Monday, August 4, 2008

One Man, Many Voices - Frank Caliendo


Frank Caliendo Performed Friday Night
(8/1) at the Seneca Niagara Events Center

Eighty years ago, versatile actor Lon Chaney was known as the "Man of a Thousand Faces" - it wouldn't be too far of a stretch for comedian/impressionist Frank Caliendo to adapt that moniker for his own stage act and call himself "The Man of a Thousand Voices." Now, a thousand voices might be a bit of an exaggeration, but in the time Frank spent on stage Friday night at the Seneca Niagara Events Center, he defintely made it seem possible that if he had another couple of hours to spend talking to the crowd, we might've heard that many... or more.

Known mostly for his uncanny impression of NFL broadcaster John Madden, Frank is the writer, actor and star of his own show on TBS called FrankTV. He was also a cast member of MadTV, appears regularly on the Fox NFL pregame shows, and makes the rounds on several late-night talk shows.

In the hour and a half he was on stage, Frank was a whirlwind of different characters, barely stopping to catch his breath before moving on to the next voice in his arsenal with rapid fire succession. Frank, the man himself, disappeared after the first few minutes of his act and basically left the stand-up routine to his act's mainstay - George W. Bush. Every chance he had, and with every change of thought, there was the "W" spitting out nonsense words like "talkified" and "pronouncification." His impression of the President is perfect and served as his go-to joke whenever he needed to segway into the next bit. Frank made the transitions effortless, bouncing like Cybil from one persona to the next. The crowd loved it.

Here is the complete list of every impression Frank did on stage Friday night in order:
George W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Charles Barkley
Bill Walton
Jay Leno
Dr. Phil
Al Gore
Jeff Goldblum
Adam Sandler
Nathan Lane
Robin Williams
Dr.Evil
Dick Cheney
Al Pacino
Yoda
Michael Richards
Jerry Seinfeld
Andy Rooney
John Madden
Kermit the Frog
Miss Piggy
Shaggy
Scooby
Chris Rock
Casey Kasem
Ted Knight
Jim Rome
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Mike Tyson
Sean Connery
Robert DeNiro
Keanu Reeves
Rick Moranis
Terry Bradshaw
David Letterman
Paul Schaffer
Marv Albert
Donald Trump
Chris Farley
Paulie Shore

Frank Caliendo is one of the "everyman" type comedians, and although some of his punchlines and impressions might need a little tweaking (they all can't be dead-on!), his "aww shucks" personality makes it hard for anyone to criticize his stage act. He looks like your brother-in-law and doesn't take his rising popularity too seriously at all. What other headliner makes himself available to every single fan for pictures and autographs after the show?

Check out Frank's website http://www.frankcaliendo.com/ which includes his tour dates, videos, merchandise and blog.

Be sure to visit http://www.senecaniagaracasino.com/seneca-events-center.cfm for more details on upcoming shows and attractions at the Seneca Niagara Events Center.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

yeah he's really good. i like his john madden impression and his love for brett favre.