The Simpsons: 12 Guest Stars Who Surprisingly Parodied Themselves

8. Stephen Hawking

Episode: They Saved Lisa's Brain Due to a legal loophole, the Springfield chapter of Mensa is left in charge of running the town but, despite their best intentions, any hopes of building a geniocracy are dashed by petty in-fighting. And so, naturally, it falls to the world's most prominent theoretical physicist to restore order. Professor Stephen Hawking flies in and rebukes them as perhaps only he can: ''I don't know which is a bigger disappointment - my failure to formulate a unified field theory, or you.'' Principal Skinner objects to this comparison, to which Hawking replies by releasing an extendable boxing glove into Skinner's face. Such modifications to his wheelchair prove tricky even to Hawking himself who, instead of activating a propeller, accidentally brings out a toothbrush. But it is in the episode's closing scene that Hawking best showcases his self-deprecating humour. Escaping the riot with a stop-off at Moe's, he turns to Homer- who, in the space of five minutes, has referred to Hawking as Lisa's ''robot buddy'', mistakenly called him Larry Flynt and mimicked his speech synthesizer- and says, "Your theory of a doughnut-shaped universe is intriguing... I may have to steal it.''