More satire from Shearer

Harry Shearer gives voice to about a dozen regular characters on "The Simpsons," including C. Montgomery Burns and his assistant, Smithers, Principal Skinner, and Reverend Lovejoy. And he's done the work of a dozen people this year, with a new album, "Songs: Pointed and Pointless"; a new novel about a supposedly Native American casino, "Not Enough Indians"; his syndicated "Le Show" radio program; and his own video shorts page on MyDamnChannel.com.

He has also appeared with his Spinal Tap bandmates Christopher Guest and Michael McKean at Live Earth, and of course, voiced "The Simpsons" on the big and small screens.

If that's not ambitious enough, he's working on a new novel, a new CD, and a Broadway musical about the life of J. Edgar Hoover, starring Kelsey Grammer.

This weekend, Shearer and his wife, singer-songwriter Judith Owen, come to the Jewish Theatre of New England to perform a satirical revue, "This Is So Not About the Simpsons: American Voyeurs." Shearer also will read from and sign copies of "Not Enough Indians" today at 6 p.m. at Borders (511 Boylston St., 617-236-1444).

Q: Are you tired of people asking you about "The Simpsons"?

A: No, not at all. We wanted to make sure people knew they were going to hear about two minutes of "Simpsons" stuff, and then we move along. We wanted to make that utterly clear at the outset.

Q: Does the show have a through line, or is it more of a revue?

A: It's a show that Judith and I conceived for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year and did it there for a sold-out month. She's a Brit, I'm a first-generation American, [and] we both feel as though we know this place well but look at it slightly from the point of view of outsiders. Hence "American Voyeurs." She looks askance at the Hollywood/Beverly Hills axis, and I look askance at the New York/Washington, D.C. axis, and each of us do so through comedy and music, and there's some amusing video along with it.

Q: What made you take on the casinos?

A: Well, I was just fascinated by the strangeness of the historic 180 that happens to at least some Native Americans, going from the most despised and genocided people on the continent, they are now sitting on top of this huge money pile to the extent that they can be envied now. And I just thought that was a great historical joke that amused me enough that I wanted to toy with it a little.

Q: How do you turn serious, sometimes depressing issues into comedy?

A: I think you actually reach more people by making them laugh, and then at the other end of the laugh, a thoughtful "hmm" might occur. My primary business is making people laugh. If you're in this to try to have any other result, that might be frustrating.

Q: What's your view of current satire?

A: I think we're in a classic second-term presidency of satire, in the sense that, in the first term, it's only the people who are paying close attention who are doing jokes about the president, whoever that happens to be. And by the second term, it gets very jokey and very easy and very late-night. Because we all know now, oh, he's dumb, he's horny, he's old. And that's when Newsweek does a cover, "Satire Is Back!" - exclamation point.

Q: Why do you think the chemistry between you, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest persists so well through the years?

A: We're all amazingly different as humans, but I think we all love the idea of comic work that kind of lets the audience discover the joke, as opposed to being hit over the head with it. And we are all fans of working as deeply defined characters, as opposed to, "Here's a funny hat! Look who I am now!" You know? I think of it as disappearing behind the character. I did this Dick Cheney video for MyDamn Channel.com, and somebody said it took them half the video before they realized it was me, and that was like, "Yes! Thank you. That's what I want." That's how I know I've done a good job.