If you were famous, do you think comedians and impressionists could to a decent impression of you? I mean if you were a famous actor, or news figure, or something where people in general hear your voice on the regular.
I was listening to myself on a video and way over-analyzing it (Christmas weed is good weed) and I think I could be doable, no pun intended. I have what I think is an odd accent born of parentage from Western New York, growing up in New England and trying like hell not to develop an accent at all and I think I have a certain cadence and lilt to my phrasing that could be imitated easily.
A good mimic can imitate anyone. Or said another way, anyone is mimicable by somebody with the relevant skill.
The operative question IMO is whether they could do so in a way that was funny. Mimics are comics who’re essentially verbal caricaturists. Some people are easy to caricature in a way that’s funny. Others are less so. The more ordinary and boring your accent, speech patterns, and verbal mannerisms, the less interesting even good mimicry will be.
Other than me being tiresomely long-winded, I don’t think there’s much hook to hang humor on while mimicking me. Boring unpleasant voice with a non-descript US from-all-over accent.
Same with me. My GF is a New Yorker and has an ear for mid-western accents and she says I have none. I don’t think I have any particular quirks for a mimic to mimic sufficiently that people would immediately identify as me (assuming they knew me).
My suspicion is that few of us recognize the verbal quirks we have, especially the annoying mockable ones. But most of us have them despite our lack of awareness. A good caricaturist finds them, magnifies them so the rest of us sudden see them as the essence of that person.
I barely recognize my own voice recorded; I am completely unaware of what is unique about how speak.
I don’t think my voice is very distinctive, aside from being a weird combination of a New Zealand and Australian accent. But I think my posture, and therefore possibly the way I move, is potentially imitable.
I’m from southeast Michigan. When i worked in Chicago in the early 00s, my coworkers could do a pretty solid impersonation of me. I was eventually even able to impersonate thier impersonation of me.
They said i had a very flat nasal Michigan accent (for instance, their impersonation would have me saying ‘accent’ with three syllables.)
A true Virginia accent is a rare thing and I have one. So yes, it can be done, but it isn’t a common skill.
One time, I was sitting at my desk at work, and a friend came running up and asked if I was on a teleconference. I said “no”, and she gestured for me to follow. When we arrived back at her desk she hit her speaker button, and I would have SWORN it was me talking out of that phone. It was really quite spooky. Same voice, same accent, same intonation, everything was spot on.
As I walked back to my desk a couple of people noticed me and looked shocked - clearly they were on the same call. I never found out what the woman’s name was, but it was the talk of the water cooler for a couple of days afterwards.
I’m from SE Michigan as well, born and raised, and I can’t imagine any way to pronounce the word “accent” with 3 syllables, even as an exaggerated parody of a Midwest accent. It’s just “AX-sent” as far as I can figure. How would your coworkers have pronounced it as an impersonation?
Hmm, interesting. Almost sounds more like a stereotypical Wisconsin accent than Michigan. But what do I know? I used to think I had an accent as neutral as “anchorperson voice”, but in recent years I’ve heard a bit of nasal Midwestern twang when I hear my recorded speaking voice. Maybe it’s getting stronger as I age.
Mimics don’t usually do a lot of women in their bits. I think Rich Little only did Edith Bunker and Carol Channing. I think I’ve seen a couple of Ethel Merman impressions over the years. But if someone wanted to do me, they would do a gruff, yet nasal voice, a bit deep for a feminine sound, with a lot of bad grammar, antiquated phrases, and cursing.
I’ve always had an ability at mimicry and cartoon-type voices. When I got into radio, I was told I had a bit of a regional accent and over time I was able to achieve the oft-stated goal of sounding like I’m from nowhere. Or so I thought.
I do, however, have certain mannerisms which are natural to me. Someone once told me that a co-worker in another division did a letter-perfect impersonation of me. I was somewhat surprised because he had a very measured way of speaking and I had often done a letter-perfect impersonation of him!
I never asked him to demonstrate his impression of me, thinking it may have embarrassed him, but I’ve often wondered what it was like.
An interesting thought. I think I’m a very generic caucasian male with few distinguishing characteristics.
And especially when traveling I try to be as anonymous as possible: no logos on the clothes, no telephoto camera etc.
But somehow people do seem to remember me quite often. There may be something about my appearance or speech that I am not aware of?
