BRINGING THE LAUGHS TO FANTASY SPRINGS ON VALENTINE’S DAY
By Tracy Dietlin
Comedian, actor, and impressionist Frank Caliendo has been making people laugh his entire life, and he’s set to make audiences laugh at the Special Events Center at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino on Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14th.
Frank Caliendo is well known for his impressions of famous actors Morgan Freeman, Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Robert De Niro; politicians George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama; and talk show hosts Dr. Phil, Jay Leno, and David Letterman.
On stage, Caliendo’s high energy act is a blend of observations, impressions, characters and anecdotal stories that start at a frenetic pace and never let up. Appropriately described by The Hollywood Reporter as “a combination of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey,” Caliendo is one comedian that should not be missed.
After completing an impressive 10-year run on the “FOX NFL Sunday Pregame” show, Frank recently found a new home over at ESPN, where he joined the cast of the “Sunday NFL Countdown”. Realizing that ESPN has a plethora of strong personalities, Frank has added to his already vast arsenal of impressions, a new set of highly entertaining sports persona, including analysts like Jon Gruden, Mel Kiper, Jr., Ron “Jaws” Jaworski, Coach Mike Ditka, Adam Schefter, and Chris “Boomer” Berman.
Though Frank can be highly known for his variety of sports-related impressions, he makes his clean and family-friendly live shows appealing for everyone in the audience by continually including a little bit of every major genre – sports, political figures, and celebrities.
During a recent phone interview Caliendo was nice enough to answer a few questions.
CVW: How many shows are you doing on this tour?
Frank Caliendo: I’m not really sure. I’ve been doing a lot of corporate shows lately, maybe even more than public shows.
CVW: Do you continuously tour?
FC: I have kids so I take a lot of time off in the summer. I do shows here and there and then someone will call with some great offers and my wife will want to remodel something so then I have to go work.
CVW: Who are some of your favorite celebrities to impersonate?
FC: Whenever they are newer sometimes that is more fun for me because I haven’t done them so much. Morgan Freeman is fun. Donald Trump right now because whenever someone is topical at the time people like that.
I’ve been working on Robert Downey Jr. a lot because he’s just kind of contradicting himself constantly. My joke about him is that he’s a constant Twitter feed because in 140 characters or less everything is about him. He can be giving out an Academy Award and he would say something like ‘these people really deserve your applause almost as much as I do #awesome’ (said in Downing Jr.’s voice). Since he’s been doing Stark he’s become that guy. A lot of people enjoy the sports people right now. I heard Kevin Pollack say once that it’s like trying to choose between your children. I don’t even think I’m that good at some of the ones I do. I was emailing back and forth with Dana Carvey and he was saying that I have the best Trump he’s ever heard and I’ve got to say that is one of the greatest moments in my life right there to have him say that. Well…outside of my children being born and marrying my wife. And I have to say the part about my wife or she’ll get mad at me.
CVW: What is the reaction you get from some of the people you impersonate when you meet them?
FC: I’ve never met De Niro. Leno and Letterman would always ask me to do them on their show. Madden didn’t like me so much at first.
CVW: Do you have a preference of doing actors, sports figures or politicians?
FC: Not really. It just depends on what’s going on. During football season I do that. Right now is a very political season so Trump is it.
CVW: How difficult was it to do Robin Williams after he passed?
FC: I haven’t really done it much since, but it’s gotten to the point where people call him out in the crowd. It’s very hard…I mean it was very tragic because this guy took his own life. I think maybe enough time has passed where I don’t feel as weird about it as I did at first.
(At this point to break the tension Caliendo went into a spot on flawless Donald Trump making me believe I was talking to the man himself.)
CVW: So who do you want for the Super Bowl? (this interview was done before the event)
FC: Well there’s a piece of me that would like to see Peyton Manning get it and be able to just retire and move on. I’m not a huge Cam Newton fan but my son is. It’s kind of an old school versus new school kind of thing.
CVW: So what is the most pivotal moment in your career?
FC: I don’t know that there’s just one thing. I think there have been a lot of little things. It’s not like being on American Idol and breaking out overnight. It’s been many events chipping away at this.
CVW: Do you have any comedy shows in the works for TV?
FC: I’m developing a sitcom based on my life so we’ll see where that’s gonna go. I have kids so my life is really about them.
CVW: What do you do in your down time?
FC: Well I’m coaching flag football for my son right now. I go to a lot of cheer competitions with my daughter. I play ping pong competitively.
CVW: Who is your favorite comedian?
FC: I don’t really have just one. But I would say when I was a kid – Jonathan Winters. I don’t really watch any comedy now. But, young Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Belushi, Bill Murray.
Tickets for the Sunday, February 14th, 2016 Frank Caliendo show are on sale now for $59, $39, and $29 at the Fantasy Springs Box Office, via telephone at (800) 827-2946 or online at www.FantasySpringsResort.com.
