Shearer Taps Into Technology

Harry Shearer is probably someone you’ve seen on TV or in movies, but it’s even more likely you’ve heard his voice. Shearer intones numerous characters on “The Simpsons,” including Ned Flanders, Montgomery Burns, Principal Skinner, Rev. Lovejoy and Waylon Smithers. He also has a weekly, nationally syndicated radio show originating from KCRW-FM (89.9)in Santa Monica, during which Shearer aims his mimicry and barbs at topics such as politics, Rupert Murdoch (head of the network that shows “The Simpsons”), advertising, wrongheaded technology and this newspaper.

His acting career goes back to the early days of live TV when he appeared as a boy on “The Jack Benny Show” and in movies as diverse as “Abbott and Costello Go to Mars” and “The Robe.” Later he had roles in “The Right Stuff,” “The Fisher King” and “The Truman Show,” but his most famous screen gig was as Derek Smalls in “This Is Spinal Tap,” a 1984 sendup of the rock scene that he co-wrote.

Shearer, 57, lives in the Los Angeles area and New Orleans. He recently directed his first feature film, “Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” with Howard Hesseman, George Wendt, Morgan Fairchild, Henry Gibson and Ming-Na.

DESKTOP: I didn’t get my first computer until about 4 1/2 years ago. I’m not an early adopter; I don’t believe in it. Ask the early adopters of digital TV about how they feel about it.

There are a lot of things that can be accomplished in the digital realm that could not be done in the analog world, and many of them are bad things. Like selling the public a degraded television picture, like the sound of a CD. A friend of mine had a CD reissue of a Blue Note album and I had the vinyl. The sound quality was not even close.

Q. The movie you just directed was all shot digitally.

It’s true there were a lot of advantages to that. I could have never done the movie for the same amount of money on film, and I think it kept the actors a lot happier because the production was more efficient.

Q. What finally persuaded you to get a computer?

We were in New York and I was not getting any writing done and my wife said, “Why not try it?” I think what clinched it was that I found out I could get the Washington Post [online] for free every day.

Also, in doing my radio show, it was getting more and more difficult to get analog tape machines maintained properly, and when they crashed it was pretty brutal. I saw the writing on the wall. Now I use Pro Tools on the Mac in my home studio.

Q. Why did you go with Mac?

I knew from all the people I spoke to that a Mac was far easier to use--I bought one and started writing on it in 10 minutes. The desktop I use is a Mac 8500.

Q. Not very up to date.

I made myself a promise that I would take more money out of the computer business than I would put in. Spinal Tap has done some IBM commercials, and there has been an Intel commercial with the Simpsons.

LAPTOP: A G3 with DVD. I use it to write scripts so I don’t have to spend every waking moment in the studio. It’s nice to be distracted, have a change of scene.

Q. Do you use it for e-mail?

A lot. For me, it increases the amount of contact I have with some people. You might hesitate to call them, but you don’t have to worry about dropping them an e-mail. It’s especially good when you have just one thing you want to say to someone, and you don’t feel like a prolonged conversation. You can just zap them a line and they back to you.

HAND-HELD: No. Just seems like another thing to lose.

BOOKMARKED SITES: A lot of newspapers, both in this country and in Europe and Australia, a place I love. I look at the Miami Herald because of [columnist] Carl Hiaasen and everything going on down there. I look at the L.A. Times online because I don’t believe in paying for it.

Q. Do you look at satirical sites like “The Onion?”

No. I don’t read other people’s humor too much. If you are thinking up humor, you don’t want other people’s ideas rattling around your head.

FAVORITE TECH TOY: My satellite dish. Not the little ones like you get with DirecTV, but the large kind that gets all the feeds.

Q. You’ve collected scenes that were never meant to air.

The one that I’ve shown quite a bit is of Dan Rather in Seattle, outside with the Space Needle behind him, getting ready to do some promos and segues. He spent about 25 minutes just debating whether he should wear a trench coat or not, and whether the collar should be up or down.

Q. Do you keep a tape running all the time to catch moments like those?

No, you go by the old fishing hole, throw in a line and sometimes they bite.

HOME AUDIO/VIDEO SETUP: That would be like making a shopping list for burglars. I’ll tell you one thing--when I play a CD, it goes through a tube amplifier.

Q. I didn’t know tubes were still being made.

What do you think keeps the Russian economy going?

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--As told to DAVID COLKER