Caliendo’s Impressions Run the Gamut from Lukewarm to Caliente

You may have seen Frank Caliendo and his famous John Madden impression on Mad TV or Fox’s NFL Sunday. Or maybe you haven’t. Either way, Frank wants you to see a whole lot more of him and his impressions on his new sketch-comedy show for TBS, Frank TV.
Caliendo is a stand-up and sketch comedian best known for his impersonations of pop-culture icons. He joined the cast of Mad TV in 2001 and left in 2006 to pursue his own program, which became Frank TV. And it is his own program in the truest sense of the word: Frank is the host, as well as all the characters.
Although Caliendo says his show is intended to appeal to a more adult audience, his show is pretty tame when compared the “adult” humor of some late-night comedians. His rendition of Dr. Phil in the bedroom from the first episode was indeed revolting, but less because of its suggestiveness and more because the mere idea of Dr. Phil copulating induces vomiting. Despite the late-night time slot, parental discretion is hardly advised.
Frank TV seems to appeal most to those who like a healthy dose of popular culture. Whether you love, or love to hate, a particular pop icon, at least Frank’s impression will entertain you. One would think that a borderline-obese Caucasian man would have trouble impersonating the likes of Charles Barkley or Julia Louis-Dreyfus, but Caliendo’s spot-on voice and mannerisms transcend the physical barriers.
Most impersonators tend to give off a gimmicky vibe, yet Caliendo has built a career out of doing something most commonly reserved for party tricks. While he denies that he gets flack from other, more traditional, comedians, he has encountered negative feedback from the celebrity he is best known for imitating—John Madden. In response to claims that Madden dislikes him, Caliendo said in a recent conference call, “I don’t do it to make friends, I do it to make money.”
Other than football’s most well-known commentator, most of the celebrities Caliendo impersonates seem to get a kick out of his renditions. Even though he notes that sports personalities tend to have an ego about the jokes, Caliendo still did his Charles Barkley impression while Barkley was in the audience. How did he react? Caliendo responds, “You know what, that’s pretty good!” in his best Barkley voice.
Another imitation Caliendo is famous for is his George W. Bush. Since everyone from the guy at the corner bodega to your nine-year-old cousin has his own Bush impression, Caliendo tries to spice things up by making fictional words like “espanolish” and “Irakistan” part of Bush’s vocabulary. Even though his Bush impersonation is average by most standards, he testifies that both Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld found it entertaining. Despite the bevy of wisecracks that could follow concerning the poor sense of humor of our current administration, Caliendo describes the experience as “surreal,” especially “in the midst of all that’s going on.” Ultimately, entertaining all types of people is Caliendo’s goal. Like most people with his job description, he says, “I just want to go out there and hopefully make people laugh.”
Given the ease of impersonating our current president, it makes sense that Caliendo would have an interest in seeing our next leader be equally comedic. And with a Bill Clinton impression already under his belt, another Clinton victory would provide more opportunity to poke fun at the first First Man. Other than beefing up on his Bill, he doesn’t see the need to invest his comedic resources into a candidate before they’re elected. He remains fairly optimistic about continuing his run of impersonated presidents, saying facetiously: “The only way I’m really screwed is if Barack Obama wins. There’s nothing I can do with that. You can’t get a short, chubby Caucasian guy to play an African American—it’s not gonna work.”
As you may have already guessed, Frank TV is only entertaining as long as you can stomach a healthy dose of impressions and a healthy dose of Frank. As the only comedian on the show, he has done up to four characters at the same time and often does skits in which he plays both himself and another character. For those who got all they could handle of impressions from the high-school class clown, the cutback of Frank TV from eight episodes to four or five may be the silver lining of the Writers Guild strike.