He was born to run.
Prolific actor Hank Azaria, 60, said he’s now turning down acting roles to focus on his Bruce Springsteen cover band, Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band.
“My whole life is about sharing vocal impressions,” he told Rolling Stone in an article published Sunday.
“This, in some ways, is the ultimate of that to me.”
Azaria, who has won six Emmys, has been in a slew of movies and TV shows, including “The Birdcage” with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, “Godzilla” in 1998, “Along Came Polly” with Jennifer Aniston and Ben Stiller in 2004, “Night At the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian” in 2009, and TV shows such as “Friends” and “Ray Donovan” (for which he won an Emmy in 2016).
He also got a Tony nomination on 2005 for “Spamalot.”
For 36 years, he’s also performed the voices of many characters on “The Simpsons” including Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum, Moe the Bartender and formerly Apu, the proprietor of the convenience store (until he apologized and stepped down from that role in 2020, after it garnered controversy).
“I’m the luckiest man in show business,” he told Rolling Stone, joking that when aspiring actors ask for advice, his reply is, “Get on a cartoon show that runs 36 years. And then don’t worry about anything.”
He added that he doesn’t think Season 36, which will premiere in the fall, will be the end of the road for “The Simpsons.”
“I think we’d know if we were ending, because they’d probably make a big deal about ‘this is the last season.’”
When “The Simpsons” producers noted that his voice sounded oddly hoarse lately, Azaria explained “I’m working on a thing,” and rerecorded some of his vocal performances, he told the outlet.
The “thing” he’s working on is his Bruce Springsteen cover band, for which he’s the front man.
Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band have their first official gig at Manhattan’s Le Poisson Rouge on Aug. 1.
The proceeds will go to his social-justice-themed charitable foundation.
“I think of it as a theatrical performance,” he said. “I’m staying in character as Bruce even though I’m telling stories about myself. It’s a performance piece, but I’m not a Bruce impersonator.”
Azaria, who was friends with Matthew Perry, was married to Helen Hunt from 1999-2000 and is currently married to Katie Wright — with whom he shares son Hal, 15 — eventually wants to perform with his cover band in 2,000-seat theaters, he said.
Azaria also worked on the Boss’ speaking voice, which he noted was a mix of “Frank Pentangeli from ‘The Godfather’ and Scatman Crothers.”
Azaria said that he first put the band together for a onetime performance at his 60th birthday party, which was at the City Winery in April.
“I had feelings about turning 60,” Azaria says, “and I thought, ‘What would be fun?’” He told his friends that a “great Bruce Springsteen cover band” would be the entertainment at the party, surprising them with the fact that he would be the front man.
“I was so nervous,” he said, about playing as the Boss in front of all his friends.
“I was more nervous that day than I’ve been for any other performance in my life. I had a panic attack, to be honest with you. I was like, ‘What am I doing? This is insane. This is insane!’ And I had a full-blown panic attack. I was sweating and I actually threw up. I’ve never thrown up from nerves in my life.”
Azaria, who has been in recovery for alcoholism and sober since 2006, noted that Springsteen holds special meaning to him, because the musician was his hero as a teenager.
“Past 40, nostalgia takes on a different meaning,” Azaria said.
“It becomes this aching sort of longing … A lot of the work I do now in recovery is adult children of alcoholics and dysfunctional families, and your inner teen is literally a thing. My inner teen was incredibly excited about all this. ‘We get to be Bruce!’ And he’s also the one who threw up, for sure. But I felt like it was him that gets channeled in all this, and it’s his joy that gets expressed.”
He said his inaugural performance as “Bruce” went so well that “the Monday after the party, I got offered two acting jobs.”
But, he added, “I turned them both down and spent all morning pursuing whatever’s next with the band.”
