Lisa's First Word Bart was two during the flashback. Maggie's first word was provided by the Academy Award-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor, who would also voice herself in the season four finale, "Krusty Gets Kancelled". While promoting the episode, the producers initially did not reveal who the voice of Maggie would be, prompting speculation as to the identity of the actress. Although it was only one word, the voice came out "too sexy" and Taylor had to record the part numerous times before the producers were satisfied and thought it sounded like a baby. Several sources, including John Ortved's "The Simpsons" history article "Simpsons
The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase guest stars appear in the episode; Phil Hartman as Troy McClure, Tim Conway as himself and Gailard Sartain as Big Daddy. McClure is used as a host of the episode, something he had previously done in the episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". Conway appears as himself. Conway, a comic veteran, is known for his work on "The Carol Burnett Show", which has a similar format to "The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour". Due to Lisa being substituted for an older teenager (voiced by Pamela Hayden) in the third segment, Yeardley Smith has only one line in the entire episode.