Rich Little - Good or mediocre?

Cafe Society
1

I saw a rerun of Chico and the Man recently in which Rich Little was a guest star. His character stammered a lot, so to get around him he spoke as various celebrities (of course).

I remember when I was much younger and Rich Little was a common fixture on programs back in the 70s, his characterizations seemed a lot better than now in retrospect.

So. . .

Was he mediocre then, too, and I just didn’t appreciate it? Just about any of the impressions of anyone on, oh, say an SNL-type program, seem a helluva lot better than his in his heyday.

2

Good or mediocre? How about, “Rich Little sucks my puckered anus.”

I always hated him (well, his act), and there was no doubt of his lame-itude when he had a TV special with this other Canadian impressionist, Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey was the greatest impressionist of all time, but Rich Little actually turned him off of doing impressions. A big loss.

3

I saw Rich Little about 10 years ago. It was a show in Reno
without an opening act, incredibly expensive and sold old(amazingly enough). I would say about 50% of his act was on film, he would dispappear and a screen would come down and they would show him doing “interviews” with famous people and of course impressions. It was the worst show I ever saw. You could tell that he just didn’t give a damn about the audience. He has some talent, but he’s not up there with other comediansm not even close. Those guys on SNL doing Gore and Bush and Clinton are even better than he was.

4

I find all impressionists cringe-making. I rank them right up there with clowns and mimes under “acts I would pay good money to avoid.”

Hijack: about 20 years ago a friend was in Las Vegas and saw a marquee advertising “RICH LITTLE MEL TORME.” Ever since then, she referred to Mel as “rich little Mel Torme.”

5

Originally posted by Eve

:smiley:

…and accurate, too. Gawd, I love Mel. [singing]That ooooold black magic…[/singing]

6

When I was in Hawaii I did a project with a rehabilitation hospital. The project was creating a functional library out of 100 years worth photographs.

Rich Little is (was?) a major benefactor of this hospital and does (did?) an annual benefit for them.

Just from having to catalog the thousands of photos that came out of those events I would like to kindly invite Rich Little to fuck off.

I don’t know that I have ever seen him perform. I’ve seen spots and they seemed to be competent impersonations. But as Eve said, that is like saying “competent mime.”

7

I remember when he filled in as the voice of Mike Hammer when Stacy Keach went to prison. Entertainment Tonight did a story about it, saying what an incredible job he did, and that you won’t be able to tell the difference. He didn’t sound anything like Stacy Keach. Not even close. He sounded exactly like Rich Little.

8

As a clown who makes a living doing impressions of mimes, I am offended and hurt by that remark.

9

Beyond tedious

10

Sorry, but if you want to make some money, come to my house and start doing mime (or any other clown stuff); I will give you a dollar to go away.

I recognize that mimes and clowns serve a useful function in society, but then so do chlamydia and syphilis bacterium and I don’t want them around me either.

But don’t take it personally.

11

My father met him at a party in Palm Beach once…just as all of you have described - awful!

12

I never ever was impressed by Rich Little and thought he was hoaky as hell.

Noticed he’s been married a couple times. His wives were probably sick of him mocking them…badly.

13

So, twenty years after the abve post (and, thus, about 30 years after the Reno show described in it), it sounds like Little is still doing a very similar (if not identical) show, at the Tropicana in Vegas. Wikipedia says that he began doing the show in Vegas in 2015, and he’s still listed on the Tropicana website.

14

Oh my god but he was awful when he was popular on television. I never got why anybody preferred watching him when they could instead be closing their eyes and sticking their fingers in their ears.

15

(Acknowledging that it’s been almost twenty years) Does anyone know if what we think is Rich Little’s voice is actually his voice?

16

This. He never sounded like anyone he was supposedly mimicking. I vote for slightly below mediocre.

17

As an announcer who has a side gig doing impressions of mimes on the radio, I am existentially disconcerted by that remark.

…

Oh, and at the time I saw Rich Little as yet another “white bread safe comedian” like Bob Hope…

18

This Zombie belongs in the Café now. I’ll move it over.

As to Rich Little, I thought he did a good Howard Cosell at least.

19

He could go all the way.

20

Yeah, he was bad, and Frank Gorshin wasn’t much better. They were regulars on Ed Sullivan and the like, and we thought they were funny, but there weren’t that many impressionists around, it seemed. The first time I saw Jim Carrey doing his thing, I just sat there with my mouth hanging open. Holy shit, that guy can contort his face into almost any shape.