Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Tuesday, 12/6

I would love to hear the impressions. And to maybe hire the people behind them so I could take a day off.

Apparently, there are people out there who do impressions of me, and who do them quite well. I can't say I'm surprised; after all, anyone with as many vocal tics and weird radio habits as I have is ripe for impersonations. So when we were eating my birthday pumpkin bars Sunday my niece Courtney mentioned that she works with someone who was informed that Court & I are related. Once he realized that, he launched into his impression of me, and from the way Courtney relayed it, he sounds like he's pretty good at it.

Of course, now that I think of it, Courtney was pretty good at it, too, although I'm not quite sure if she was impersonating me or impersonating her co-worker impersonating me. But that, I guess, is a whole 'nother can of worms.

Anyway, because I've been doing this for so long, I don't even give a second thought to how people absorb what I put out. I just do what I do. But there must be something about the way I do it, because I've had many people—not just Courtney's co-worker—launch into their impersonation of me, or mention stupid things I do, or remark on the way I do them. I dunno; I guess over all these years I've probably forgotten what a powerful medium radio can be, and how much people can up pick strange stuff just by listening. But it's true.

And it's not just the impersonations that prove it. Remember “Birthday at the Beach”? That's another perfect example. So are all the comments I get from the students on “High School Bowl”, who've grown up with those weird habits and vocal tics I was previously mentioning. So I guess if you've around as long as I have—you know, since the age of dinosaurs—the fact that people imitate you, or remember weird things you've said, can be taken only one way. As a compliment. After all, it shows that people pay attention, and one way or another appreciate what you do.

Because I'd sure dislike doing this job for as long as I have and not have made ANY kind of impression on listeners.

So if you're one of those people who thinks you do a good impersonation of me, or who can reproduce some of those weird things I seem to say, let me know. I'd love to hear them. And I'd also like to thank you in person for hanging around long enough to develop the ability to do that impersonation.

That's one of the biggest compliments I could get.


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