Weep Week
No,yourecrying.
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But it was, and remains, one of the most unabashedly sincere half-hours the animated sitcom ever produced.
When she opens it, it reads:You are Lisa Simpson.
Lisas Substitute airedin April 1991.
Can you remember when you first saw a script for it?We get the script the night before.
We used to read on a Thursday and then record that script the following Monday, four days later.
They flew me to New York to record with Dustin Hoffman.
But James L. Brooks decided, No, no, no.
Were gonna go to New York and do it in person.
It was really one of the best days of my career.
I mean, look: I was so starstruck.
I was kind of cowed by the whole situation.
That was a season-two episode.
I already loved my character.
I felt so connected to her.
I was a blubbering idiot.
And when I tell you I felt so cheated when we recorded that …
I thought,Thats all youre gonna give her?
What are you talking about?
I always took it as You are enough, but also You are special.Yes, I agree.
I think I just didnt feel special, so I didnt make the connection for years.
When did you figure it out?I probably didnt figure it out for a decade.
I would have been through two marriages already and gone,Oh, shit.
Thats what they meant?
What youre saying is you have everything you need already inside of you?
Did it change your feelings about the episode once you understood what that line meant?Yes.
They gave her the tool, and now its your job to use the tool.
I think Lisa Simpson got it, but Yeardley Smith did not.
That idea actually came from Jim Brooks.
But you cant say no to Jim Brooks, so they wrote it, and its a magical episode.
Bart was the focus of the series for many years.
I will not stand for it.
You cannot treat my girl like that.
You cant let her just take it.
I think even my castmates at the end were like,Wow, Yeardley, what a great recording.
I think its going to be a terrific episode.
People think you’ve got the option to do less behind the microphone because nobody sees my tears.
Because its a lot of snot here.
I go right back to that, and I feel such empathy for her.
Did you record the train-station scene last?Yes.
We did it so many times.
Jim Brooks is nothing if not a thorough director.
But I really remember just being a blubbering mess.
Ill just say that in my family, for instance, we were much more formal and buttoned-up.
Nobody wants to see you blubbering about somebody leaving you on a train platform.
They were equally important to me.
Im just gonna keep trying.
They were like, Okay, Yeardley, thats great.
you gotta dial it back.
Its certainly one of my favorite ones.
