Do you think one can be taught to do a variety of famous voice impersonations, or is it a gift (i.e., either you have it, or you don’t)? The epitome, of course, is Robin Williams who was inspired by Jonathan Winters (as I understand it). So, do you think anyone can do voice impressions? Similarly, what about ventriloquism: learned talent or gift?
Robin Williams was the epitome? I thought Rich Little was the classic. Dana Carvey is most famous now along with Frank Caliendo, and maybe Kevin Spacey back in the day.
I love Kevin Pollak doing Jason Staham, by the way. Funny and not just funny because it sounds like him, which is the key to impersonation. The material is funny, too. I can’t find the right clip online now though.
Think of it like music. Some people are born with amazing talent, some are born tone deaf, and the vast majority get better if they work hard at it.
Here’s Kevin Pollak’s hilarious Star Trek routine where he does William Shatner, Robin Williams, Christopher Lloyd, Jack Nicholson, and Dudley Moore.
David Frye was great, too. He put out record albums of himself imitating Richard Nixon, LBJ, Nelson Rockefeller, Ted Kennedy, and various other political figures. Howard Cosell thought Frye’s imitation of him was the best he ever heard.
Rich Little and Frank Gorshin were both regulars on Ed Sullivan and other variety shows. Gorshin also played The Riddler on the Batman TV series. More recently, Spacey is a very good mimic, as is Jim Carrey, although he primarily contorts his face to look like other people.
You need both a good ear and a malleable voice. You also need the ability to immerse yourself in the character of whoever it is you’re imitating. I remember David Frye telling Johnny Carson the most difficult thing is to give the *illusion *you’ve become that person.
I’ve done lots of voice work in different media. Ever since high school, I was always able to do most of the characters on Star Trek really well, but I could never get a handle on Captain Kirk. Then one day I read an article in TV Guide that referred to Kirk as being played by (their quote, not mine) a “hammy Shakespearean actor who spoke in short, choppy sentences.” I said “THAT’S IT!!!” and everything just fell into place.
I guess you really do need to be something of a **ham **to assume another person’s character convincingly.
I have the DVDs of the Ed Sullivan shows on which the Beatles appeared. Frank Gorshin was in the first show they appeared in on February 9, 1964, as well as Davy Jones before he appeared in the Monkees.
Simon Helberg (TBBT) is pretty good too.
His impressions of (I’m pretty sure) Al Pacino and Christopher Walken when they were playing Christmas D&D had me in stitches! Helberg is a brilliant mimic!
In addition to being a great impressionist, Gorshin was a very versatile actor. I didn’t realize this until many years after I saw him as the Riddler on ***Batman ***and Commissioner Beale on Star Trek. There’s an episode of Combat! on YouTube where he plays a GI who takes credit for a dead buddy’s heroism, and Saunders puts him in for a decoration. Throughout the rest of the story, you can see the guilt eating him up inside.
Yeah not everyone’s a good mimic - seeing bad impersonations can ruin a good day.
Good ol’ Freddy Travalena - he was up there.
On the Peter Serafinowicz show, PS did a lot shitload of bang-on impersonations. He had each Beatle nailed down perfectly, and his Pacino (yeah yeah everyone does him now - I know) is plum dandy.
I saw a movie, Comic Book: The Movie, which starred Mark Hamill and Tom Kenny and featured other noted voice actors such as Billy West. Jess Harnell of the Animaniacs can also do the voices of each Beatle. He can also imitate Ozzy Osbourne and looks like him as well.
Yes, also a great dramatic actor. I saw him in episodes of such shows as Naked City and Peter Gunn.
My favorite is Maurice LeMarche from Pinky and the Brain
I do some almost half decent voice impersonating of people with deep voices. My impression of Butthead is dead on, but Mike Judge taught me how to do it. But the guys who are good at this do much more than imitate the voice, the mannerisms of the person and choice of words is a big part of a convincing act. I’m guessing proficiency comes to the naturals who practice, all of the big name voices around now have had some training, often from the big stars of the past like Daws Butler. I assume even Mel Blanc got some training in his radio days. Speaking of Blanc, his son had the best training opportunity on earth, but he didn’t do all that well in the voice field after his father passed away. He was pretty old himself by that time so maybe he wasn’t all that interested, but I don’t think it’s a given that anyone can learn the art.
I once say Pollak do a killer Harry Carey. Just hilarious.
The best impressionists are the ones who do people you don’t usually expect. Jim Carrey in his early years didn’t just do the voices, he also did the faces.
I do poor-ish impressions. What makes it click for me is to see someone else doing their impression. The the sky opens up and the sun rises. “So, that’s what’s so distinct about that voice.” So being the first to do someone is the real trick.
I have a tin ear, so I can’t hope to do impressions well. But someone with a better ear should be able to do quite a few with some practice.
(Unlike ventriloquism which I find is a snap. I have no idea why Edgar Bergen and such never learned it.)
Some are particularly hard. Dave Thomas (nee Carrey?) of SCTV is noted for being able to do Bob Hope.
BTW: Frank Gorshin was the only cast member of the Batman TV show to win an Emmy award. He was very talented and versatile performer. His final performance was a guest star on CSI that aired two days after he died. He was playing himself.
Being a radio ventriloquist like Bergen is certainly a snap.
Terry Fator is both a ventriloquist and impressionist of the highest order, he uses his puppets as singing impressionists. He’s been noted for singing songs better than their original artist without moving his lips!
I did a Clint Eastwood impression on my old answering machine (remember those, kids?) that was so good, people would ask me how I got him to do it for me. 
Another thing you need is a good sense of rhythm and timing; you have to get the distinctive cadence of someone’s speech in order to do a convincing impression. This is why Shatner in particular is so much fun to do: nobody else I can think of talks the way he does! His hand gestures and body language are unique too; I remember once he was doing a very intense scene on Columbo, and I swear it was obvious Peter Falk was doing his best to keep a straight face!