Comedian Frank Caliendo's voice wobbles a bit and skates a notch or three higher than his everyday voice for a dead-on impression of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain.
Then he drops his voice below his everyday register to somewhere between baritone and bass, and you would swear you're on the phone with Democrat Barack Obama.
Yep, Caliendo is an equal-opportunity opportunist when it comes to ripping on both sides of the political aisle.
So don't even try to nail him down on whom he will vote for come November.
"I don't know. I tend to try to stay away from being political. It just offends too many people," he said during a phone interview from his Tempe home, where he spent the day playing Wii with his 4-year-old son.
"There's nothing that drives me crazier than a celebrity trying to get you to vote a certain way. What would I care what Matt Damon thinks?"
That's not to say Caliendo, star of "Frank TV" on TBS and a regular on FOX NFL Sunday Pregame show (he does a mean impersonation of John Madden, Jim Rome and a handful of other sports celebrities), has no opinions.
While he won't be endorsing anyone from the stage during his Desert Diamond Casino concert Friday, Caliendo said he thinks McCain has a pretty good shot at winning it all in November.
"I get the feeling like, especially the way the media is going right now, the more the media trashes McCain, the more I feel like he and Sarah Palin have a chance to win because people get tired of that," he explained. "They're always complaining that the McCain campaign is telling lies and not telling full truths, but it seems like that happens to no matter who the Republican is."
From a comic standpoint — two of his best-loved political imitations are George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — Caliendo is rooting for McCain.
"For me, it's easier to do McCain by quite a bit," he said.
Then he easily transitioned to a slightly wobbly tone midway between tenor and baritone and uttered McCain's oft-repeated opening line, "My friends."
"Saying that all the time and sounding old is pretty easy."
If you go
• What: Frank Caliendo in concert.
• When: 8 p.m. Friday.
• Where: Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road, off Interstate 19.
• Tickets: $35-$65 in advance, $5 more day of show, through www.ticketmaster.com.
• Et cetera: "Frank TV" returns Oct. 21 for its second season on TBS. Read more about Caliendo in our Remote Controlled blog on go.aznightbuzz.com/ remotecontrolled.
