Farnsworth Hologram

A holographic recording of Professor Farnsworth, activated to deliver messages, instructions, or last words in his absence. It carries all his mannerisms — the mumbling, the sudden shouted asides, the tenuous grip on the topic at hand — without quite managing to be helpful. Whoever's left listening usually ends up more confused than before.

It's a clever bit of economy: Billy West gets to keep doing Farnsworth's exact cadence and comic rhythms in a format that lets the show cut away from plot for a joke without needing the actual character present. The gag is that even a recorded, idealized version of Farnsworth is still hopelessly scatterbrained.