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Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

Loved his Nixon-themed humor, as I remember playing him back in my high school radio station. I'll have to drag out my "Richard Nixon, A Fantasy" LP and dub it to my iPod.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

I used to have "I Am The President"...The bit with Nixon trying pot was amazing. Aide: "A joint, sir, is a marijuana cigarette." Nixon: "I always thought they were called roofers."
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

Corky Marlowe said:
I used to have "I Am The President"...The bit with Nixon trying pot was amazing. Aide: "A joint, sir, is a marijuana cigarette." Nixon: "I always thought they were called roofers."
Click to expand...

I believe he called in "Aca-puckalo gold." Or was that Harry Shearer doing Nixon with The Credibility Gap?

Regardless, Frye was brilliant. It always amazed me that Frye wasn't able to get any lasting fame while Rich Little was everywhere.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

He's the only impressionist I ever saw nail William F. Buckley Jr.
and George Wallace (no one else came close to doing the Alabama
governor right). I always wondered what happened to him; I think
he was as good as--if not better than--Rich Little, and I happen to
like him, too.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

bpatrick said:
He's the only impressionist I ever saw nail William F. Buckley Jr.
and George Wallace (no one else came close to doing the Alabama
governor right). I always wondered what happened to him; I think
he was as good as--if not better than--Rich Little, and I happen to
like him, too.
Click to expand...

He was better than Rich Little. It was those facial expressions Frye could twist his face into. Rich Little couldn't do that - though Gorshin probably could have, if he'd ventured into political impressions.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

I still have my original copy of "I Am the President (And Make No Mistake About That)". That album was recorded in 1969. I sometimes wonder if David Frye ever made Nixon's notorious enemies list. His impression of the former president was hilariously devastating.

Of course, the worst hazard of the impressionist is that the objects of their mimicry die off and the names fade into history. An impression of James Cagney or Hubert Humphrey has little meaning to young audiences now. And most of today's actors and politicians are so bland and nondescript that there is hardly anything in their personality to goof on. Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin is about the best I've seen from the current comedians.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

Lkeller said:
Regardless, Frye was brilliant. It always amazed me that Frye wasn't able to get any lasting fame while Rich Little was everywhere.
Click to expand...

The difference, of course, was that Little did many impersonations while Frye was known primarily for his Nixon. Both Frye and Vaughn Meador (who parodied JFK) were hilarious in their day but both suffered pretty much the same fate - JFK was assassinated and Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment. The loss of your subject, particularly under negative circumstances, will quickly kill a career.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

"Smo-Bro"... never saw the Smotherses abbreviated as such before. Perfectly crumulent. ::)

ixnay
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

Frye's career is similar to Vaughn Meader(sp). Following Nixon's resignation, Frye seemed to disappear from television.

For those of you too young to remember, Meader did a great JFK and released a hilarious album featuring the (then) first family. After Kennedy was killed in 1963, Vaughn Meader's career also ended.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

landtuna said:
Lkeller said:
Regardless, Frye was brilliant. It always amazed me that Frye wasn't able to get any lasting fame while Rich Little was everywhere.
Click to expand...

The difference, of course, was that Little did many impersonations while Frye was known primarily for his Nixon. Both Frye and Vaughn Meador (who parodied JFK) were hilarious in their day but both suffered pretty much the same fate - JFK was assassinated and Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment. The loss of your subject, particularly under negative circumstances, will quickly kill a career.
Click to expand...

Unlike Little, Frye was never able to do a decent impersonation of Gerald Ford. I remember him trying to do one (I forget the show he was on) back in late '74 or early '75 and it was awful. I don't know if he ever tried a comeback as Ronald Reagan but I would think he'd have been more successful than those who did impersonate him (Johnny Carson's was the best, IMHO).
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

My vote for best Reagan goes to Jim Morris. Regarding impressionists outliving their subjects, I read somewhere (maybe on one of the Classit TV threads here) that Lenny Bruce did a show soon after JFK's assassination and the first words out of his mouth were, "Vaughn Meader is screwed!"
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

KeithE4 said:
landtuna said:
Lkeller said:
Regardless, Frye was brilliant. It always amazed me that Frye wasn't able to get any lasting fame while Rich Little was everywhere.
Click to expand...

The difference, of course, was that Little did many impersonations while Frye was known primarily for his Nixon. Both Frye and Vaughn Meador (who parodied JFK) were hilarious in their day but both suffered pretty much the same fate - JFK was assassinated and Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment. The loss of your subject, particularly under negative circumstances, will quickly kill a career.
Click to expand...

