Kelsey Grammer reveals Sideshow Bob inspiration
Appearing on the Graham Norton Show, Kelsey Grammer explains how he came up with the voice for Sideshow Bob, a character from The Simpsons.
PT0M57S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-4g7dx 620 349 June 8, 2016If you weren't already aware Kelsey Grammer of Fraser and Cheers fame voices The Simpsons character Sideshow Bob. But who is the real Sideshow Bob?
Aside from being a failed clown with homicidal tendencies towards Bart Simpson, it turns out Sideshow Bob wasn't purely the brainchild of Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon, who offered Grammer the gig.
Grammer has revealed to the BBC's The Graham Norton Show that Sideshow Bob's grandiose manner of speaking was inspired by someone close to him, in fact another actor.
Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, is about to switch places with nemesis Bart Simpson. Photo: Fox
Broadway actor Ellis Rabb once employed Grammer to paint and wallpaper his bathroom.
"Ellis would regale me with stories when he came home from work always, and he'd say things like this: 'Oooh, Kelsey. That baby should have been mine,'" Grammer told Norton. "And I thought, 'This guy - I'm gonna use him someday.' And when I read the script for Sideshow Bob, I said, 'This is Ellis Rabb'."
The pair later starred in an episode of Cheers together, called The Spy Who Came In For A Cold One.
Rabb died in 1998.
