Hank Azaria: Voicing Bruce Springsteen

Hank Azaria has always been a mimic. It started in his childhood.

“I was always imitating Bugs Bunny, or family members,” says Azaria. “I was always that kid. I was an athletic kid, but I always got cast in the play. Sometimes reluctantly, because I’d rather have been out on the ball field.”

It was as King Arthur in his high school production of “Camelot” that propelled Azaria into acting. The show’s director was actor John Phillips, who pulled Azaria aside one day after rehearsal and said “You could probably do this professionally if you like.”

Wasting no time, Azaria enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and afterward attended Tufts University. Then came the audition that would alter the course of his life: the audition for “The Simpsons,” when Azaria was just 23. In his decades on the show, he’s voiced more than 100 characters, from Police Chief Wiggums and Comic Book Guy to his favorite, bartender Moe Szyslak.

“Moe’s my favorite,” says Azaria, breaking into character. “He’s from Queens, like I am. I used to bartend, I joke. He’s like an alter ego—whenever you feel down, you always get Moe’s voice in your head.”

“To me,” Azaria continues, “[the voices] are all imitations of celebrities, family members or friends.”

The same thing goes for Azaria’s Bruce Springsteen impression.

“I’ve been imitating Bruce Springsteen since I was 15 or so,” he says, back in character. “If you combine Moe, a young Al Pacino and Bruce Springsteen, Moe the bartender lives in the middle, he’s like a gravelly Pacino, or a high-pitched Springsteen, however you want to look at it. I idolized these guys as a kid. So I really wanted to sound like these folks as a way to emulate them.”

But emulating Springsteen, says Azaria, has been his toughest challenge to date. While most voices come to him easily, the nature of this singing impression took months to work out.

“Honestly, the hardest I’ve ever worked is singing like Bruce,” says Azaria. “The singing itself is hard, and Bruce’s voice is gravelly—it’s not soul singing, it’s hard on the vocal chords. I can only do it every four or five days.”

The idea for the tribute act came about when Azaria was thinking up ideas for his 60th birthday party.

“I told people I had a Springsteen tribute band coming, but I didn’t tell them that I’d been working for months and months to be the frontman,” he says. “We raised $30,000 for my foundation that night.”

Azaria is referring to The Four Through Nine Foundation, which he started to provide schooling to children who wouldn’t otherwise receive and education. Azaria is also active in social justice and recovery causes. He likes to pair his tribute act with an appearance at at ComicCon (Orlando ComicCon is the day after his show at The Plaza Live) to maximize donations—all net proceeds from the show, in addition to the money he makes on ComicCon autograph signings, goes to the foundation.

What can you expect from the show? Find out for yourself for watching this clip.

Hank Azaria & The EZ Street Band perform at The Plaza Live on February 6 at 8 pm. Tickets are available here. Or, win your tickets in our giveaway; one lucky Orlando Magazine reader will when two tickets that can be picked up at will call on the night of the show.