Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), a theoretical physicist, appeared in many works of popular culture.
Television and film
Appeared as himself
Comedy and drama The Culture Show. (Simpsons special) Alien Planet. (Discovery Channel special) I Love the World. (Discovery Channel commercial) Late Night with Conan O'Brien (episode 1752).NBC.com > Late Night with Conan O'Brien > Show Archive He was in a skit in which he made a phone call to guest Jim Carrey. TV Offal. Hawking appeared with host Victor Lewis-Smith in the pre-titles sequences of this show. Star Trek: The Next Generation At the release party for the home video version of the A Brief History of Time, Leonard Nimoy, who had played Spock on Star Trek: The Original Series, learned that Hawking was interested in appearing on the show. Nimoy made the necessary contact, and as a result Hawking appears at the beginning of the Season 6 cliffhanger, "Descent", when Data is seen playing poker with holographic depictions of Hawking, Sir Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Hawking portrayed his own hologram for this episode, making him the only guest in any Star Trek series to play himself. When taking a tour of the set, he paused at the Warp core, smiled, and said, "I'm working on that." During the tour, Hawking requested, and was allowed, to sit in the captain's chair of the Enterprise-D. The Big Bang Theory. (episode 108: "The Hawking Excitation"; episode 117: "The Extract Obliteration" (voice-over); episode 155: "The Relationship Diremption" (voice-over); episode 173: "The Troll Manifestation"; episode 200: "The Celebration Experimentation"; episode 216: "The Geology Elevation"; episode 232: "The Proposal Proposal".) Red Nose Day 2015. Hawking appears with David Walliams and Catherine Tate as an Andy Pipkin character, who transforms into a machine.
Voiced himself in animation
Futurama: In "Anthology of Interest I" (2000) Hawking appears as a member of the Vice Presidential Action Rangers (VPAR), who guard the space-time continuum. Along with Hawking at the end of the twentieth century they include Al Gore, Nichelle Nichols, Gary Gygax, and their summer intern Deep Blue. He first appears as a customer at the pizzeria where Fry believes him to have "invented gravity", and Hawking neglects to correct him. After learning of Fry's inter-dimensional experience, he arranges for him to be kidnapped by the VPAR. In the film The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Hawking appears as his own head in a jar leading a scientific convention organized to study and discuss a tear in the universe. He says that despite writing a book about it, he has no idea what it is. After stunning Professor Farnsworth and Professor Wernstrom with beams from his eyes, he is surprised, remarking, "I didn't know I could do that". Hawking provided his "own" voice for this appearance, and is characterised the same way as in The Simpsons. Hawking appeared in the video game segment of season 6's finale, "Reincarnation" (2011). Hawking made his final appearance in a 2017 promo trailer for Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow. The Simpsons: In "They Saved Lisa's Brain" (1999), Lisa joins the power-hungry Springfield chapter of Mensa, who take over the local council with the intention of transforming Springfield into a Platonic Utopia. Hawking gets wind of the group's actions and arrives in Springfield to investigate. When Mensa announce their new draconian laws, the crowd gathered quickly transforms into an angry mob. Hawking saves Lisa with his wheelchair, which is equipped with hidden gadgets including retractable helicopter blades and a spring-loaded boxing glove. He later joins Homer for a beer at Moe's, where Homer impresses him with his theory of a donut-shaped universe. He makes a brief cameo in "Life's a Glitch, Then You Die" (1999). He appears queuing for the rocket trip to Mars. During the British Comedy Awards 2004, Hawking was presented with a one-off toy version of himself in Simpson form by Matt Groening, complete with boxing glove. Hawking presented Groening with a lifetime achievement award. In the episode "Don't Fear the Roofer" (2005) he is again at Moe's, for Lenny's birthday party. He later explains that he was tracking a miniature black hole, which drew light away from Homer's "imaginary friend" Ray (guest voice Ray Romano), thus making him invisible to Bart. Homer is therefore able to prove his sanity after being institutionalized. In the episode "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot" (2007), Santa's Little Helper encounters Hawking in a corn maze while searching for a lost Homer. Hawking says "This maze is too hard for me," and then flies off in the helicopter attachment. In the episode "Elementary School Musical" (2010), Hawking raps with Flight of the Conchords for Lisa.
Factual Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Interview, 15 June 2014 Red Dwarf. Hawking appeared in a special programme about the popular British science fiction series. He praised its creators for their witty use of (pseudo) scientific theories and said he enjoyed watching the show. The 11th Hour. In this film about the effects of human activity on the environment Hawking gave explanations of these effects. Genius of Britain. Hawking presented the links for a five-part 2010 Channel 4 series profiling British scientists. University Challenge 2016–17. Hawking presented the winner's trophy to the team from Balliol College, Oxford. God, the Universe and Everything Else. Interview with Arthur C. Clarke and Carl Sagan.
Narration Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. A three-part miniseries about aliens, time travel and the past and present of mankind Masters of Science Fiction. A science fiction anthology series.
