Darrell Hammond, from childhood mimic to presidential 'candidate'
By Larry Getlen • Bankrate.com

While every performer wants to affect the world in some way, Saturday Night Live's Darrell Hammond may have had a much larger influence than he ever imagined. Hammond is SNL's reigning impressionist, performing hysterical and convincing depictions of everyone from Bill Clinton to Jesse Jackson to MSNBC's Chris Matthews, not the mention almost the entire Bush administration.

But when he and Will Ferrell took on presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush, respectively, during the 2000 presidential campaigns, they laid bare the two men's idiosyncrasies so starkly that both men were reported to have altered their speaking styles, and possibly some of their substance, in response. Considering the closeness of the election that followed, Hammond and Ferrell may have altered the course of history.

This place of importance is certainly a long way from emceeing comedy shows for disinterested sports-bar patrons across the Southeast, which is where Hammond gained much of his initial experience as a comic. His talent as an impressionist began in school, however, where his take on various teachers and officials got him thrown out of class. Now, of course, Hammond has no such worry, as Saturday Night Live has made him perhaps the best impressionist in America.

Bankrate spoke to Hammond about the art and business of the impression.

BANKRATE: How did you begin doing impressions?

DARRELL HAMMOND: I started when I was little, under the age of 10. It was a natural thing. I never thought about it that much.

B: What were some of your first impressions?

DH: My coaches and teachers at school. I was thrown out of class for doing it once. I would do kids from the neighborhood. I started doing Porky Pig and Popeye. After a while, I did "A Christmas Carol." I used to do Ralph Richardson and Paul Scofield. Then when I got into my teens, I tried to do Martin Luther King, but of course my voice was still cracking, it was changing, and it was impossible to do King. He had probably the most powerful voice I've ever heard.

B: Is the ability to do impressions something people can learn, or is it innate?

DH: I believe people can learn it. It's a matter of having enough interest in it to sit down and practice. That's how I do all of mine.

B: What's the secret to a good impression?

DH: Grunt work. Practice. I'll watch a tape and transcribe part of it, and I'll practice it in the guy's voice. After a while, I'll make these language tapes that are "repeat after me" tapes. I'll play a sentence of the real guy talking and then I'll repeat it.

B: You've said that you captured Bill Clinton's voice when you recognized the crackle in it. Do you think that crackle is something he does on purpose?

DH: I don't know. When I performed at the White House I was talking to one of the reporters -- it might have been Dan Rather or Ashleigh Banfield, I forget -- but they asked me, "Do you think Bill Clinton is acting?" I said, "I've studied him for four years and he may be acting, but I don't think anyone will ever catch him at it. He actually seems to feel people's pain." It's very theatrical.

B: So you think he's sincere?

DH: He's either sincere or a virtuoso actor. I've never heard anyone in the media say they could catch him acting.

B: What is your favorite impression to do?

DH: Probably Jesse Jackson. Maybe Clinton. Geraldo started getting fun, but I only did it, like, three times.

B: The Al Gore-George Bush thing was an extraordinary success for you and Will. While you're both phenomenal at what you do individually, how big a role did the personal chemistry between you play in the success of all that?

DH: It was important because you can have a situation where laughs can cancel each other out if you try to punch a line or really go for the laugh. You can knock the other person's line out of the box. We really understood one another and enjoyed one another.

B: How much longer do you see yourself doing Saturday Night Live?

DH: I don't really know. I'm not tired of it yet, and I'm told they're not tired of me yet. I've lasted seven years on network TV, and that's a long, long time. I still enjoy the work, and then in the summer I do stand-up. I've placed myself in a position that I wanted to be in professionally my whole life, so I'm not really looking to give that up just yet.

B: Does one become rich being a SNL cast member?

DH: I couldn't ... I don't know the salaries of other people. It's made me comfortable, but I don't know if I would call it rich.

B: A set-for-life situation?

DH: I don't know. I have an accountant who's invested all the money I made in pensions, CD funds, retirements. I guess I've always thought I would just keep trying to work.

B: It seems like many comics fail to provide for their future, even after great financial success. Have you taken steps to make your money work for you?

DH: Yeah.

B: Did you profit from the tech boom or were you hurt by the market's collapse?

DH: I don't really know enough about it to make any guess. If a broker came to me and said, "I'll make the guesses," I couldn't tell if he was a good broker or a bad broker. I don't know enough about it. I've received some pretty good advice, just in terms of saving money. But I have a vague understanding of the stock market. I always thought if I want to do that with my money, I'd go to the dog track. I just don't understand it. It's pretty complicated.

-- Posted: Aug. 30, 2002