Hank Azaria is turning down acting roles to focus on his Bruce Springsteen cover band

nypost.com:

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.