Other than once, a few weeks ago -- when he unwittingly walked onto David Letterman's set with his fly unzipped -- exposure has not been a problem for Frank Caliendo in the past year.

The Waukesha native has his own sketch comedy show on TBS ("Frank TV"), a spot on Fox's NFL pre-game show, a regular turn on the couches next to Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, commercials for Dish Network and an army of comedy promoters waiting to book his standup act, which makes a stop in Milwaukee Saturday night at the Riverside Theater.

In the "strike while the iron his hot" world of show business, overexposure isn't a major concern for Caliendo.

Overwork, however, is another matter.

During a recent telephone interview, the funniest graduate of UWM's mass communication program admitted that he was getting "burnt" and planned to dial things back a bit leading into the holidays and beyond.

Enjoy this Milwaukee Talks interview with Frank Caliendo.

OnMilwaukee.com: Where are you today?

Frank Caliendo: Believe it or not, I'm at home in Tempe, Ariz., for the day.

OMC: Did you have to reintroduce yourself to your family?

FC: You know, it is amazing. I come home and my kids are sitting next to me all day. They are on my lap; eating on my lap. That sounds weird. I'm eating dinner and they're both on my lap. Their plates are right next to mine. it's amazing. They miss me so much. They're (ages) 4 and 2 now, so they kind of get it when I'm gone. It's pretty crazy.

OMC: Between the TV appearances, commercials and standup gigs, you're easily one of the busiest men in show business. Some folks who know you back here are concerned. Are you getting enough rest? Are you getting six hours of sleep a night?

FC: No, I get maybe four. It's pretty crazy. I would think that as hard as I'm working, I would lose some weight. I watch myself on TV and dear, sweet Lord I've turned into Cartman (from the show "South Park").

I've been doing too much. I'm actually going to cut it back. I moved most of my shows out of December to the spring. I'm burnt. (When I come to the Riverside), that's when I start getting going a little bit.

But, leading up to Christmas, I just wanted to be around with my family. I'm actually making some of those decisions right now. Nothing bad has happened to my health, but I decided why not nip this in the bud before something does.

OnMilwaukee.com: Last year was huge for comedians because of the election. You live in Arizona. Did you have a John McCain impression nailed? Will you be able to use the Charles Barkley makeup to do Obama?

FC: Can you imagine those negative ads if Barkley does run for governor? (Adopts Barkley's voice) "My opponent is a knucklehead." McCain was easy, because it was always about "my friends." (In McCain's voice) "My friends, we must do this together, my friends." Even though he's never seen the show "Friends," he would make it sound like he has. (As McCain) "Friends" is my favorite show. Pho-bee is my favorite character. I love that Chandler Bong fella ..."

Obama was all about change. (As Obama) "Change." (As McCain) "Change." (As Obama) "We need change, America." (As Frank) Isn't that the same thing that a homeless person says? They weren't trying to get to the White House. They were trying to get to a cardboard box.

OMC: Will you do an Obama impression?

FC: I think I'm just going to let my physical resemblance to Barack Obama just do the whole thing.

OMC: Sort of like your physical resemblance to George Bush?

FC: I will not do, joking aside, I won't be doing Barack Obama in any sketches. I somehow was able to pull off Bush just well enough. The Barack (impression), you're not going to see me doing. That couldn't come off any way but terrible, or (Barkley's voice) terrible, (Frank's voice) depending on how you want to pronounce it.

In my act, I'll do some things. To me, the thing about Obama is that we haven't seen the human being Barack Obama yet. When I watched the first press conference he did, that was a very somber, regular mellow different voice we haven't seen from him before.

We've seen the candidate Barack Obama. Now, we're going to see the human being. He's going to make decisions and stand by those decisions. When you're president, sometimes when you do that, you screw up in what you're saying. people are asking you questions you aren't prepared to answer.

Everybody keeps forgetting he's a human being. He's going to make mistakes. You have to allow them to make mistakes. (As George Bush) Listen, they let me have four years and they gave me four more. Mistakification, my friends."

OMC: Speaking of the election, I have to ask you, as a person who does this for a living, what you thought about Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin.

FC: I thought it was right on the money. Here was the thing -- I thought that the media was all saying "Hey, Tina Fey should do this." Then, when she did, a lot of the people in the media were like, "Yeah, we were right."

That's taking nothing away from her, because she did great. But, it was almost like the media set that up for her.

I was on Letterman the same night as her. We were talking in the green room and she was talking how weird it was. She has three Emmys. She's done all this stuff as herself and now the biggest thing to hit her career, probably ever, was this Sarah Palin. She was everywhere.

People were calling her Sarah Palin. I said "Listen, you're preaching to the choir." (As John Madden) "BOOM. I know exactly what you're talking about."

(As Frank) She was really nice. For somebody to be that successful, she was a super nice person. She is really talented and funny and she couldn't have been nicer.

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6 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by Hainer on Jan. 15, 2009 at 7:57 p.m. (report)

Someone famous once said "If you have to ask, you'll never know." Can't recall who, but I'd bet Caliendo could do him. The statement is, however, good advise for those who flunk their weigh-in. His Jim Rome takes are "...incredible."

Posted by Mazzers on Jan. 14, 2009 at 4:22 p.m. (report)

I can't even figure out who he is supposed to be half the time in the "impressions." They all sound the same.

Posted by TracyK on Jan. 13, 2009 at 10:35 p.m. (report)

He puts on a great show!

Posted by gypcasino on Jan. 13, 2009 at 4:13 p.m. (report)

Enough of this guy and his dull tired schtick already.

Posted by High_Life_Man on Jan. 13, 2009 at 3:24 p.m. (report)

I heard he is a nice guy, but haven't his 15 minutes passed?