<P> Azaria did not expect to hear from the show again, but they continued to call him back, first to perform the voice of Chief Wiggum and then Apu Nahasapeemapetilon . He felt that, initially, "(the producers) didn't seem too pleased with what I had done...(Simon) was very exacting...(and) was kind of impatiently directing me on the ABCs of comedy . But then, much to my surprise, he would still keep having me back every week . But each week, I thought it was going to be my last week because I really didn't think I had done that well ." Nevertheless, by the show's second season he was performing multiple recurring voices and so was given a contract and made a permanent member of the main cast . Since he joined later than the rest of the cast, Groening still considered Azaria the "new guy". In addition to Moe, Wiggum and Apu, Azaria provides the voices of Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson, Cletus Spuckler, Professor Frink, Dr. Nick Riviera, Lou, Snake Jailbird, Kirk Van Houten, the Sea Captain, Superintendent Chalmers, Disco Stu, Duffman, the Wiseguy and numerous one - time characters . His co-star in The Simpsons, Nancy Cartwright, wrote that: "The thing about Hank that I most remember is that he started out so unassuming and then, little by little, his abilities were revealed and his contributions to the show escalated . I realized Hank was going to be our breakaway star ." </P> <P> As Moe's voice is based on Al Pacino's, likewise many of Azaria's other recurring characters are based on existing sources . He took Apu's voice from the many Indian and Pakistani convenience store workers in Los Angeles that he had interacted with when he first moved to the area, and also loosely based it on Peter Sellers' character Hrundi V. Bakshi from the film The Party . Originally, it was thought that Apu being Indian was too offensive and stereotyped, but after Azaria's reading of the line "Hello, Mr. Homer", which the show's producers thought was hilarious, the character stayed . Azaria, however, disputed this on LateNet with Ray Ellin, claiming that Apu was always intended to be stereotypical . Chief Wiggum's voice was originally a parody of David Brinkley, but when Azaria was told it was too slow, he switched it to that of Edward G. Robinson . Officer Lou is based on Sylvester Stallone, and Dr. Nick is "a bad Ricky Ricardo impression ." The "Wise Guy" voice is "basically Charles Bronson," while Carl is "a silly voice (Azaria) always did ." Two of the voices come from his time at college: Snake's is based on Azaria's old college roommate, while Comic Book Guy's voice is based on a student who lived in the room next door to Azaria and went by the name "F". Professor Frink is based on Jerry Lewis' performance in the original The Nutty Professor, and the Sea Captain is based on English actor Robert Newton's portrayal of many pirates . Azaria based his performance for the one - time character Frank Grimes, from the episode "Homer's Enemy", on actor William H. Macy . He counts Grimes as the hardest, most emotional performance he has ever had to give in the history of The Simpsons . </P> <P> Azaria's work on the show has won him four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice - Over Performance, in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2015 . He was also nominated for the award in 2009 and 2010, but lost to co-star Dan Castellaneta and guest star Anne Hathaway respectively . He was nominated again in 2012 . Azaria, with the rest of the principal cast, reprised all of his voice roles from The Simpsons for the 2007 film The Simpsons Movie . Azaria notes that he spends "an embarrassingly small amount of time working on The Simpsons ." He works for "an hour on Thursdays when we read through the script, then four hours on Monday when we record it, and I'll pop in again once or twice ." He concludes it is "the best job in the world, as far as I'm concerned ." </P> <P> Up until 1998, Azaria was paid $30,000 per episode . Azaria and the five other main The Simpsons voice actors were then involved in a pay dispute in which Fox threatened to replace them with new actors and went as far as preparing for the casting of new voices . However, the issue was soon resolved and from 1998 to 2004, they received $125,000 per episode . In 2004, the voice actors intentionally skipped several script read - throughs, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode . The strike was resolved a month later, with Azaria's pay increasing to something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode . In 2008, production for the twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who wanted a "healthy bump" in salary . The dispute was later resolved and Azaria and the rest of the cast received their requested pay raise, approximately $400,000 per episode . Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Azaria and the other cast members accepted a 30 percent pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode . </P>

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