Comedian Frank Caliendo: Trump and entertainment-politics
Frank Caliendo's comedic repertoire of impressions spans from Dr. Evil to Morgan Freeman, but he considers himself thankful for what the 2016 presidential campaign gave him: Donald Trump.
"I don't get political on anything. Honestly, I'm kind of a middle of the road kind of guy and try to listen to everybody," Caliendo said in an interview with CBS News, but he admits Mr. Trump has been good for his career, just as George W. Bush and President Obama were.
Caliendo says he wants to provide a full picture of the president in his interpretation, rather than the one-dimensional angry guy viewers see on "Saturday Night Live." However, he believes there is a troublesome blurred line between politics and entertainment, and entertainment and politics.
"He's become an entertainer, but that's the whole problem with everything in politics, right? It's all merged and now that's what we – it happened with President Obama too," Caliendo said. "I think this was just the next step, and it's going to get worse because people don't see the line between people who are trying to do a job, and people who are just trying to be more famous. And I don't know where it is."
Caliendo was born in Chicago and grew up in Wisconsin. He's built a successful comedy tour around the country (plus a recent stop in Mexico), that largely hinges on his impressions of Mr. Trump. Thursday afternoon he found himself across the table from CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett and Political Director Steve Chaggaris for the latest episode of "The Takeout" podcast.
He explained the challenges of figuring out where the line is for comedians in this age of politics, particularly in light of the uproar this week over an image of Kathy Griffin holding the bloody head of a decapitated President Trump.
"I think she crossed the line," he said. "I do think she crossed the line.. but do you lose your job, do you lose everything because of that? I don't know. We're human. We make mistakes."
On this week's podcast ratings, Caliendo said in Trump's voice: "It won't be subjected to just pods, it'll be entire motherships. It'll be a mothership-cast. That's how big it's going to be."
For more from Caliendo's conversation with CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris, including a spot-on Morgan Freeman-giving-Trump's-inauguration-speech impersonation, listen to "The Takeout" podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher,Spotify and CBSNews.com. And follow "The Takeout" on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @TakeoutPodcast.
Producers: Arden Farhi, Nick Fineman, and Katiana Krawchenko
Facebook: Facebook.com/TakeoutPodcast
