Grow tired of voicing Bart? Neh

Peter Pan would have a cow if he knew his title as the most beloved eternal child had been snatched by a wisecracking, animated kid.

Bart Simpson refuses to grow up, and he refuses to leave the airwaves.

Al Jean, the executive producer of Fox's "The Simpsons," recently said the show would almost certainly be back for its 21st season next year.

And likely its 22nd after that. And maybe its 23rd after that.

Nancy Cartwright, who has given voice to Bart since the characters were just a segment on "The Tracey Ullman Show" in 1987, thinks "The Simpsons" is nowhere near the finish line.

"Truthfully, my opinion is that I don't see an end in sight," she said in a recent phone interview. "I could see three more years - I don't think they want to end off doing the TV show before the next movie comes out."

On Wednesday, Cartwright will speak at Colorado College about the show, about being Bart Simpson, and about what it all means.

Even after 20 years, she said it's not a subject she's tired of.

"Heck, no," she said. "I've had no downs with being the voice of Bart Simpson."

Not only is she not tired of being Bart, but she's not even tired of watching the show.

When her children were younger, she said, she often missed the complete episodes Sunday night.

For instance, two weeks ago, Cartwright and her staff sat down to watch the "Treehouse of Horrors" episode from Season 11 to celebrate Halloween.

Cartwright said she had never seen it and didn't even remember recording her parts.

"I'm not even thinking about the day we recorded it - I don't even remember it," Cartwright said. "What a treat that is after all these years to just watch it as a member of the public."

For the voice actors, "The Simpsons" is an ideal job. Cartwright has done script reads over the phone and recorded her parts on vacation.

"It just is like the best job," she said.

"It affords everyone a lot of time to expand on their career."

Although Cartwright's name is familiar to fans after appearing in the opening credits for a generation, her face is still not famous, or her real voice.

Still, the fame has given her the opportunity to get involved in charities and her community (she's the honorary mayor of Los Angeles' Northridge neighborhood).

"That's cool," she said. "It's something that I really cherish."

No matter how long the show lasts, Cartwright expects she'll be giving voice to Bart Simpson for the rest of her life.

"(I'll) be 80 years old, ‘Get that away from me,'" she said, giving Bart's voice an elderly wheeze. "‘Don't have a cow, man.'"


DETAILS
Nancy Cartwright - "My life as a 10-year-old boy"

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Armstrong Theatre, inside Armstrong Hall, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Tickets: $10; tickets at Worner Campus Center Information Desk, 902 N. Cascade Ave., or www.ticketswest.com