I have a few voices I’m pretty good at impersonating, notably that of Michael Dorn from Star Trek: The Next Generation. What’s the secret to impersonating people’s voices for comedic effect? Listening and matching the timbre and pitch, memorizing lines, and such? (I’m probably not asking a specific enough question.)
I’m not sure that this thread will last long in FQ, as I imagine there’s not a lot of actual “facts” or research to answer it, but there’ll be an awful lot of opinion.
That said, my suspicion is that an “effective” impersonation involves three things:
- Yes, the pitch and timbre are an important part
- Certain signature lines (e.g., Jimmy Cagney’s “You dirty rat,” Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook”) and style of delivery (e.g., Nixon’s “victory” gesture, William Shatner’s pauses between words)
- Physical mannerisms, if the celebrity is known for them (e.g., Cher running her hand through her hair, Rodney Dangerfield nervously adjusting his tie)
If an impersonation has only one of the above, it’ll very likely fall flat. For example, no one is going to know what you’re doing if you can mimic Michael Dorn’s voice, but you aren’t saying Worf-like lines. Similarly, reciting lines from Clint Eastwood’s films aren’t much of an impression if you don’t sound anything like Eastwood.
Also, I’ve noted that, in a lot of cases, the signature lines or mannerisms that impressionists use for certain celebrities have become closely associated with those celebrities (and, thus, have become easy ways to enhance the impression), despite the fact that they may not have ever actually said or used them. 
Actually, this isn’t at all necessary. Certain impersonators’ whole schtick is doing the person speaking wildly out of his typical context. I.e., “This is Richard Nixon commanding the U.S.S. enterprise” or “This is William Shatner delivering the State of the Union address.”
That may be, but even then, the impersonator is likely incorporating Nixon’s or Shatner’s vocal mannerisms (if not actual phrases), as well as the pitch and timbre of the voice.
I can’t speak to the exact “science”, but distinctive voices are easier both to match in tone, accent and wonkiness.
I am reputed to do an excellent impression of Dr. Now from “My 600-Lb Life”*, though there’s little call for my talent in nightclubs.
“You will need to show good progress before we can consider weight-loss surgery. Try to lose 50 pounds in the next 40 minutes.”
For commedic effect mannerisms would probably rate top of the requirements. I have heard women do funny Clint Eastwood impressions. It is all in the delivery. Voice really didn’t matter. But context matters.
I would distinguish between impersonation and impression. Impersonating Michael Dorn is turning up at a Trekkie convention claiming to be Michael Dorn. An impression would be taking part in a bit of comedy relief at the convention.
Getting voices dead on is hard. If a movie director needs some dialogue audio to fix an edit, and the actor can’t be used, what do they do?
Some level of audio processing can be used to match the frequency characteristics inherent in a person’s physiology. Famously Peter O’Toole revoiced parts of Lawrence of Arabia but needed his voice processed to make it sound younger. I would bet Mark Hamil needed similar processing for the young Luke Skywalker in The Book of Bobba Fett.
Some aspects of the voice are under the person’s control. Accents are a big part. But the shape and size of a person dictates others, and you can’t change that. Hence use of audio processing.
In some past threads about voice impressionists, one of the things good ones often do is to record themselves speaking as a certain person and then adjusting their voices based on how the recording sounds, rather than how they hear themselves sound while speaking in that voice. We all know the phenomena of how our voices reverberate in our own bodies and actually sound different to everyone else, like when you here yourself in a recording and it never sounds like what you think you sound like. So, when a good impressionist is speaking as someone else, it probably sounds “off” to their own ears but spot on to others.
Also some voices are easier than others to imitate. Anyone can do a decent Dr. Nick Riviera (Simpsons), which is it’s self a goofy exaggerated made-up voice. However, in the decades of Flintstone remakes and spin-off cartoons, I’ve never heard anyone even come close to matching Alan Reeds’ voice for Fred Flintstone. I can always tell Reed’s Fred voice from anyone else’s within a few words.
Oddly enough, Dr. Nick’s appearance is the result of a mix-up as to who he was meant to sound like:
The design of Dr. Nick is modeled physically on Gábor Csupó, the co-founder of Klasky Csupo animation studios (which animated the series for its first three seasons and The Tracey Ullman Show shorts). The animators mistakenly believed that Hank Azaria was impersonating Csupó, when in fact he was doing an impression of Ricky Ricardo from the TV series I Love Lucy.
This made me laugh, as I have been working on perfecting my own Dr. Now.
He has a very distinctive speech pattern, with seemingly random changes in pitch and some fun pronunciations.
Brother is brudder, think is tink, etc.
Also, start it off with “how y’all doin’?” and end it with “if you need anyting gimme a call” and you’re halfway home.
mmm
Very good!
In fact, Hamill was not involved at all with the most recent Luke Skywalker appearance. On set, a physical double performed the body, with the face replaced using what is effectively sophisticated deepfake tech. And vocally, the spoken lines were entirely synthesized by an AI audio suite called Respeecher. Link.
Wow. I was assuming his name in the closing credits was for a voiceover and I never thought further about it.
It was a much better done appearance than we saw the close of the last Mandalorian. They are clearly getting better each time.
There was a guy who did a better deepfake of the Mandalorian appearance a few days after the season finale dropped. Disney promptly hired him, and apparently used him on Boba Fett.
I always wondered if a skilled impressionist is somehow able to hear their own voice much more accurately than
do the rest of us, to whom the sound of our own voice usually comes as something of a shock. I mean, I may sound like Rich Little in my mind, but once I open my mouth I sound like an idiot.*
*Let’s just take the obvious jokes as read, shall we? 
Interesting. I’ve never encountered any of that which could handle intonation and emotion in speaking. The examples always just sounded flat.
But the Nixon voice in your link had that. The face actually looked more fake than the voice sounded, to my ear, at least. (Though, I note, I didn’t grow up hearing Nixon.)
What I wonder about is why ad agencies pay a lot of money to famous people to do voice-overs on commercials when they could get a good impressionist to do the same exact thing for a lot cheaper.
Even a “good impressionist” is going to sound like a caricature of the celebrity, rather than a “faithful” sound-alike – that’s part of what an impressionist’s schtick is, in most cases. Sometimes, that recognizable caricature may be what the client wants, but not often – it’s usually only in cases where the ad campaign is humorous in tone.
Really? Even an amateur impressionist with some skills will sound pretty impressive. Have you seen that clip where Mark Hamill does Harrison Ford? It’s uncanny.
I suspect the celebrity artist’s lawyers would have something to say if the impressionist’s voice over was impossible to pick from the real deal. If the listener was left with the belief that the real celebrity had endorsed the product, the celebrity is going to want their pound of flesh (and damages.)
You are going to need to make it clear in some way that the impressionist’s voice over is not the actual celebrity, and leave no doubt about the lack of endorsement or other relationship. Humour is probably going to be a good start.
Mark Hamill is far from an amateur impressionist.
Indeed, and I have, on occasion, heard a radio ad in which there was a legal disclaimer which stated, “celebrity voice impersonated.”