It all started in my shower around 1986. I don’t have an exact time because the farther I get from that time period, the harder it becomes to remember. Go figure. Anyway, that’s when it started and it has never stopped. I am, of course, talking about the fact that I do 
It began rather small. I would have heard a commentator on the radio the previous night broadcasting the Phillies game, and I would want to be him. I would mimic him in the shower, whatever the big call had been. “Itttttt’s outta here! A home runnnnnn!” I would work hard on the inflection, the accent, the pitch, and the attitude the voice conveyed to me. And I thought I was pretty good back then, so I began to advance into impersonating major stars.
The first star I copied was Bill Cosby, who was my hero at the time. I would watch and re-watch his Jello pudding commercials, and before long I was saying “Jello pudDING pops” just like The Coz. It moved on to Hannibal from The A-Team, “I lurve it whan a plan comth togetha.” And later on I began to do my favorite, Mickey Mouse, one I still do most often today.
In 1987 I met Rich Little at the celebration of the Constitution’s bicentennial in Philadelphia, and he was such a tool. That’s when I told myself I would be the better, kinder Rich Little. I was going to be a successful impersonator, I just knew it. That’s when I started doing another favorite, the Terminator himself, Ahhhnold. That one is still the most requested one from my family, friends, and students.
But I didn’t stop with speaking voices, no matter how good they were (like Bill Clinton’s “I never had sexual relations with THAT woman”) my first love was always music, so I graduated to mimicking singers with distinctive voices. I still do a damn good one of Adam Duritz. “Mister Jones and me, we’re gonna be BIGGGG starz.” Some other crowd favorites include Phil Collins, George Michael, and Trent Reznor (a surprisingly difficult one).
But in the shower, the gloves are still very much off. I will try just about anyone while I’m in there. I’ve been known to channel Britney Spears, One Direction (I do the harmonies too), Kanye West, and Adam Lambert, among others. And maybe someday I could still do something public with the impersonations, but until then I will just keep honing each one, and being grateful I am not a tool, like Rich Little was to me oh-so-long ago.
Sam
Sam's Online Journal 