Who is the * impersonator on the Comedy Channel......

[Historic NY]

caught some of him last night....My God can this guy mock old shrubby.....has the look sorta but the movements and vocal. I laughed my a$$ off.

[name not needed]

1. Was he doing John Madden impressions too?

Cause if he was, it's Frank Caliendo.

[Historic NY]

2. missed that part but

he does look Italian....so perhaps it was him.

[parasim]

3. Steve Bridges

I thought the guy was quite good, too. Had no idea who he was either so I googled it and found out:

http://www.stevebridges.com/

[Lisa]

4. he does appearances on Leno's show too

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/highlights/highlights_page2.shtml


Interestingly, he doesn't resemble Bush much in real life. It's an intricate Hollywood makeup job by a guy named Kevin Haney -- there's pics somewhere online of him undergoing the process. He's pretty good with the mannerisms, especially the snortling laugh and the smirking. He also has a scriptwriter who does his homework, to keep the material up to date. I think his talent agency invested something like $100k in the makeup, scripts, and wardrobe -- evidently it's paying off because he's getting $10-15k corporate gigs like this one.

http://www.irts.org/events/gallery/holidaybenefit/12-2002/holiday_12-2002.html

[parasim]

5. Looks like they were fun at THAT party...

But, yeah, I saw that that guy did the make-up for Driving Miss Daisy. and the dude definately does have the mannerisms down pat.

[Lisa]

6. here's a more detailed description of the makeup process

http://www.ppi.cc/ppi_players/kevin_haney2.htm


Bridges before makeup:




and after:




It looks like pretty much everything you see is fake (hey, just like Bush himself!). My cousin does some special effects work in Hollywood -- makeup like that (full appliance coverage plus a hairpiece) can take half a day. If his eyes had been the wrong color, they'd probably have used tinted contacts. I still don't think the eyebrows are quite right (even though they've been working on the look for the past few years) -- but the overall appearance, especially with his moves and mannerisms, is pretty close.

There are other guys who impersonate Bush, who actually do look more like him in real life -- but since they haven't got as much theatrical training (or corporate backing) I haven't seen them on national TV as much.
http://www.gwbushimpersonator.com/gallery.html
http://www.georgebushimpersonator.com

There's also Timothy Bottoms, who does look a bit like Bush, and arguably has more overall acting experience than Steve Bridges -- but I don't think he's had the incentive to practice on an almost-daily basis, since that Comedy Central sitcom got cancelled.

It's amazing that they can put the stuff on Bridges in only a couple of hours, and have it hold up to close visual scrutiny -- easier to fool a camera than a roomful of people in decent light. Plus the fact that Bridges often goes on the road -- flies into a city in the morning, gets the makeup on in the afternoon, and does the event in the evening. So it's a pretty impressive technical feat. He's a big supporter of Bush (enough to get invited to the White House), and a bible-thumper to boot -- but politics aside, the man must be quite a performer.

I can't help thinking that it would be funny to stick the same prosthetics on a genuine Bush critic like, say, Tim Robbins, and see what he could do!

Here's a good article on how Will Ferrell's version of Bush has changed -- I actually think that he's closer to what Bush is like in unguarded, emotional moments. Bridges shows Bush in his glad-handing, folksy mode -- in the Tonight Show clips he comes across as flustered but still affable when things aren't going his way. But despite the best efforts of the White House staff (and the willingness of the press), we've seen his nastier side -- and Ferrell picked up on that pretty early.

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=2926