I just stumbled across the Muppet Wiki’s article on Ed Wynn which lists five one-off characters on Sesame Street (Dr. Edwynn, Mr. Monster, one version of the Big Bad Wolf, and an unnamed seal and genie) and one recurring character on Muppets Tonight (Mr. Poodlepants) that copy Wynn’s voice. It also claims that Ed Wynn’s voice was used for several characters “throughout the run of Muppet Babies”.
This annoys me. Discourse cutting out the quote means you’re never sure which post people are responding to.
Assuming this post was a response to mine, I feel that Slater is speaking in his natural voice and mannerisms. But I feel his natural voice and mannerisms are reminiscent of Jack Nicholson. And I feel that helped his career take off. Reminding people of an already popular actor probably helped Slater get cast in roles when he was starting out. So he’s not lying but the similarity is not a coincidence.
Plus, my post was mostly intended as a joke.
I can confirm this from what I’ve read. Some scenes in Snow White were definitely rotoscoped. Most scenes used the live-action footage as mere reference, though.
Fleischer’s patent on rotoscoping had expired in 1934 and many studios used it after that.
Another Ed Wynn imitation was in a TV ad campaign during the 1970s-80s for Hostess Hohos. I remember the falsetto lilt when it pronounced the product name: “HO-stess HO-hos!”
Was it this one?
That’s the one. I didn’t realize he had a name: Happy Hoho.
The 1960s cartoon “The Super 6” may merit mention because it has three characters whose voices were based on well-known celebrity voices Super Bwoing (Jimmy Stewart), Magneto Man (Cary Grant) and Super Scuba (Dean Martin).
Another cartoon around the same time: Cool McCool, whose voice was based on Jack Benny.
I think that sums up the way I feel about. He absolutely sounds like he’s imitating Jack but he just happens to sound a lot like Jack. 
To be honest, that’s kind of true for the military in general. I remember a memoir about army basic training where the author claimed that by the end of the 12-weeks, everybody had a southern accent, “even the kid from Brooklyn.”
Here’s a real competitor for Ed Wynn as “most imitated voice” – W.C. Fields.
the following list from the Wikipedia page includes non-speaking roles, one-offs, and direct portrayals of Fields, but there’s no doubt that his voce and style were heavily used by other characters
How nice of the good folks at Wikipedia to have compiled such a list (which I’m sure isn’t anywhere near exhaustive). Seems the number of voice portrayals may indeed be even greater than those for Wynn.
Not a cartoon, but in old Shazam comic books, when you read Mr. Tawney’s dialog balloons, it’s hard not to hear Lahr’s voice in your head.
It’s not among the most imitated (at least by people not directly imitating him, but Groucho Marx certainly has a unique style and persona.
At least one animated character used his voice not in direct imitation – the Vlasic Pickle Stork, voiced by Pat Harrington
Bugs Bunny has imitated him several times, but it’s pretty obviously supposed to be Groucho
If you’re replying to somebody right after they posted and you want to include their quote to make it clear who you’re replying to, instead of clicking “Reply” you can highlight what you want quoted and choose the “Quote” link that pops up. Then the quote stays put.
Wayne Brady’s Ed Wynn impression on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” (2:10): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qz312
I think Fancy, from Top Cat, also was based on Cary Grant. The others were voiced pretty straight by character actors with distinctive voices of their own, except TC himself who was sort-of Phil Silvers-ish.
I was going to complain that this example doesn’t fit the criteria, since it’s just a nonce impression as part of an impromptu comedy act, but the other comedian’s hypocritical put-down of it (“Can’t you do anyone from the last ten years?”) is absolutely priceless. So instead I will graciously thank you for sharing that link. Welcome to the Straight Dope!
Not so many separate imitators, but Maurice Lamarche has made quite the career out of his obvious Welles in different guises.
Great thread.
IMHO, I think your initial post is probably the correct one, with maybe WC Fields in second.
So not to derail it, but to maybe move in a tangent & as you alluded to with your spoiler: it really struck me as I’ve been reading the replies how really old all the examples are. Other than maybe Jack Nicholson, I don’t really see any celebrities above who are active any longer or even alive in most cases. I’m wondering why this is?
Is it that there are no distinct voices anymore? (although I wonder if we will see a wave of Trump based characters since he has such a distinctive speaking style)
Is it that the golden age of cartoons has passed?
Funny how Bert Lahr sued when his voice was imitated to sell breakfast cereal, but Ed Wynn’s estate seemingly had no objection to his voice being imitated to sell chocolate snack cakes.
well, part of the issue is that there’s a lot of past history to draw on, and several of those old voices were significantly different enough and had characteristic catchphrases so that they can be recognized. If you talk about an Ed Wynn (in his persona as the “Perfect Fool”) or Jimmy Durante or Groucho Marx or Cary Grant or W.C. Fields or Bert Lahr you can immediately imagine what that voice would be like.
How many actors or entertainers today have the kind of recognizable characteristics that let you instantly identify them? Sylvester Stallone’s style makes him one of these, but how do you do, say, Keanu Reeves (without quoting a line from one of his films, or saying “Woah!”) so people kniow it’s him?
The problem is even older for female entertainers. Aside from a few with recognizable verbal hooks – Fanny Brice or Barbra Streisand or Katherine Hepburn, for instance (all of whom were widely impersonated), how many women can you identify by voice alone? There was one female voice impersonator that I remember, but she often used visual cues. I think there are a lot fewer female impersonated voices than male ones. There certainly are some that can be done (Joan Rivers, for instance), but when Tina Fey does Sarah Palin, I know who she’s doing from the look and what she says, not from the sound of her voice.