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Do IT this week: Layering
A man of characters, comedian Caliendo leaves a lasting impression on audiences
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Sunday, Oct 19, 2008
You may know Caliendo from his appearances on MADtv and on Fox NFL Sunday broadcasts, in Dish Network commercials and on his sketch-comedy show Frank TV, which begins its second season at 11 p.m. Tuesday on TBS. You will also be able to see him locally, when he plays Cleveland's State Theatre on Nov. 21.
For his impressions on Frank TV, Caliendo includes the characters' hair, makeup and wardrobe. But that takes away a bit from how very good his vocal work is, even to Caliendo himself.
South Park version of President Bush, a little round guy with a silly voice.''
During an interview, Caliendo demonstrated his array of voices — at one point zipping through a medley of Robin Williams, John Madden, Jonathan Winters, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He also revealed how carefully he thinks about his work.
Take William Shatner. Many impressions, he notes, still draw on the Star Trek-era Shatner. But, adds Caliendo, ''He doesn't sound like that anymore. [Shatner's voice] is much deeper. . . .
''What I try do with a lot of impressions, I change and go with a different version,'' he said. ''Will Ferrell was the first guy known for doing Bush. He was doing the college guy, the cowboy. I didn't want to do that. I did the Southern one, the guy 'just sittin' there and things are happening around him.' That was funnier to me, and they didn't originally want me to do that at MADtv. They're like, 'it's too low key,' and I said, 'That's who he is. He isn't that cowboy. Don't watch other shows and see what they're doing. . . . I'm good at this. I promise you.' ''
No argument that he's good, or that he has become successful. He speaks with some awe of being at events where ''there are famous people around me and they're not questioning why I'm here.''
At 34, he is also, rather determinedly, not a Hollywood guy. When we talked, his casual attire included a T-shirt from Hot Dog Heaven. We were in Avon Lake because Caliendo — who was born in Chicago and grew up in Milwaukee — lives there two months out of the year with his wife, Michele, and their two children.
The rest of the time they live in Tempe, Ariz. ''I didn't want to live in Los Angeles with two kids,'' he said. But Michele is from Lorain originally, Caliendo said, and the extended trips to Ohio give her a chance to be with family. And Ohio has some good associations for them.
Frank met Michele when he was performing at the Cleveland Improv. ''She was in the front row, right before I started MADtv, and not laughing at anything I did,'' he said. ''She didn't find me funny but she thought I was nice, because I saved her from the other comedians, who were hitting on her. . . . I was never a lady chaser. I was a business kind of guy. I never thought I would meet somebody who was sitting out in the audience, but we ended up hanging out that week, went to the movies, and she came back to see me two other times. It just seemed right. . . .
''I actually proposed onstage at the Columbus Funny Bone. We got married two years to the date after we met,'' he said.
And does she think he's funny now? ''No!'' Caliendo said. ''Not the act kind of stuff. Just the little quips we do. I don't do any voices [at home] — except maybe when reading stories to the kids.''
Caliendo said he tries to avoid the comedy disease of being ''on'' all the time. ''People are disappointed by me offstage,'' he said. ''They're, 'This is it?' I was on the radio this morning and somebody said . . . a friend had met me and 'you were boring.' I agree. I agree. When I'm here, I don't want to be on. I just want to blend in.
''My whole [working] life is about standing out and trying to stand out, and I guess I yearn to have regular communication with people,'' he said. ''I don't hang out with lots of other comedians. There are some great ones that are funny and normal people, but there are some that are always trying to do jokes. Listen, I need a break from the jokes.
''When I watch TV, I'm watching CNN and Fox News, stuff like that, all the different perspectives. I don't watch a lot of comedy. I watch — this is weird — I watch, like, CSI and all that kind of stuff. . . . I love twists in plots. I love that stuff. Have you ever seen that movie, Christian Bale . . . The Prestige? The Da Vinci Code. I love twists. . . . That's what I love about House, that moment when somebody would say a word, and it would spark everything.''
Unfortunately, episodes of those shows have been backing up in his DVR because Caliendo has been working. The second season of Frank TV — which has added impressionists Frank Lockhart and Mike MacRae as regulars, and which Caliendo thinks is stronger than the first — is basically done. The show taped 70 sketches ahead of time, looked them over, and edited about 68 of them into complete telecasts. Even a show scheduled for election night is in the can.
''We had to be faux-topical,'' Caliendo said. ''But the funny thing is, nobody changed. McCain is the same as he was, and Obama is still saying, 'Change, America. That's what this is about.' It's all the same stuff. The thing we don't have is Sarah Palin because she wasn't around [when the show was done]. I think that's good because you can't think of Sarah Palin now without thinking of Tina Fey and Saturday Night Live. And good for them.''
Frank TV is being relentlessly marketed by TBS, especially during its baseball coverage. A year ago, anyone watching Indians playoff games on TBS probably thought Caliendo had moved into their house. TBS had Caliendo doing promos even though, he said, ''there wasn't a single sketch shot yet.''
''But it works,'' he said. ''I believe this is how it works: The marketing plan is to make you numb. . . . It's almost like the stages of death. You first see me — and last year, when I came on the scene, nobody knew who I was even though I had been on TV for eight years — it was denial. 'This guy can't be on TV!' And then it got to the point of, 'All right, there he is again, this is part of life. I'll deal with it. . . . I give. I'll watch.' ''
Still, even as he relaxed at home, Caliendo acknowledged that an impressionist's work is never done — that adding new characters is crucial to his career longevity. He said he could do 50 characters and the reaction would be ''What else have you got?'' For the TV show, he hopes to have more recurring original characters. But he also keeps an eye out for new personalities.
He held back at first from developing a John McCain or a Barack Obama. ''I'll give you one reason why I didn't work much: Dukakis,'' he said. ''Nobody does a Michael Dukakis. Even Jon Lovitz [who had a Dukakis impression in 1988] is sitting at home, going, 'That was a waste of time.' Now it's getting down to crunch time. . . . McCain came pretty easy. There was a company called McCain Foods, and they actually paid me to do McCain for them . . . and I learned a lot about McCain that day because I had to stay in it for five hours, pitching their product.''
Obama took a little more work, but ''I feel like I know where it's coming from now. I started watching him a little closer. It's weird, because I think he has some Ted Koppel in his voice.'' And suddenly, Caliendo was going back and forth between Obama and Koppel, and adding bits of John Madden, Bill Walton and Bill Cosby. School was in.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and the HeldenFiles Online at http://www.ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
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Comments
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Posted 12:20 PM, 10/19/2008
With the exception of impressions of people of John Madden, Charles Barkley and Dr. Phil, his visual impressions lose a ton, no pun intended, in the impression translation by virtue of the fact Caliendo is quite overweight. Sorry, but when I see a really bloated Bush, or something like that, it loses a lot. And that's what Caliendo needs to do, lose a lot.
