Over dinner recently, our food-n-cocktail pal Chuck revealed yet another of his myriad talents: He did a dead-on, fall-down-funny impression of Julia Child.
Aside from making my stomach muscles ache from laughing so hard, Chuck’s impression got me thinking about an early George Carlin routine on impressions. He said that absolutely everyone could do an Ed Sullivan impression, and that what you needed in order to do a good one was to come up with an off-the-wall variety of acts you could announce using Ed’s particular vocalisms and posture. I think this could well be replaced with a Julia Child impression. What would distinguish your impression would be warbling a variety of bizarre dishes and preparation methods using your best Julia voice and posture.
“I’m going to show you how to cut tenderloins from this freshly-killed wildebeest (make a wild gesture, hoisting a large animal carcass high above your head with one hand). Then I’ll give it a nice bath in a marinade of red wine, herbs and cigar tobacco, and I’ll char it with my trusty blowtorch (fwooot! of the trusty blowtorch). We’ll enjoy it with some fluffy mashed potatoes into which I’m going to stir some yak’s milk butter and these lovely, fresh lawn clippings.
Today on the French Chefff…!”
Well, they DO say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I hear Julia loved Dan Aykroyd’s impression of her in that legendary Saturday Night Live sketch. I wonder how she’d feel about getting the Ed Sullivan treatment?
