Sunday, December 2, 2012

Sounds just like him!

Comedy is definitely one of the best ways to be entertained. Chances are when sitting down to listen to a comedian you will find almost every one of them are different. They all approach their acts and their material in different ways. I personally have always been amazed by the impressionist comedians. Undoubtedly it takes so much courage to get up there in front of people and perform, then to try and be someone else, much be harder….or is it?
Sometimes it makes me wonder why comedians choose to do impersonations rather than do comedy as themselves. Take for instant a comedian such as Rich Little, the man of a thousand voices, have we ever heard his real voice? Yet there is no denying his immense popularity and the fact that he is undeniably hilarious. Then there is comedian Pablo Francisco whose impressions and transformations bring audiences to uncontrollable laughter each time. His impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a tortilla vendor is ridiculously funny. So why do comedians such as these grab so much humor from impersonating others?
Naturally it’s us, the audience, who find it so funny. Is it just the fact that a person is impersonating another or is it how they do it? Chances are it’s a little bit of both and definitely the fact that it mustn’t be easy to do that. When watching these comedians, not only do they sound like the person they are impersonating, they have the entire facial and body mannerisms down as well. That takes a lot of skill to do that from one person then switch right over and impersonate another. Hats off to these comedians that can do this and make their audiences laugh so much.



It is also impressive to watch some of these impressionists comedians do impressions of people they would have never seen, as it was before their time. Take for instance Rob Magnotti, his impressions are insanely funny, and he has the ability to do impressions of people past as well. He also incorporates many newer and up to date impressions, which many of the comedians do, which makes him appealing to the audience as a whole. This is quite the gift that these talented comedians have to be able to take a whole room of people and entertain them.
I recall way back in high school in drama class when I was so scared to get on the stage and my teacher told me to pretend I was someone else that way I wouldn’t be afraid. That I found was a great piece of advice and possibly this is where some of these impressionists’ comedians are coming from. Maybe for them it’s more comfortable to portray someone else, then if there is no laughter it’s the impression and not them. Regardless of how and why we analyze the reasoning for these impressionists to do their impressions there is one thing for sure, they are hysterically funny. Personally why they do it does not matter as long as they keep doing it and entertaining us is the main thing.

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