Hank Azaria is bringing his Bruce Springsteen show to the Paramount Theatre this Saturday, May 3, at 7 p.m. Alongside him will be the EZ Street Band. This is a show not to be missed. You may not know Hank musically, but he has four Primetime Emmy Awards for The Simpsons, another for his recurring role on “Ray Donovan,” and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical with his role as Lancelot in “Spamalot.” He has many other claims to fame, which I’ll touch upon later. I had the pleasure of speaking with Hank to discuss this. Hank did so many impressions for me like Moe Szyslak and Chief Wiggum from “The Simpsons,” which was one of the first jobs he got. He said, “It was a weird audition. It was the early days of Fox. You didn’t know if Fox would continue to exist, let alone a primetime animated show on Fox.”
The idea for the band came to Hank as he was turning 60 last April. He said, “I was trying to cheer myself up, so I decided to work up a Bruce impression and reverse surprise party for my guests by fronting a Springsteen band I put together. I was feeling a certain way about turning 60, which I never had done before, meaning I had felt bad about turning 40 or 50. You turn 50, and everyone says 50 is the new 40. You turn 40, and they say 40 is the new 30. At 60, nobody says anything but Happy Birthday. I hadn’t thrown a party for myself since I turned 40. I’m not really a party guy, but you get very nostalgic as you approach 60. That included listening to a lot of Bruce stuff, which I always do, but even more than usual because I’m a huge fan and have been since I was a teenager. I noticed I was imitating him more and singing his songs a lot and thought it would be a blast to do that at my birthday and not tell anyone til the night. It gave me something to focus on besides turning 60. I had a panic attack on the day and threw up from nerves, which I’ve never done. It went well, and we raised a lot of money for charity because I said no gifts. We raised $30,000. People liked it, so we kept doing it.”
I stumped Hank when I asked if he’s ever voiced a dinosaur because that is my son’s birthday party theme. Their birthdays are 3 days apart. He said he’s voiced a lot of animals, probably a dino one time on “The Simpsons” but said, “Nobody has ever asked me that question before.”
Hank and his wife Katie started the “Four Through Nine Foundation,” and they give to a variety of charities for Educational Endeavors, Social Justice, and Recovery Issues. You can get info at 4thru9.org. I told him about “Pie in the Face for Chase,” the charity I started with Rick and Annie Kuehl. He was very interested, and wants to support it, which means a lot to me. They’ve never done this but want to pair his shows with local charities. Hank said, “It’s really cool you do that; it’s awesome. You’re a man after my own heart. You had an idea and ran with it. You had a need locally, you connected, your heart went out in your corner of the world. You can do something in your corner of the world. I’m a huge believer in that. We can’t fix everything that’s out there, God knows, but we can try and affect what’s around us in a positive way.”
He was curious about the pie-in-the-face part. He said, “I’ve never been hit in the face with a pie, but I’ve seen it happen many times. Does it hurt?” The short answer is no, but we do have to tell people, mainly children, not to wind up. He added, “I’m going to leave you to that, and I’m going to keep singing Bruce.” He said that in his “Bruce” voice, which is spot on.
Hank has seen Bruce in concert 25 times, with his first show being “The River Tour” in 1980. He knows some have seen him hundreds of times, but fandom doesn’t necessarily mean concerts you’ve attended. I consider myself a big Bruce fan but have only seen the “Born in the USA Tour”, once in 1985.
There’s so many songs he wants to do but said, “Rosalita” might be my favorite to do in concert because people love it so much. I love doing “Growing Up” because we base all these on Bruce’s live performances because I’m very specific about his live recordings. With “Growing Up,” he tells this whole story, and I love the live arrangement he does that we use.”
He assembled the band with the help of his son’s former jazz piano teacher, Adam Kromelow. Hank’s son was a really gifted piano player as a child. Hank said, “When I was putting this together, Adam was my first call. I knew he had a “Genesis” cover band. I love the guy, we’ve got pretty close. We’ve worked on this together, over a year now.” I think the coolest part about this is Hank created this, for a birthday party, and now has been touring with this, and net proceeds go to charity. Hank added, “I’m fortunate enough to not have to keep the money.”
Hank’s career has seen him in hit movies like “Heat”, alongside Al Pacino, “The Birdcage,” which he won a SAG award, TV shows like “Friends” and “Mad About You” and the aforementioned “The Simpsons”, which he’s done for over 35 years. He and Pacino have the same birthday, and Hank said, “I was 30 when we shot the “Great Ass” (in Pacino’s voice) scene in “Heat” and it was his birthday too. It was incredible. My career was taking off. All of a sudden I found myself with Al Pacino, and then Robin Williams and Gene Hackman in “The Birdcage”. I shot “Heat” during the day, and “The Birdcage” at night.”
Hank really loves this Springsteen thing and said, “This is my favorite thing to do right now, and definitely my favorite way to raise money. I’m really all in, I get so much joy doing it. It’s a whole evening.” The next part he said in his “Bruce voice”. “I do the whole talking thing, I tell stories about myself or how Bruce created this song, or that song.” Now back to Hank, “It’s almost like a one-man show with a tribute band. The musicians are pros, they’re really great. I’m not a braggy person, but our band is really good. I’m trying to sound as much like Bruce and the E Street Band as possible. We call it a “Springsteen Celebration”. I love that Bruce makes you feel like he’s singing to you, about you somehow. His songs create a movie that plays in your head, more than other artists I think. I really try and get that across in the show, what it all means to me. It’s all Bruce fans. They can relate to it, and they sing every word.”
For tickets to see Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band, visit: paramountvt.org.
