4 U.S. ‘presidents’ once held a press conference in SLO — thanks to ‘the man of 200 voices’
Rich Little was the top comic impressionist of the 1970s and early 80s. The Canadian-born comic was a regular guest on American TV, had a series of albums and performed in Las Vegas.
Often political figures were the subject of his act.
He had an incredible facility for vocal mimicry. If a Hollywood star or politician was parodied in Little’s act, they were a national figure.
Two notes from the following story: Over four decades later, Russia is still involved with Syria and gas prices are still a top political issue.
For a while a few years ago, there were stickers on gas pumps pasted on by anti-Biden influencers saying “I did that” with a photo of the politician pointing at the price.
And as has been previously documented in this column, the two gas price shocks of the 1970s were political nitroglycerin.
Tim Ryan wrote this story July 27, 1982.
Just a Little goes a long way to laughter
The man of 200 voices proved Monday that Little is more than enough.
Impressionist Rich Little, aka presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan held a 30-minute “presidential news conference” at 1865 Restaurant in San Luis Obispo to promote his Aug. 5 performance at the Mid-State Fair. There are two shows, 7 and 9 p.m.
Little arrived with nearly the fanfare of a real president in a Cadillac limousine, accompanied by actors playing alert Secret Service agents at his sides.
Standing behind a lectern decorated with a presidential seal that read “In Rich We Trust,” the Canadian-born impressionist told several jokes from his highly successful “First Family” album.
“Mr. President, how you do you propose keeping the Russians out of Syria?” one reporter asked.
“Well,” Little said in the president’s voice. “We’ll set up a series of Ronald Reagan film festivals.”
“Mr. President, what are you doing about the energy problem?”
“We’re working on a gasoline that is a combination of cow and sheep manure. It doesn’t do much to improve mileage, but it cuts down on siphoning.”
“That’s a rural joke,” Little told the laughing crowd.
Following the 30-minute performance, Little told the crowd that impersonating Reagan was a relief after doing presidents Nixon and Carter for so many years.
“Can you imagine doing this for eight years?” he said while shaking his cheeks like Nixon.
“Besides if I don’t have an answer for something, I really do feel like Reagan,” he said.
Some of his impersonations are “very obscure,” he said.
“I don’t get a lot of requests to do Sterling Hayden,” he said.
“I can’t do Bob Hope or Ed McMahon,” he said. “And Hope loves that.”
