Our friend Ed has been in the voice-over business for decades. He has voiced national campaigns in the U.S. including a huge one for Lincoln. He’s also a man of a thousand voices. So, when he suggested I work on a Hillary Clinton impression, he brought me in on an important aspect of voice work.
As it stands, Hillary has a shot of winning the Democratic nomination and therefore, the Presidency. Her voice will be in demand in comedy sketches, parodies, what have you. It’s the same reason why Ed has perfected his Donald Trump – and it IS perfect! He also does a bang-on Bernie Sanders.
Weeks ago, I called up some Hillary speeches on YouTube and worked on imitating her cadence. My voice is already similar to hers in many ways. And wouldn’t you know it, a few days later I had the opportunity to audition as Hillary and, although I didn’t get the job, I did make it into the final three.
I would never imitate someone famous and pretend to be them, endorsing a product. But play them in a skit or a parody? Absolutely. Someone’s going to do it. It may as well be you or me.