He voiced the recurring characters Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure, as well as several one-time and background characters. His favorite part was that of McClure, and he often used this voice to entertain the audience between takes while taping episodes of "NewsRadio". He remarked, "My favorite fans are Troy McClure fans." He added "It's the one thing that I do in my life that's almost an avocation. I do it for the pure love of it." Hartman was popular among the staff of "The Simpsons". Showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein said they enjoyed his work, and used him as much as possible when working on the show. To give Hartman a larger role, they developed the episode "A Fish Called Selma", which focuses on Troy McClure and expands the character's backstory. "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening said that he "took [Hartman] for granted because he nailed the joke every time", and that his voice acting could produce "the maximum amount of humor" with any line he was given. Before his death, Hartman had expressed an interest in making a live action film about Troy McClure. Many of "The Simpsons" production staff expressed enthusiasm for the project and offered to help. Hartman said he was "looking forward to [McClure's] live-action movie, publicizing his Betty Ford appearances", and "would love nothing more" than making a film and was prepared to buy the film rights himself in order to make it happen. In 1993, Hartman appeared in advertisements for Pot Noodle, one of which was banned as it caused people with epilepsy to have seizures. Hartman's first starring film role came in 1995's "Houseguest", alongside Sinbad. Other films include "Greedy", "Coneheads", "Sgt. Bilko", "So I Married an Axe Murderer", "CB4", "Jingle All the Way", "Kiki's Delivery Service", and "Small Soldiers", the latter of which is his final theatrically released film. At the same time, he preferred working on television. His other television roles include appearances on episodes of "The John Larroquette Show", "The Dana Carvey Show", "3rd Rock from the Sun", and the HBO TV film "The Second Civil War" as the President of the United States. He made a considerable amount of money from television advertising, earning $300,000 for a series of four commercials for the soft drink Slice.