Glen Hansard on why The Simpsons are even better than The Oscars!

Yup, we’ll be the first people in the world to see Homer and Grandpa running amok in Dublin, aided and abetted by Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova, Kenneth Brannagh and somebody who sounds suspiciously like Colm Meaney.
Writing for Hot Press, the aforementioned Mr. Hansard tells us how appearing in the show is an even bigger deal than winning an Oscar.
“In the past three years, there have been many strange and interesting changes in my career and that of Marketa and The Frames. It’s all seemed to happen at such a pace that I could only really witness it. It will have to be taken in and absorbed at some later time, and when fortune comes into your life like this you really have to put your yourself in its service, and trust your gut… to know and do what’s required and also to know what feels un-authentic and to try your best to avoid doing things that make you feel like you’re sucking on the limelight at the expense of others. When Hollywood began to make favorable noises about Once, I must admit to feeling equal amounts of terror and excitement.
“I was so proud of the film and excited that it could have reached these heights and all these people. At the same time I was terrified at what it might do to myself and Marketa and John Carney if we experienced what I thought was the shallow Hollywood world. There was equal amounts of wanting to shy away from it all, and at the same time wanting to know how far we could go and what it would be like, and as we found out, it wasn’t a world of fake smiles as I thought it might be.
“There was genuine respect for what we had done with Once and we encountered very little shallow backslapping. We met many great people who offered us either a place to stay or dinner – all of which we accepted. Of course the bullshit exists, but we were spared it. Maybe it’s because we were outsiders, I don’t know. Maybe it’s all a myth, it’s not my place to judge. We spent a little over a month in Los Angeles in January 2008 playing small gigs and doing interviews; we brought our families over for the Oscars and decided to take it in our stride. If we win great, if we don’t that’s fine too but nothing you can tell yourself beforehand can prepare you for the nerves of being there on the night. All of that whatever attitude went out the window and we got super-nervous. We had to play our song and I was afraid I’d somehow forget it – it’s hard to explain. The pressure was on, and when our name got called and we’d won I was genuinely completely freaked the fuck out! I was so happy and all of my personal questions went right out the window. It felt as if we’d scored the winning goal in the World Cup! Suddenly the weight of Ireland itself landed on us (and the Czech Republic of course)! Honestly I had kinda prepared something to say in the slim event we won, but I don’t even recall what that was now. I forgot to thank John Carney, which I regret. Thankfully Mar said it all so eloquently, as is her nature.
“Anyway, we had a great celebration that lasted for days. It’s all a blur, and a few days later it still hadn’t sunk in – and a few months later it still hadn’t! Actually, it’s only now that it’s sinking in. When we watched the Oscars last week it hit me – wow, I’ve got one of those things. Anyway the good news for me and Marketa and the boys from The Frames was that we were beginning to play to more and more people who’d discovered the band through the music in Once. We toured America and Europe pretty solidly for a year and got to play some of the rooms I’d only heard about like the Ryman in Nashville or Radio City in New York. This has been such an amazing ride. And then out of the blue the people from The Simpsons called and asked if we’d like to guest on the show, and I have to say that this more than any other thing that happened to us during these great few years was the biggest deal. The f***ing Simpsons! Of course we said ‘YES’!! and we went as soon as they needed us and recorded the voiceovers.
“I did question why they’d want to parody Once. I mean it was a pretty small film compared to everything else that The Simpsons have had on. When I asked they just said they liked the film and wanted to do a sketch. It’s a short scene but very funny. They made me ham up my accent, which was funny. Americans like their Irish people to be very oirish! So, I hear it goes out in March. I’m looking forward to seeing it. If you’re gonna get the piss taken out of you, it doesn’t get better!”

The Simpsons’ Paddy’s Day special goes out at 7.30pm on Sky1.