Published: July 31, 2008 10:06 am      

NIGHTLIFE: Caliendo a man of many voices

Impersonation comedy, more so than any other form, requires the performer to constantly update his act so as to not seem stale.

With a repertoire of more than 100 characters under his belt and continual tweaks made to his routine, Frank Caliendo has that covered.

The Chicago native and “Mad TV” alumnus has made a career out of imitating John Madden, Dr. Phil McGraw, Robert DeNiro and dozens of other famous people. His national stand-up tour is set to touch down Friday night in Niagara Falls.

Among the challenges Caliendo has faced has been to always think about who to imitate next.

“If somebody’s in the news, you work on that person,” said Caliendo, who counts former NBA star Charles Barkley among his latest additions. “You don’t want to be doing Ronald Reagan impressions 20 years later.”

One person who will always be in the news is the president. Caliendo’s version of George W. Bush has been one of the staples of his TBS show “Frank TV,” but he won’t spend a lot of time thinking about who will succeed Bush until after November’s election.

“If I had worked on John Kerry eight years ago, I’d have wasted a lot of time,” said Caliendo, who was still able to unveil rough versions of presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama during a recent phone conversation. “Barack Obama makes everything seem so important” — Caliendo instantly transforms his voice into a forceful baritone resembling that of the Democratic nominee — “‘I have a hang nail, America.’ And the crowd would cheer with him. ‘We want one, too.’”

Caliendo said attendees of Friday’s show will see him weave into and out of between 50 and 70 characters — “It just kind of swirls into ridiculousness,” was his description of the act. The humor, he said, comes from a couple areas, including putting people into unusual situations — such as Al Pacino as a librarian.

“He’d just be shouting all the time,” said Caliendo before turning on his gruff, high-decible Pacino voice. “‘Where’s the B section?’”

Not every impression is spot-on, he said, which is where a good punchline comes into play.

“I do some impressions in my act that aren’t great, but the jokes just really work,” he said. “If I don’t nail it, people are like, ‘It’s not as good as the others.’ To me, that’s just the half of it. Nobody ever said Jerry Seinfeld didn’t work on his voice enough.”

Caliendo’s career to date is evidence that he’s already put plenty of work in. He started doing stand-up after graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, becoming a headliner within a year.

“I modeled myself after a young Robin Williams or Jonathan Winters,” Caliendo said of his early influences; he went on to include impressions of both comedians in his act.

Caliendo joined the cast of “MAD TV” in 2001 while making appearances on numerous shows, including Fox’s NFL pregame shows doing his Madden impression with the rest of the crew.

He left “Mad TV” in 2006 and a year later began doing “Frank TV,” during which he does his impressions in full makeup as the characters he impersonates. Having surpassed the network’s expectations — the first season averaged 2.1 million viewers per show, according to numbers from Nielsen, while 3.2 million people watched the series premiere — TBS ordered eight more episodes, which have been shot and will air starting in mid-October, Caliendo said.

The show, which basically was a one-man routine last season, should be better this season because of the addition of several supporting characters, he said.

“My brother was watching the tapings and he said, ‘It seems funnier now. How come?’ ” Caliendo said. “I said, ‘Because we got other people in there, and they add a lot.’ There’s better chemistry, and the laughs are spread around.”

When his schedule allows him to be home, Caliendo spends his time with his family in Cleveland. He doesn’t have much planned beyond the fall, but he is quite happy with keeping things just how they are.

“I’m not trying to get anywhere else right now,” he said. “I’m just trying to master what I’m doing.”



IF YOU GO

* WHAT: Frank Caliendo comedy show

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday

* WHERE: Seneca Events Center at Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel, 310 Fourth St., Niagara Falls

* MORE INFORMATION: Call 299-1100 or visit senecaniagaracasino.com





MORE ONLINE

Read an extended interview with Frank Caliendo and see video clips of the comedian in action exclusively on the Life in the Slow Lane blog Life in the Slow Lane