Christopher Walken Reading “Good Night Moon” on The Simpsons

There’s something inherently creepy about listening to Christopher Walken reading anything, let alone a children’s story. But when he reads Goodnight Moon in the Simpsons it just kind of sets all the hairs on the back of your neck to tingling at once. He’s just an unnerving guy unless he’s trying to be nice, and even he’s kind of creepy in a hard to define sort of way. The thing is, that’s just awesome. He’s so creepy when he’s reading children stories that it’s downright funny and hard to replace.

Something about his voice is just so infectious that once you hear it you’ll almost immediately try to emulate it. There’s no mockery in the act, not even a hint of anything malicious, it’s that his voice is so great that people actually want to be able to sound like him. It’s hard really because there’s a kind of jumping quality to it that allows his voice to rise and fall with each word, almost as though his tone is sliding up and down in a way that’s hard to track. That’s the best analogy I can give for it really, but I’ve also got another clip I had to add just to show how his voice is that awesome.

His voice almost sounds apologetic in some ways but strong in others since you know that most of the time when he’s talking heis just commanding respect with his every word. Some that don’t know the man well enough might think that his voice is that of someone who’s not certain of himself or his talents, but in reality Christopher Walken is a guy that’s already proven what he can do many times over and the level of talent he possesses is not to be questioned. He’s an award-winning actor that has won an Oscar and has starred in or at least contributed to over 100 films in his long and storied career and there’s really not a lot that he can’t do at this point.

This is the guy that played the headless horseman in the live action rendition of Sleepy Hollow for crying out loud, so of course he’s great. He started the line “more cowbell” from an SNL appearance, and one of the few actors that can actually elevate a movie from B status to something greater just by being in it.

But yes, his voice is still a little creepy when he’s reading a children’s book, and so there’s that.

This is still the guy that starred in Suicide Kings as a notorious mobster that eventually threatened his captors despite being bound and completely at their mercy. Yet throughout that time he was still a bad, bad man that just couldn’t be rattled no matter how much a bunch of rich, privileged college kids tried to get under his skin. That’s the kind of actor Walken is, he’s so smooth and yet so sneaky that you don’t know he’s in your head until he’s tapping around in your skull trying to get your attention.

Good night, moon. Good night, MOON.

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