TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Frankly, This Comic Is Going To Miss President Bush

ADVERTISEMENT

Published: October 21, 2008

If you were watching the Tampa Bay Rays playoff games on TBS, then you saw dozens of commercials for "Frank TV," which begins its second season at 11 tonight.

For those who missed the first season, "Frank TV" is a skit comedy show built around the talents of impressionist Frank Caliendo.

He's the chubby, round-faced comic who also turns up as various characters on the "Fox NFL Sunday" pregame show, often as an addled Andy Rooney.

He also does a great John Madden, a decent Al Pacino, a pretty good Bill Clinton, a memorable Jack Nicholson, a passable John McCain and a funny George W. Bush.

He'll run through dozens more on his TBS series. In an interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., back in July, he said that he's going to miss Bush because the guy was easy to mimic and was unintentionally comical anyway.

If McCain becomes the next resident of the White House, Caliendo has him covered.

"Impressionists can latch onto his mannerism, and his 'my friends' line works for me," he says.

Caliendo recently was hired to do his McCain impression for a series of public appearances and video commercials for McCain Foods, a Canadian-based french fry company (no relation to Sen. McCain).

But he's not doing Barack Obama.

"He's not got that many distinct characteristics, and there's nothing defining about his voice, which is a little like Ted Koppel or an alien," he notes.

For "Frank TV," Caliendo recruited black comic Frank Lockhart to play Obama. Lockhart also does Morgan Freeman and Samuel L. Jackson among others.

Caliendo and his fellow impressionists already have recorded 68 skits for the new season, so his show won't be as topical as say "Saturday Night Live."

In fact, the skits were taped before Sarah Palin became the Republican vice presidential nominee.

But then it would be tough for anyone other than Tina Fey to do a Palin impression.

AMAZING RACERS: On a night when the Rays and the Bucs were both playing and winning in prime time, Tampa had another winner.

Tina Greene and her estranged husband, Ken, easily raced to their third first-place finish on "The Amazing Race" on Sunday night.

Tina, who runs a Tampa-based executive recruiting firm, and Ken, a former professional football player, may be the oldest team (she's 49, and he's 52), but they have emerged as the toughest one.

So far, they have finished in first place on three out of four legs of the race. They have won trips to Mexico and to Rio de Janeiro, and matching ATVs.

"RITA ROCKS": Comic Nicole Sullivan seemed destined for bigger things when she was a regular on "Mad TV" in the late '90s.

But she still hasn't found the right movie or sitcom.

She gets another shot on the Lifetime network's first comedy series, "Rita Rocks," which is airing at 8:30 tonight through Friday before settling into a Tuesday-night run.

Sullivan plays Rita Clemens, a woman in her 30s who is trying to release her inner hottie and escape her frumpy, boring suburban life.

Rita, a wife and mother, used to play in a Bangles cover band, so she pulls together a garage band - much to the dismay of her hubby.

Although Sullivan should have a series that's of the same caliber as "30 Rock" or "The New Adventures of the Old Christine," she's saddled with something that's on par with "According to Jim."

Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT