Harry Shearer Finds Humor In This Country's Financial Sorrow. Fine By Us.

Harry Shearer, best known for his work on “The Simpsons” and movies like “This is Spinal Tap” and “A Mighty Wind,” released the album “Greed and Fear” this week. Its title, he said, speaks to the two emotions that rule Wall Street.

“I just started being amused about a year-and-a-half ago by some of the personalities, and even more, some of the language that floated around during the beginning of the ‘Great Recession,’” Shearer said of the album’s genesis.

At first, Shearer understood very little about what actually caused the financial meltdown. But, he added, “You learn fast.” The tracks on “Greed and Fear” have names like “Bailout for Santa,” “Bad Bank,” and “Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sachs.”

“They’re doing God’s work!” Shearer exclaimed about Goldman Sachs, invoking a claim once unfortunately made by their CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Shearer was inspired to write a song about Goldman, he told Imus, when he learned that they helped Greece cheat its way into the European Union by making their budget deficit appear lower than it actually was at the time.

Watching television in London recently, Shearer heard a Goldman spokesman defend the move by saying, “It was politicians, and after all, they wanted it.” Laughing, Shearer said, “In two months they went from, ‘We’re doing God’s work’ to the hooker defense.”

Certain Wall Street euphemisms tickle Shearer’s fancy more than others, like the term “toxic assets.” Meant to describe assets that have declined significantly in value, or for which there is no longer a functioning market, the government mysteriously replaced the word “toxic” when trying to sell these assets on the open market.

“They came up with a new name: ‘troubled’ assets,” Shearer said. “And I just thought, well that’s sweet. Now they’re not poison in the system, they’re just misunderstood, delinquent kids.”

And so Shearer penned the song “Troubled Assets,” which he described as “a melancholy jazz ballad.” Imus noted that he preferred the term “turd assets,” and Shearer giggled.

Besides making beautiful music out of a dreadful recession, Shearer does a killer Larry King impression, voices no less than 40 characters on “The Simpsons,” and hosts a radio program called “Le Show” that airs on NPR stations around the country.

Imus congratulated him on “Greed and Fear,” and on seeing through the Wall Street phonies, unlike Imus’s friend and boss at the Fox Business Network, Neil Cavuto.

“I love Neil,” Imus said. “But, hello?”

-Julie Kanfer