impressionist-related stories
Posted Jun 29th 2009 3:06PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Late Night, Video, Celebrities, Obituaries, Game Show, Talk Show, Reality-Free

The sad news just keeps on coming: comedian and impressionist
Fred Travalena passed away yesterday, losing a battle with cancer at the age of 66. For those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about (and, believe me, those numbers are legion),
Travalena was big on the talk show and game show circuit in the '70s, doing impressions of everyone from Robert De Niro to George Burns to Jimmy Carter.
As a nerdly kid who rarely left the house after school, however, Travalena is best known to me as a panelist during the latter years of my favorite game show,
Match Game. After the jump is the only
MG-related clip I could find with Travalena, where he does an impression of De Niro on the short-lived
Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour in the early '80s. (Warning: you need to turn the volume up to hear it).
Continue reading A Match Game fan remembers Fred Travalena
Posted Jun 24th 2009 12:34AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, America's Got Talent
(S04E01) "This place is absolutely barkin' mad." - Sharon about SeattleThis year's season premiere of
America's Got Talent was about the same as
last year's and the previous one: same montage of bad and good acts, instant reactions from the host backstage, the same type of comments from Piers, Sharon and the Hoff, and the last act being one where the contestants have a touching story and are great performers.
The main difference was the change in host --
Nick Cannon took over for Jerry Springer -- and the fact that a contestant, whose act was singing and playing guitar, decided to profess his love to The Hoff! That was probably the highlight of the entire two-hour premiere.
Continue reading America's Got Talent: Audition show 1