Speaking for America

Harry Shearer voices Principal Skinner and other beloved characters on The Simpsons. Now he’s playing Richard Nixon, says Pádraic Killeen

HARRY Shearer is talking. The voice of so many beloved Simpsons characters, and an all-round American comedy icon, Shearer sounds so familiar that it feels as if Principal Skinner is here, hastily rifling through his files.

Shearer is on this side of the Atlantic to promote his new TV comedy, Nixon’s The One, which premieres this evening on Sky Arts. The show takes its cue from 198 hours of secret recordings of himself that Richard Nixon made during the years 1971-73.