page_title: Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife
section_title: Impact
hierarchical_section_title: Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife / Production / Impact
caption_attribution_description: English: Matt Groening at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego
context_page_description: "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" is the fifteenth episode of the seventeenth season of the American animated television sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 26, 2006, and was watched by around ten million people during that broadcast. In the episode, Homer signs the Simpson family up for a reality show in which the mothers of two families switch places. Marge gets to live with a friendly man named Charles and his perfect son, while Homer, Bart, and Lisa must spend time with Charles' strict wife Verity.
  English comedian Ricky Gervais contributed to the writing of the episode and guest starred in it as Charles. As a big fan of The Simpsons, he felt it was "a dream come true." He was given the offer to write and guest star by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who was a fan of Gervais' British comedy series The Office. After meeting Groening and executive producer Al Jean in early 2004, Gervais set out to come up with the storyline for the episode. He was inspired by the British reality show Wife Swap.
context_section_description: When asked in an interview if the Simpsons staff learned anything from the experience of having Gervais contribute to the show, Groening said they found out "that we could stay true to The Simpsons' sensibility, with high-velocity visual gags, but also honor what Ricky does with subtlety and nuance." Jean added that "there was a scene with Ricky and Julie Kavner [who plays Marge], which was longer than scenes we normally do, and slower-paced, but it got a bigger laugh." According to Don Kaplan, writing for the New York Post, Gervais said to a British newspaper in late 2005 that as a result of working on The Simpsons and other American shows, his connection with American television is deeper than his connection with British television.
  In July 2007, Groening stated that he would like to see Gervais appear on the show again because the staff enjoyed his performance. He also said that Gervais could decide himself if he wanted to return as Charles or a new character, should he choose to lend his voice again. Gervais did make another guest appearance on the show in an episode entitled "Angry Dad: The Movie" that was broadcast in the United States on February 20, 2011. This time he played himself.
caption: The Simpsons creator Matt Groening enjoyed Gervais' performance.
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