Harry Shearer, is not merely an entertainer—whether writing or performing, he's a wry provocateur who delights in exposing folly. As the talentless bass player Derek Smalls, he ridiculed heavy metal bravado in the film This Is Spinal Tap. His new novel, Not Enough Indians, satirizes a town that covets a casino, and for the past 18 years, he's given sardonic voice to a dozen characters on The Simpsons.
Has satire made you cynical?
Cynical is what political operatives are. Satirizing keeps me hopeful. I've always been naturally optimistic. Let's put it this way: I grew up during the Cold War but I never once thought Russia and the U.S. would go to war.
Does being such a critic make you feel like a perpetual outsider?
Being an outsider is what led to it. I'm the son of two immigrants, and I skipped two grades in school.
How do you make your characters lovable as well as ridiculous?
I make fun of the choices they make, not of them. Like me, the bass player in Spinal Tap would prefer to be playing music at any moment. I make fun of his musical—and sartorial—choices, but we're both driven in the same way.
