Learning to Be an Impressionist Standup Comic
There are many genres of comedy to choose from (dead pan, blue humor, sketch humor, shock comedy, etc.
).
The genre that this article will cover is that of being an impressionist (imitating someone and not the 19th century art movement).
Impressionism in the comedic realm means to make your act revolve around mimicking other people and their mannerisms, movements and speech.
Some of the most famous impressionists are Rich Little, Dana Carvey, Frank Caliendo and just about the entire cast of Saturday Night Live.
You can just focus on one person to impersonate or you could have a whole repertoire of characters.
Being able to mimic multiple characters takes a great deal of skill so you should start out with one that you feel that you are best at.
You can impersonate political figures, sports figures, actors and actresses.
There are almost endless possibilities.
The most important part is the other person's voice.
This includes the speed at which they talk, their inflection, volume in addition to general sound.
Do not forget to remember that you can also impersonate their style of dress.
This will help you a bunch with getting into the character.
Without this, it will be hard for you to sell the audience who actually you are impersonating.
Unless you are a total natural at imitating the person that you have selected, you will have to study hard to get it down.
Next comes the mannerisms and facial expressions.
Some say that if you are good at looking like them, then the audience will be a little more forgiving if you do not sound as much like them.
This point will just be trial and error.
Different audiences want different things.
The best thing you can do is to find a person to impersonate that you can do both the voice and mannerisms and facial expressions.
If you select a relatively famous person to impersonate, there are many, many resources available to you.
The person will probably have a web site.
And chances are they will have some video or audio of them.
Another resource is video sharing sites like YouTube.
Again, if they are relatively famous, there will be a lot of videos for you to study.
That is what much of being an impersonator is studying another person.
).
The genre that this article will cover is that of being an impressionist (imitating someone and not the 19th century art movement).
Impressionism in the comedic realm means to make your act revolve around mimicking other people and their mannerisms, movements and speech.
Some of the most famous impressionists are Rich Little, Dana Carvey, Frank Caliendo and just about the entire cast of Saturday Night Live.
You can just focus on one person to impersonate or you could have a whole repertoire of characters.
Being able to mimic multiple characters takes a great deal of skill so you should start out with one that you feel that you are best at.
You can impersonate political figures, sports figures, actors and actresses.
There are almost endless possibilities.
The most important part is the other person's voice.
This includes the speed at which they talk, their inflection, volume in addition to general sound.
Do not forget to remember that you can also impersonate their style of dress.
This will help you a bunch with getting into the character.
Without this, it will be hard for you to sell the audience who actually you are impersonating.
Unless you are a total natural at imitating the person that you have selected, you will have to study hard to get it down.
Next comes the mannerisms and facial expressions.
Some say that if you are good at looking like them, then the audience will be a little more forgiving if you do not sound as much like them.
This point will just be trial and error.
Different audiences want different things.
The best thing you can do is to find a person to impersonate that you can do both the voice and mannerisms and facial expressions.
If you select a relatively famous person to impersonate, there are many, many resources available to you.
The person will probably have a web site.
And chances are they will have some video or audio of them.
Another resource is video sharing sites like YouTube.
Again, if they are relatively famous, there will be a lot of videos for you to study.
That is what much of being an impersonator is studying another person.
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