Played by an actor Hawking. Portrayed by actor Benedict Cumberbatch in a drama about Hawking's time as a postgraduate student at Cambridge University. Stargate Atlantis. In the 5th season of Stargate Atlantis, episode 16 "Brain Storm", where many world physicists were invited to a demonstration of cooling effect using a wormhole between 2 universes. Stephen Hawking, played by an actor, was shown in his chair from behind. Superhero Movie. In a parodied take on Spider-Man, Hawking, played by the actor Robert Joy, jokes about himself within. The Theory of Everything. Portrayed by actor Eddie Redmayne in a biopic about Hawking from the early 1960s to the 1980s. Hawking agreed to allow the filmmakers use of his speech synthesizer voice for the film. Sausage Party. Portrayed by storyboard artist Scott Underwood in the animated movie, parodied as a piece of gum.
Referenced Glee. In the episode "What The World Needs Now"; Hawking is referenced as being the biological father of Brittany Pierce. Computer Stew. Hawking's image was animated and used as a character in several episodes. The Wrong Coast. A segment of the show tells about a movie called Party Time Continuum, in which Hawking is portrayed as a time-travelling party-animal played by Seth Green. Weebl and Bob. In their clip "Balance", Hawking flies across the screen in his buggy and the various characters play around with his speech synthesiser against his will, making it say strange things, such as "I've wet my pants". User Friendly. Hawking realizes in a power blackout that all the dark matter in the universe may be grues.UserFriendly Strip Comments Superhero Movie. Hawking, played by actor Robert Joy, first appears as a judge in a science fair who offers weed to the students and later helps Dragonfly (Drake Bell). Knocked Up. Jonah, while playing in a wheelchair, does an imitation of Hawking by saying (in a robot voice) "People think I'm smart because I speak in a robot voice." The Vicar of Dibley. In the episode "Winter" from the Seasonal Specials, when casting for the Christmas Nativity play, Frank Pickle decided to base his version of the Wise Man on Stephen Hawking, speaking in a voice that sounded only slightly similar to Hawking's synthesized voice. Father Ted. In the episode "Are You Right There Father Ted" from the Third Season, Father Dougal mentions an occasion when Father Ted had done an impression of Stephen Hawking in a variety show only for Stephen Hawking to turn up unexpectedly. The Big Bang Theory. In the pilot episode, Howard Wolowitz brings over a tape, stating that it is a Stephen Hawking lecture recorded in 1974, "before he became a creepy computer voice." In an episode in Season 2, Leonard impersonates a fellow physicist's impersonation of Hawking on the phone. In an episode in Season Four, it was mentioned that Sheldon had been tricked by his friends into going to the airport at 2am to meet him. In Season 6 episode 6, Sheldon Cooper and Stephen Hawking also engage in a game of 'Words with friends' over internet. The two come up with pet names of Coop and Rolling Thunder. In the end, to Sheldon's dismay, Hawking insults him. Young Sheldon. A copy of Hawking's book, 'A Brief History of Time', can be seen lying on Sheldon's shelf and it's shown and mentioned multiple times throughout the series. The Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert, in character as a right-wing conservative pundit ala Bill O'Reilly, has frequently featured segments entitled "Stephen Hawking is Such an A-Hole", citing reasons such as the 'megalomaniacal' title of his program, "Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe". "There is only one master of the universe," Colbert responded, "and that's He-Man." Men in Black: International. A copy of Hawking's book A Brief History of Time is seen lying on top of a bed in an early part of the film. The Avengers. Phil Coulson speaks to Captain America aboard the quinjet and describes Bruce Banner as being like Hawking, a "smart guy", in his human form. Transformers: Animated. The Autobot Perceptor is voiced by PlainTalk as an homage to his fellow super-genius, Stephen Hawking.
Animation The Critic. In the episode "Uneasy Rider" in which he becomes a truck driver, Jay and his new trucker friends go to see "Ultimate Force" at a drive-in, which one of the truckers states will most definitely feature "a tough guy on wheels." The movie turns out to feature Hawking discussing his theories on relative force. Dilbert. Hawking was portrayed in an episode about Dilbert's project, the Gruntmaster 6000, whose "graviton generator" could create a black hole to wipe out all life on Earth. In "field testing" done without consulting Dilbert, the Gruntmaster 6000 was sent to a family in Squiddler's Patch, Texas, where a family of four, living in a trailer, and rather stupid, somehow destroyed the graviton generator, and created a black hole. During the episode, it is "revealed" that Hawking has the power to travel through both time and space via wormholes, and Dilbert learns the hard way that you should never bet money that a theoretical physicist can't do something. Hawking in this also calls Dilbert a "cheap bastard" for only borrowing his book in a library. The Fairly OddParents. Hawking appears in the episode "Remy Rides Again", voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. When Crocker mocks Timmy for thinking that 2+2=5, Remy hires Hawking to prove that this result can actually be obtained, and Timmy was therefore right. At the end of the episode, Hawking rockets away in his wheelchair and disappears like the DeLorean. Crocker runs after him, protesting that 2+2 actually equals 6. Family Guy:Hawking's persona was first featured in the episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater"; it is a brief cameo during the song "This House Is Freaking Sweet"; Hawking is presented as the man who will help Chris do his homework. During this time he is tapping his foot. He makes a cameo appearance on "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One". He is seen with his wife sitting by a fire singing "She'll be coming around the mountain". In "April in Quahog" Hawking has been interviewed by Tricia Takanawa about a black hole dooming the Earth, and afterwards reveals he has faked his illness.