I’m a huge fan of impersonations, but the thing about most celebrity impersonations is that they are of the same 10 people: Jack Nicholson, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Nic Cage, etc. etc. I understand why: Those people have the most distinctive voices and they’re easily recognizable, so they’re the impersonations most people are going to want to pull out in their stand-up special or late-night talk show bits.
But what I really appreciate is when someone does an impression of someone that’s very rarely impersonated instead of yet another Seinfeld impersonation. That’s why Jay Pharoah was, for a while, a breathe of fresh air on Saturday Night Live because he was doing impersonations of being I hadn’t heard impersonation of before: Denzel Washington, Will Smith, T.I., etc.
So, I spent my afternoon surfing YouTube and trying to track down unusual celebrity impersonations performed mostly by OTHER celebrities so that you can spend the rest of your afternoon enjoying them. Some are better than others, but most are just downright fantastic.
Joel McHale’s Impersonation of Craig Ferguson (at the :35 mark)
Topher Grace’s Brief Impersonation of Michael J. Fox (at the :40 mark)
Bill Hader’s Impression of Gizmo from Gremlins
Tom Hiddleson’s Impersonation of Owen Wilson (at the :28 mark) and Chris Evans (at 1:45)
Jon Culshaw’s Impersonation of Ricky Gervais (at the 1:40 mark)
Hank Azaria Impersonates Richard Kind (at the 2:20 mark)
Paul F. Tompkins Impersonates John C. Reilly in an Act-Off with Jon Hamm
Matt Damon Impersonates Matthew McConaughey
Michael Caine’s Impersonation of … Michael Caine
Bill Hader’s Impression of Taunton in The Empire Strikes Back
Bonus: Everyone does an impression of Christopher Walken, but Bradley Cooper does an impression of Walken along with the funniest Walken story I’ve ever heard.
