Being a comic impressionist is a trap. You become famous for your uncanny ability to impersonate celebrities, creating caricatures with exaggerated vocal tics and twisted facial expressions. But gifted mimicry from Frank Caliendo to Darrel Hammond have covered the other side of that coin – sure, your impression of Bill Clinton is dead, but who the hell are they you?
That may be why Melissa Villasenor appears to be making a sharp turn to the left her ‘New Things’ comedy tour. “My stand-up is about myself,” she recently said The New York Post. “There are impressions, but they are not famous people. It’s people around me, my family, so there’s always a lot of voices.”
It’s a smart move, but a risky one. A faction of ticket buyers comes to listen Villaseñor’s impressions, so a departure too far is likely to leave a few people disappointed. Perhaps that’s why the new tour doesn’t completely run away from her signature talent. ‘I’ll bring back J-Lo. Ash Ketchum from Pokemon and Pikachu and Schwarzenegger. They are all very stupid, but somehow connected to my life.” Makes sense – that’s how she broke into the business in the first place.
There is one impression in particular that Villaseñor is disappointed that she was never able to show off Saturday Night Live: “My impression of Sebastian Maniscalco. I did it twice in dress rehearsal. There was one where I was him on a “Family Feud,” and it did really well, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Maybe the presenter doesn’t like his piece or you don’t know the reason.”
Other finished material that didn’t make it to the 30 Rock stage may find its way into from Villasenor tour. “There are also a few comedy songs that I wrote for SNL that wasn’t picked for music videos,” she says, “so I’m trying to find a way to make that happen for the live show, because they’re so much fun.”
Showing off her musical talents is another way to break from the comic book impressionist mold, something she’ll likely have to do for a sitcom she’s developing. Stand-up rooted in comic strip reality is where many of the great TV comedies begin. “It’s more my story, more my point of view, more voices, more singing. It’s everything,” she says. “There are no rules.”