How do I do celebrity voice impersonations?
The last major league baseball player to reach four hundred was Ted Williams. People would often go up to Mr. Williams and ask, “Ted, what’s the secret to your great hitting?” Although today, Ted actually has his own website dedicated to the subject, in the past, the answer was usually something closer to “I just can.”
The truth is, Ted had little secrets that he would do, like counting the points on the ball as it spun toward him and making sure the ball was in his “happy zone.” But the fact is that there are two types of people, those who can simply “do” and those who can “teach how to do it.”
As a professional voice-over artist who specializes in impersonating celebrity voices, people often ask me the same types of questions. The answer is more or less the same. “I can only.” But I’ll at least try to break down the thought process I use when trying to imitate voices that don’t feel immediately natural to me.
But before running, we must at least learn to walk. I think there are four impersonations that almost everyone on the planet can do. The first three are Macho Man Randy Savage, Sylvester Stallone and Jimmy Stewart. Although they all come from different areas, each of these voices begins and ends in the throat (as opposed to other more difficult areas which I’ll dig into momentarily), and they all fall into a pitch range that is very user friendly. almost everyone who has completed puberty. All without having to stretch your vocal muscles a lot.
Which brings me to the fourth person, William Shatner. Even a three-year-old can impersonate Mr. Shatner’s unique, “stop and start” and “fast” way of speaking. Just about anyone can pick up on that timbre and manner of speaking enough to at least make a fair phishing, good enough to be a hit at parties. However, to tell the truth, a very good impression of William Shatner is almost impossible to achieve.
For a great William Shatner impersonation, check out the Frank Caliendo video linked at the bottom of this page. Note that he’s not just talking in fancy sentences about Spock and Spaceships. He lowers his voice at the right times and applies the right emotions to it, and if we can think of the “impression” as an imaginary, physical, “voice ball” for a second, then you can understand that the key to what makes that If this is a big impression rather than a party trick, Frank moves that ball around all the physical areas of his body that all humans use when speaking. More specifically, he gets Shatner’s pitch and moves it through the same areas Shatner does. Any of us can control the timbre and vocal gestures to achieve a Shatner, but what separates the men from the boys is getting the pitch and movement right first, and then applying the unique vocal gestures.
So now you see why I separated the four into two specific groups. By understanding Shatner, we can now go back and understand a bit more clearly why the top three are so easy to duplicate. Although Savage might have a gravelly type of voice, Stallone might be a deeper voice, and Stewart might be a little higher pitched, again, neither of them give us much range. On an octave scale, they’re pretty much right up everyone’s alley and their timbre and mannerisms are so unique that anyone can include them in a conversation and the listener will know exactly who they’re impersonating. It’s not a big deal. The uniqueness is what makes them easy.
That’s why I’m rarely impressed by Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonations. Other than perhaps Darrell Hammond, who spots the version for the same reasons mentioned above in Shatner’s version of Caliendo.
Once again, unique voices are a piece of cake. It’s the normal voices that are difficult. That’s why we haven’t seen anyone really do a great impersonation of President Obama yet. Clinton, Reagan and The Bushes made it easy. If you want to be really impressed, check out the following video. This is not really Harrison Ford.
So what other areas, besides the throat, are important?
Each voice obviously comes from the throat. Obviously, because that’s where the vocal cords are. But to some degree, each person also combines the nasal area, as well as the chest and diaphragm areas of their bodies in their daily vocal communications. The first key to doing a good impersonation is to identify which of those areas the voice you are trying to is coming from. This is what makes doing an impersonation of Morgan Freeman, for example, extremely difficult if the voice doesn’t feel natural to you. I would venture to guess that a good portion of the male population can find the right deep tone of voice necessary for spoofing. But can they apply the right “scratch” to the voice, and then deftly pull the voice out of the diaphragm and sell it to the world through the nostrils, while finding the right mix of Freeman’s unique inflections? It sure isn’t that easy. But that’s the key. If you want to hear a good example, there’s one on my website.
In addition, and just as evident, is the mouth. One of my biggest challenges as a broadcaster is concentrating on proper enunciation. I have a tendency to speak very colloquially and sometimes fall prey to my Ohio accent. But, where I find it difficult to do my commercial and promotional voice-overs, I find a treasure trove of impersonations, as these deficiencies in “proper” speech mean I can more easily spot the “flaws” that otherwise make a person or celebrity be unique. and therefore make impersonation more feasible. Gerad Butler and Sean Connery take out their S’s, for example. Richard Burton requires mouth clenching and R swinging in a very Shakespearean way. These are just examples, to show how important enunciation and mouth movement are in the process. For more, see how strongly I enunciate my P’s and B’s in my Jesse Ventura impersonation linked below.
In any case, no, this isn’t the end of the whole de facto lesson on how to do celebrity voice impersonations, but it will get you started.
