# Whatever happened to the stand up impressionist headliners?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 29, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767 "2011-07-29T20:04:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/1 "2011-07-29T20:04:53Z")
Up through the 80’s stand up impressionist like Rich Little and Frank Gorshin were headlining stars, but I can’t think of single popular stand up impressionist 8in tat class currently performing.
What happened to the stand up impressionists? Is that type of comedy just out of fashion these days?
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/2 "2011-07-29T20:21:08Z")
Frank Caliendo is pretty terrific.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/3 "2011-07-29T20:22:08Z")
[Frank Caliendo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Caliendo) was making a go of it a few years ago. I don’t know if he does Obama, but his W. Bush was great(and his Madden).
Dana Carvey was really known for this for awhile, but he did a lot more than just that.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/4 "2011-07-29T20:30:24Z")
Yeah Frank is the only current guy I can think of.
Here’s him on Letterman doing Madden, Pacino, Bush and Clinton.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75wD4E6LSDg)
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/5 "2011-07-29T20:31:11Z")
Terry Fator?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/6 "2011-07-29T20:37:43Z")
I think it’s just seen as an outdated, schlocky style of comedy. Rich Little is still out there doing impressions, if that gives you any indication. Darrell Hammond did a lot of impressions on SNL and he still make a living, but I don’t think you would say he’s a headliner. I find Caliendo really overrated and unfunny.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/7 "2011-07-29T20:48:56Z")
> [@Bosstone](#):
>
> Terry Fator?
I just watched some youtubes of him and I think he’s pretty good.
Not only is he an impressionist but a ventriloquist singing impressionist.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/8 "2011-07-29T20:51:06Z")
[Don Friesen](http://www.donfriesen.com/prescreen.html) does very funny impersonations, but includes plenty of general stand-up as well.
Caliendo can be really funny, or he can come off as tired and overpracticed.
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/9 "2011-07-29T20:55:18Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#):
>
> I just watched some youtubes of him and I think he’s pretty good.
>
> Not only is he an impressionist but a ventriloquist singing impressionist.
He is really good, though on rereading I see the OP’s talking about stand-up, so Terry might not count.
I think impressions haven’t necessarily vanished from stand-up, but I think a lot of comedians have realized it’s not something you should lean on for your entire act. At that point, you’re relying on “Ha ha, he sounds like \ so it’s funny!” No, no it’s not. Sorry Caliendo.
Instead, a lot of comedians still do impressions, but they’re calculated to serve the joke and only used sparingly. Eddie Izzard will do a few impressions in his acts, but they’re brief and come out of the blue and help make the joke funnier rather than be the joke.
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### Author:  [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/10 "2011-07-29T21:24:49Z")
When Andy Kaufman did his Elvis impersonation, everyone else decided to hang it up because they couldn’t compete.
More seriously, I think **Marley** got it. It’s outdated humor, like playing the Borscht Belt.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/11 "2011-07-29T22:08:11Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#):
>
> More seriously, I think **Marley** got it. It’s outdated humor, like playing the Borscht Belt.
It’s also a very one-note type of comedy. A routine that consists of nothing but stuff like “here’s Jack Nicholson” or “here’s John Wayne” or “here’s Christopher Walken” gets tiresome very quickly no matter how good the impressionist is.
On a related subject, there seems to be a group of well-known celebrities that, for some reason, are impressionist-proof. For example, even though they’ve all had long careers and I think most people would recognize their voices, I’ve never seen or heard anybody do impressions of Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, or Gene Hackman. Is there something about their voices that makes it difficult for even a talented vocal mimic to get a hook into them?
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### Author:  [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/12 "2011-07-29T22:44:58Z")
The problem with impressionists too is the people they impersonate usually have as long a shelf life as they do…meaning once the people they make fun of are gone, so are they.
Caliendo hasn’t been funny since Bush went away and since Madden retired. Also they tend to have just a few people they do well and they can get very old very fast
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/13 "2011-07-29T23:29:37Z")
Jim Carey walked away from a very promising career as an impressionist. People thought he was crazy for walking away and focusing on comedy & acting. He was right. He made a lot more money and became a bigger star.
jim doing his early act
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyCPIib98Gw)
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/14 "2011-07-30T01:15:12Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> Jim Carey walked away from a very promising career as an impressionist. People thought he was crazy for walking away and focusing on comedy & acting. He was right. He made a lot more money and became a bigger star.
>
> jim doing his early act
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyCPIib98Gw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyCPIib98Gw)
Here he is breaking out half-a-dozen or more quick impressions for an SNL skit this past season – the gag, of course, being that his character is a celebrity impressionist who hasn’t been able to make a living at it since the '80s.
[http://www.hulu.com/watch/205725/saturday-night-live-psychic-medium](http://www.hulu.com/watch/205725/saturday-night-live-psychic-medium)
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### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-stand-up-impressionist-headliners/590767/15 "2011-07-30T12:38:40Z")
Impressions of actors or celebrities are outdated, as people have said. But doing impressions of politicians could still be an avenue of satire or political or societal critique. A living form of political cartoons. But perhaps the audience at large prefers lighter humor these days?