What do Jack Nicholson, George W. Bush, John Madden and Al Pacino have in common? Other than having an 'o' in all their names, they are all impersonated by former MADtv comedian Frank Caliendo.
Starting a new comedy sketch show on TBS, Caliendo described FrankTV as a "live action South Park."
The show premiered Nov. 20 on TBS and will air 11 p.m. Tuesday nights.
In the late '90s, Caliendo performed at various colleges, one of them being Penn State.
"I did a lot of college shows but Penn State was one of the big ones that got stuck in my mind," Caliendo said.
Q:How is FrankTV going to stand out from MADtv?
A:Our aim is a lot older audience. MADtv tends to aim towards young teens. We're not really going for outrageous and over-the-top; we want to do silly and fun. One of our sketches on the show is George W. Bush giving advice for his daughter on his wedding night and Dick Cheney comes in and gives advice. It's just the ridiculousness of the situation. We're not out here to try to get celebrities. I like these people.
Q:As a writer for FrankTV, you must be out on strike as well. How do you think that's going to affect the show?
A:I can improvise on the fly, but I am allowed to come with stuff there on stage if I had to. I think the writers are right, that they are getting treated unfairly; they should get something. But it's just much more complicated than everybody thinks, in terms of if they're a writer or not, and a lot of people just can't go to work right now. I wish, everybody wishes, something could get resolved, somehow, someway. I don't know which side could make this happen. It shortened our run. Our run has been shortened down to four or five episodes instead of the eight we were given. We can't obviously have it generate any material. There's nothing we can do with that. It's definitely hurt us. That's why...our writers, our show, they have to be sporadic. They don't dislike the show. That's the way it is in a lot of places...the strike is like war -- nobody's winning.
Q: How fun is it to impersonate someone as important as the president?
A:I don't think of it as that way. To me, it is silly. I got to go to the Congressional Correspondents dinner a few years ago with Vice President Cheney and I was doing Bush and I had him fall off his chair. So, I mean that was surreal to see Donald Rumsfeld laughing. I guess it's pretty cool.
Q: What is the process of picking who you are going to impersonate and making sure that you can?
A:There's a lot of work that goes into it. I couldn't do Bush like four years ago. Will Ferrell was known for doing Bush. I just wanted to do a subtle Bush where he couldn't find his words...It's about being funny -- it's not about being dead-on with the impression...just as long as the end result is comedy and people laugh.
Q:You're very adept at the physical mannerisms, I was wondering if that takes a bit more study than the voice.
A:I kind of see the people in front of me. It's weird. It's almost like working in a mirror. I actually struggle. When I go back and watch myself, I'm like, 'Ugh -- that's awful'. When I do President Bush I look like I got stung by a bee and I had an allergic reaction. So I watch the stuff and I'm like, 'Man I stink'. I have real trouble watching it. For me, it's almost like I'm watching outside and doing it and watching it in front of me. It's like second nature. I can't remember not doing it.
Q: Does it ever get old to you to do impressions?
A:I try to do new jokes. It does get boring when you get stuck doing the same bit. As long as there's new stuff that's coming out and being creative, I'm having fun.
Q: Have you ever talked to anybody you impersonated, and if so, how do they react to your impressions?
A:Well actually I did Charles Barkley with Charles Barkley. I saw an e-mail today from one of the execs...and it was the first time they ever saw him speechless. At the end Charles actually goes, 'You know what, that was pretty good'. John Madden doesn't come anywhere near me. Leno has done sketches with me on the NFL on Fox. I've been on Letterman a few times and he has let me do an impersonation of him on his show. Those guys like it when I do impersonations of them. The sports people are usually the ones that are a little trickier because there seems to be an ego thing.
Q: With the presidential race coming up and the stand-up impressionists, is there anybody that you're rooting for just because they might be good material?
A:I am not even looking at that -- I've been buried so much into the show that I didn't even realize that there was a presidential election. No, I don't think that far in advance, really...if I would have preferred you or John Kerry it would have been a waste of time. The only way I'm really screwed is if Barack Obama wins because there would be nothing I could do. You can't get a short, chubby, Caucasian guy to play a thin African American. It's not gonna work.
Q:What was the genesis of Madden? Why did you go there?
A: Another comedian said to me, 'Do Madden. This guy is joke-packed.' And as an idiot I asked him, 'Where is that gonna get me?' It's a weird thing. People weren't really through with a lot of sports impressions and it seems to be my niche. Even though I'm a sports fan -- I'm a casual sports fan at times -- there are people who know way more about sports than me.
Q:When did you move to Chicago and when did your talent as an impressionist began to emerge?
A:We moved to Chicago when I was four and I became an impressionist since five. No, my family -- all the Italians -- lived in Chicago. It really got going...when I was in college. I looked into a mirror jutted my chin out and started doing a [Jay] Leno impression. I was like, 'Hey I could do this pretty well'. I [got a group] with broadcast journalism and we'd fool around in the audio lab with voices and I got up and did a stand-up and it started working for me, I just went with it.
