Rich Little

Listen to "Rich Little Little By Little" on Spreaker. A master mimic of more than 200 voices, Rich Little continues to impress with a touring schedule throughout the United States and Canada. U.S. Presidents: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, both George Bushes and Barack Obama…Rich Little has a voice for every administration. Infamous for his skewering of political figures, Little has charmed, amused, intrigued and gotten the best of politicians from here to his native Canada. He entertained at both of Reagan’s presidential inaugurations and got to know the Reagans very well during that time. President Reagan used to tell Little, “You do me better than I do.” A professed classic movie buff, he’s particularly fond of doing Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart, but Little has also latched on to baby boomer-friendly characters, such as Paul Lynde, Kermit the Frog, Andy Rooney and Dr. Phil, to name a few. Some of his favorite current impressions are of stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood. “They’re easy to do,” he says. “They are larger than life.” Little says, “An impression is what you think a person sounds like. It could be an exaggeration or a cartoon. It’s your impression. I think of an impersonation as more of an exact copy. Knowing the person personally is not important; it’s knowing the speech patterns and mannerisms [in order] to imitate the person the way the public sees him.” It took him seven years to perfect Frank Sinatra, but only several minutes to mimic Dr. Phil. The son of a doctor in Ottawa, Little started his “career” at the age of 12 when he answered back to his teachers in their own voices. Observing the teachers in action was infinitely more fun than paying attention to classwork. To get dates, he’d find out a girl’s favorite actor, call her up imitating that actor’s voice. Then when Little showed up, he’d say, “Sorry, Cary [Grant] can’t make it.” This stopped when a girl told him her favorite was Lassie.