Very hard to find a/or multiple poor or below average episodes during that golden period.
Mayor Quimby is a parody of the Kennedy family with the voice modelled after JFK whereas Mr Burns was based on John D Rockefeller whilst his look is a combination of a praying mantis and former head of Fox broadcasting, Barry Diller.
Hartman guest starred in 53 episodes which is currently 2nd behind Marcia Wallace (172 as per IMDB) for most guest star appearances and voiced numerous one-time characters most notably Lyle Lanley from the episode Marge Vs the Monorail.
Unsure if you’re aware of the tragic circumstances of his death and the Andy ****/Jon Lovitz story.
Phil Hartman’s death:
“On May 28th, 1998, Phil was shot to death while sleeping in his Encino, California home by his wife,
Brynn Hartman. Brynn left the house and later came back with a friend to show him Phil's body. When her friend went to call 911, Brynn locked herself in the bedroom with Phil's lifeless body and shot herself. It was later discovered by the coroner that Brynn had alcohol, cocaine, and the antidepressant, Zoloft, in her system.”
Andy ****/Jon Lovitz story (
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lovitz-speaks-out-on-dustup-with-andy-****/):
In an interview with Dennis Miller on Tuesday, comedian Jon Lovitz explained that Andy ****'s constant complaining about his arrival on "Newsradio" led to an argument during which Lovitz accused **** of contributing to the death of Phil Hartman. Lovitz had joined the show, of which **** was a co-star, after his friend Hartman was shot and killed by Hartman's wife, Brynn.
"[Andy] was just complaining and really giving me a hard time for no reason. Phil told me that they had a Christmas party and Andy was doing cocaine and he gave it to Phil's wife Brynn, who had been sober for 10 years. So Andy said to me, 'Well, you shouldn't be here,' and I said, 'Well, I wouldn't be here if you hadn't given Brynn coke in the first place.'"
Eventually, the two worked out their differences, or so Lovitz thought. "Later on we made up, and I said 'I'm sorry I said that,'" Lovitz said. "I realized it really wasn't his fault. Everything was fine for years." But everything changed when **** visited a restaurant of which Lovitz is part-owner. Lovitz said he was sitting at a table with a friend, and a group at the table next to them treated them to some peach liqueurs. Apparently, **** and a friend came over to their table, and downed both liqueurs.
"He's standing there with liqueur dripping down his chin and he says, 'I put the Phil Hartman hex on you, you're the next one to die,'" said Lovitz. "And he's smiling, and my blood just went to my head. I wanted to smash him, but if I hit him he would have gone flying into the table behind him. He was really drunk."
Lovitz told ****'s friend to take his buddy out of the restaurant and vowed never to let him back in again. He didn't see **** again until Wednesday night, when Lovitz was performing his weekly show at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. "So I do my show and there's all these people there and then I'm done and the MC's up on stage and I see Andy's up on stage and I'm like 'Oh my God, what's he going to do?'" he said. Lovitz met up with **** in the packed lobby after the show. Lovitz wanted an apology from **** for his "Hartman's hex" comment. But, apparently, **** hadn't really buried the hatchet over their initial argument during their stint on "Newsradio."
"I just wanted him to say, 'Oh, I'm sorry,'" said Lovitz. "Then he leans into me, 'Well you know why I said that? Because you said I killed Phil Hartman that's the first thing you said to me when you got on the show.' I just lost it so I grabbed him by the shirt and I pushed him against the wall. And he's just smiling at me, and then I realized 'oooh, here's my chance.' So I grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him really hard and I smashed his back and his head into the bar. And I did it again. I would have kept going, but the doorman broke it up."
