Article: Ullman : The Runaway Political Impersonator

By Betsy Rothstein on Jan 29, 2010 11:30 AM

What's it like meeting someone who has imitated you in the best and worst of ways?

Well last night MSNBC's Rachel Maddow found out when she invited comedian Tracey Ullman on her show. Ullman impersonated Maddow on her recent hilarious Showtime program, "Ullman's State of the Union," which airs Mondays at 10:30 p.m. EST.

Maddow wanted to know how Ullman picks her subjects and how she went about creating her rendition of the lefty host.

"I'm a huge fan of yours and I found these glasses in a pharmacy, and I don't know I went, huh huh huh, you have a goofy laugh! I don't know, I just wanted to be you," the comedian told Maddow, adding, "You have a long face. ... As soon as I started impersonating you [with a prosthetic chin] I laughed and cracked my chin. ... I know, it's a tough one."

This is a must watch for anyone who hasn't seen clips of Ullman'srecent show in which she dresses up and imitates everyone from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) -- she thinks he desperately needs dentures -- to HuffPost's Arianna Huffington, CNN's Christiane Amanpour and The Daily Beast's Meghan McCain.

Ullman explained her Huffington.
"Arianna's a cinch, because it's Eva Gabor from Green Acres," she said.

Who's next is a mystery, but Ullman's got thoughts on a lot of politicos: Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Minn.) is "glamorously bonkers", and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio)is "getting so sunburned. He's having trouble in the tanning salon."

Watch her appearance on Maddow's show here.

Watch more impersonations here.