The Simpsons Episode That Made Lisa Voice Actress Yeardley Smith Break Down In Tears

In the "The Simpsons" episode "Lisa's Substitute" (April 25, 1991) the second-grade teacher at Springfield Elementary, Miss Hoover (Maggie Roswell), takes a leave of absence to heal from a bout of Lyme disease, and she is replaced by a substitute teacher named Mr. Bergstrom (Dustin Hoffman, credited as "Sam Etic"). Mr. Bergstrom is an amazing teacher, far better than the cynical and detached Miss Hoover. On his first day, he strides into the classroom dressed as a cowboy, and encourages the students to find mistakes or anachronisms in his outfit. The hyper-intelligent Lisa (Yeardley Smith) spots four mistakes, immediately causing the child and the teacher to bond. 

Lisa, as "The Simpsons" repeatedly points out, rarely receives the intellectual stimulation she requires. She's tenacious and alert, but has to live with a flippant, underachieving brother and doltish, incurious father. In the show's most persistent streak of cynicism, the bright-eyed Lisa will always go unacknowledged and underappreciated. When she has a conversation with Mr. Bergstrom outside of school — Lisa and Homer (Dan Castellaneta) run into him at a museum — she realizes that he is a proper role model, someone who sees her. Mr. Bergstrom likewise realizes that Homer is failing to provide Lisa with solid parenting. 

The tragedy of "Lisa's Substitute" is that Mr. Bergstrom's job will require him to depart sooner or later. When Miss Hoover returns, Lisa is devastated. She rushes to the train station to announce that she'll be lost without him as a guide. Mr. Bergstrom hands her a note. He says it contains all the information she'll need to combat her loneliness. The note reads: "You are Lisa Simpson." 

"Lisa's Substitute" is moving enough to move a viewer to tears, an uncharacteristic feature for a series that often relied on parody and cynicism. The episode at large also made Smith more than a little verklempt, as the actress admitted in a recent interview with Vulture. She admitted to weeping openly while recording the final scene where Lisa has to tell off Homer.

When Lisa admits that she lost Mr. Bergstrom, Homer is predictably brusque. "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand," he says. Lisa breaks down and begins screaming at her father, calling him a baboon over and over. Homer is visibly hurt, and Lisa keeps on screaming. She charges away to her room to cry in peace. Smith recalls recording that scene, and how she surprised herself with the intensity of her own performance. She said: 

"I remember recording that scene with Dan Castellaneta and losing my s*** in that recording and just, again, sobbing. I think even my castmates at the end were like, 'Wow, Yeardley, what a great recording. I think it's going to be a terrific episode.' People think you can do less behind the microphone because nobody sees my tears. But for me, I don't know how to separate being on camera and being in front of the microphone. Why would you somehow give less of your heart and soul and everything you know how to do just because nobody physically sees you?" 

Indeed, Smith likely speaks for all voice actors who have ever felt marginalized merely because their performances are strictly aural and not visual. Voice performance takes just as much talent as any other kind of performance. Smith even joked about the volume of mucous she produced that day, remembering her co-stars asking for more Kleenex, "Because it's a lot of snot here." 

"The Simpsons" was a bitter series in its earlier seasons, and the writers were reportedly uncomfortable with the constant requests for more sentimentality from producer James L. Brooks. John Vitti was the credited writer for "Lisa's Substitute," but Brooks was reportedly deeply involved in the scripting process. It's episodes like this one that remind viewers that "The Simpsons" has a soul underneath its bitterness.

According to a 2022 article in GQ, Brooks didn't just mostly-write "Lisa's Substitute," but he also insisted on a few production details. Notably, he requested that Yeardley Smith and Dustin Hoffman record their lines in the same room together. Show creator Matt Groening was deeply impressed, and was reported to have said "We realized, like, look what we can do." 

Although "The Simpsons" was a hit as soon as it debuted, "Lisa's Substitute" came too early in the show's run to become the coveted prestige gig that it is today. It attracted celebrities, but not with the same fervor as in later years. Also, there was still something of a stigma attached to voice acting in 1991. As Roger Ebert once said, there was a time when waning actors only had a choice between cartoon voices or dinner theaters. As such, Hoffman insisted that he be credited under a pseudonym. The name "Sam Etic" was a play on the word "Semitic," a winky reference to Hoffman's Jewish heritage. Hoffman later admitted that he invented his own pseudonym ... and that he could have been cleverer. 

For Vulture, Smith recalled being flown to New York to work with Hoffman, and called it one of the best days of her career. Not only was she starstruck working in the same room with an actor of Hoffman's stature, but she was flattered to receive direction from Brooks, with whom she rarely worked personally. Rich Moore is the credited director on the episode, but, like with the writing, Brooks did some directing as well. 

"Lisa's Substitute" remains one of the more emotionally striking episodes of the series, feeling like a bygone relic of a 35-year-old series. Few episodes since have been this devastating.