Unlike Little, Frye was never able to do a decent impersonation of Gerald Ford. I remember him trying to do one (I forget the show he was on) back in late '74 or early '75 and it was awful. I don't know if he ever tried a comeback as Ronald Reagan but I would think he'd have been more successful than those who did impersonate him (Johnny Carson's was the best, IMHO).
Click to expand...

Just as Vaughn Meador's JFK impression was in poor taste after JFK's assassination, and Frye's of Nixon after he resigned, Frye probably considered his George Wallace impression in poor taste after Wallace was shot and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. I was talking earlier today with someone about Frye, and I made that observation, which got no disagreement.

BTW, do you think Little's Gerald Ford was better than Chevy Chase's?
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

bpatrick said:
BTW, do you think Little's Gerald Ford was better than Chevy Chase's?
Click to expand...

I don't count Chase's Ford as an impersonation since he never tried to do the voice. Little was the only really good Ford impersonation I heard.

Jimmy Carter was one that was tough to do. The only one I ever heard that did him fairly decently was Dan Aykroyd (who also did a fair Nixon, but not as good as Frye and Little). IIRC, Rich Little tried to impersonate Carter with little success, but I don't remember David Frye doing him at all.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

KeithE4 said:
bpatrick said:
BTW, do you think Little's Gerald Ford was better than Chevy Chase's?
Click to expand...

I don't count Chase's Ford as an impersonation since he never tried to do the voice. Little was the only really good Ford impersonation I heard.

Jimmy Carter was one that was tough to do. The only one I ever heard that did him fairly decently was Dan Aykroyd (who also did a fair Nixon, but not as good as Frye and Little). IIRC, Rich Little tried to impersonate Carter with little success, but I don't remember David Frye doing him at all.
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The on-air tributes to Frye have focused almost exclusively on his Nixon impression, which is no surprise. But I can think of somebody who, IMHO, nailed Nixon even better, and he wasn't a comedian: Lane Smith.

As far as some of the subsequent Presidents go, Reagan was hard to do once the impressionist got past "Weeelll," but Dana Carvey always had me on the floor with his George H.W. Bush impression ("Not gonna do it, not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent"). And does anybody remember the "SNL" sketch in which the George W. Bush/Al Gore election is declared a tie, both men end up sharing the Oval Office, and they're like Felix (Bush) and Oscar (Gore)?
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

Carmine5 said:
An impression of James Cagney or Hubert Humphrey has little meaning to young audiences now.
Click to expand...

Not only that but to many young people to do an impression/make a joke against someone who is dead is not only rude but even downright sick. A few months ago I attended a comedy club in Denver where the guy doing stand-up on stage decided to crack a joke on Michael Jackson using Michael's high pitch voice. The older crowd thought it was funny as hell but the younger ones felt it was in very very bad taste, to the point they were screaming "..shut the f**k up !!"..
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

mleach said:
Not only that but to many young people to do an impression/make a joke against someone who is dead is not only rude but even downright sick. A few months ago I attended a comedy club in Denver where the guy doing stand-up on stage decided to crack a joke on Michael Jackson using Michael's high pitch voice. The older crowd thought it was funny as hell but the younger ones felt it was in very very bad taste, to the point they were screaming "..shut the f**k up !!"..
Click to expand...

Strange.....usually the older crowd has the better manners. Maybe they just detested MJ more.
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

I was seeing Frye's obituary on ABC's World News over the weekend, and noticed that the quality of the clip of him doing his Nixon impersonation on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour looked like something out of a YouTube stream. Whatever happened to the days when TV stations actually had to search for actual video clips of shows with pertinent celebrities who passed on?
 
Re: Obit: Impressionist David Frye @ 77...Appeared on 'Merv', 'Smo-Bro' & 'Tonight'

landtuna said:
mleach said:
Not only that but to many young people to do an impression/make a joke against someone who is dead is not only rude but even downright sick. A few months ago I attended a comedy club in Denver where the guy doing stand-up on stage decided to crack a joke on Michael Jackson using Michael's high pitch voice. The older crowd thought it was funny as hell but the younger ones felt it was in very very bad taste, to the point they were screaming "..shut the f**k up !!"..
Click to expand...

Strange.....usually the older crowd has the better manners. Maybe they just detested MJ more.
Click to expand...

The MJ publicity machine has managed to turn the pop star into a kind of messiah--at least in the minds of many young people. Us older folks are a little too cynical to be taken in so easily.
 
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