Eric Bauza is headed to Springfield. The late voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck will make his posthumous debut on The Simpsons two weeks from tonight, voicing two characters in the Season 38 episode "Dream Scenari-Moe."
As Deadline reports, the episode airs Sunday, November 15th at 8 p.m. on FOX, with new episodes streaming on Hulu the next day. Bauza plays restaurateur Mr. Fong and newspaper editor Harry Metsali. Co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos, who co-showran the episode, told Variety the team reached out to Bauza "to play two New-Yorky characters," and he came in to record them over two sessions.
Bauza passed away on Sunday, October 25th, at his home in Los Angeles. The Scarborough, Ontario native was 46. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner listed the cause as hypertensive cardiovascular disease and ruled the death natural. We covered the news here when it broke, and the Simpsons team had just worked with him.
"Everything people have said about Eric, before and after his untimely passing, is absolutely true," Mazariegos said. "He was so funny, kind, creative and just immensely talented." He added that Bauza "knocked it out of the park" in the booth and "seamlessly dipped in and out of dozens of voices."
After his sessions, Bauza signed the show's Wall-of-Fame and drew Bugs Bunny on it.
"That's how we found out he started as an animator!" Mazariegos said, calling Bauza's death "a devastating loss." The team joins "his countless friends, colleagues and fans in mourning his loss."
The day before he passed, Bauza posted a photo from LightBox Expo in Pasadena alongside longtime Simpsons director David Silverman. Variety also notes that Sunil Malhotra, the new voice of Apu, shared a congratulatory note Bauza had sent him about the role shortly before his death. We covered Apu's return here.
As for the episode itself, it centers on Moe, who signs up for a brand new sleep study that gives him the romantic comedy dreams of his life. Of course, it's Moe, so it goes wrong fast. Meg Ryan voices Sam, and SNL's James Austin Johnson guest stars as Dr. De La Manana.
For younger fans, Bauza WAS Bugs and Daffy. He carried Bugs and Daffy, the characters Mel Blanc made famous, through Looney Tunes Cartoons, which won him the very first Children's & Family Emmy for an animated voice performance in 2022. He added two more Emmys for Bugs Bunny Builders and Teen Titans Go!, and his credits include Splinter in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baby Fozzie in Muppet Babies, the title role in The Adventures of Puss in Boots, and Bugs, Daffy and the gang in this year's Coyote vs. Acme.
Fans can hear him even sooner, too: Daffy Season, the new Looney Tunes theatrical short with Bauza as Daffy, plays exclusively in theaters ahead of The Cat in the Hat starting Friday, November 6th!
Will you be watching on November 15th to hear him in Springfield? Which Bauza performance is the one you'll remember him by?
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