict how successful each one would be.
Whatever it was he did seemed to earn Shearer notice from television big wigs.
The creator of “The Simpsons,” Matt Groening was a fan of Shearer’s radio work and was interested in including him in the cast. Groening’s development team contacted the reluctant Shearer to do some voices on the show. Shearer said that he initially declined the idea because he had the impression that there would be no real acting or interaction on the show. Luckily for fans of “The Simpsons,” Shearer was wrong.
Some of his favorite characters include Mr. Burns, who Shearer said reminds him of people he knows, and Ned Flanders for his “goofiness.” Shearer also plays other colorful characters such as Burns’ assistant Waylon Smithers, Principal Skinner, school bus driver Otto, news anchor Kent Brockman and Reverend Lovejoy. The list of silly personalities goes on and on.
Fans can still hear Shearer’s voice on new episodes of “The Simpsons,” but that’s not the only place to enjoy the funnyman’s dry brand of humor. Shearer will join Wallace at the MLK Auditorium in the Main Library on Tuesday after celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Last week, Shearer went back to his home in Louisiana to record his latest CD of funny songs. According to Shearer, the tracks will be about President George W. Bush, Michael Jackson “and other strange people.”
His first comic novel, and third book — “Not Enough Indians” — is about Indian gaming being down on its luck. The novel took Shearer six years to produce and is currently on the Los Angeles Times’ bestsellers list.
Shearer explained that he has no intentions of creating or acting in serious films.
“I don’t need to be serious to get serious. If I’m given a gift for making people laugh and I’m utilizing it, I have no plans to run for Senate,” he said. “If I didn’t like it, I would-n’t have done it so long. It really can be the greatest job ever, especially if you work with the right people.”
Shearer has been married for 14 years and lives in both New Orleans and Santa Monica, in part, because of the community friendly nature of both cities. He is “disturbed” by most other so-called posh L.A. cities — singling out gated communities with high walls as particularly disturbing.
Shearer describes Santa Monica as “what living in California is supposed to be like.”
Shearer is currently finishing his book tour and his musical comedy CD is due to be released in June.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 26, 2007. Read the original PDF.