Q: Can you tell us a little about the show?\nA: I like to think of it as live-action "South Park." I always liked the little, round characters.
Q: Will you still be involved with the other shows like MADtv now that you have your own? \nA: Well, I've actually been off of MADtv for over a year now. That's why I left -- no one ever knows who's on. But I'll still be doing the football stuff.
Q: Will you be adding any new characters to the show that we haven't seen before? \nA: Not at the very start. I don't know if you've heard me do Charles Barkley, but I do that one on the show. I was with Charles last night in Atlanta doing a basketball show. I also do Al Gore. It's an OK impression. It's not my best impression, but it works.
Q: In everyday life, do you ever unintentionally slip into your routine? \nA: I don't really do it in real life. I think I got mad at someone ... and yelled at them as George Bush once. My wife had gone to buy a Christmas tree. It was on sale. Actually, this was at The Great Indoors ... . So anyway, we went to the warehouse to get the tree and they didn't have it. So I yelled at them. My wife hates my impressions, but my son's 3, and for him nothing's better than having George Bush in your living room.
Q: What life advice would you give to college students? \nA: Don't do drugs. You really shouldn't do drugs. I guess I'd say to just go with what you want to do. I didn't want to work for real, and I ended up working 10,000 times as much. I'd say go for your dreams. I'm glad I went to college, but I wish I had done these things while I was in college instead of waiting until after.
Q: How will this show stand out and differ from MADtv? \nA: That's a really good question. Our aim is for a bit of an older audience than MADtv, which aims mainly for the younger teens. We're not going for outrageous or over-the-top. We want to be good-spirited. We don't want to do that "Britney Spears sucks" kind of stuff. One of our first sketches is about George Bush giving his daughter advice. We're not out here to try and "get" celebrities or "rip" them. I never fit in at MADtv too much because that's all they wanted to do. I didn't get to do what I like to do very often. With this I do. It's not about being crazy. It's about being fun and goofy.
Q: How do you decide who to impersonate, and how to you get good at doing impressions? Is it a natural thing, or do you have to practice? \nA: I think there's definitely some natural ability. But it takes a lot of work. Four years ago, I couldn't do Bush at all. It's more of trying to figure it out. You see me do mostly impressions I'm good at, but I do a lot of mediocre impressions, too. ... When it comes down to it, it's about being funny. If you get laughs by being dead-on, that's good, but it's whatever works. The end goal is to make people laugh.
Q: Does doing the same impersonations over and over ever get old? \nA: To me, as long as I'm coming up with something new to say as John Madden, it's still fun. As long as there's new stuff coming out, I'm still having fun. I like when people ask me to do it, because it's people saying, "Hey, I like what you do."
Q: Have you ever heard from the people you impersonate? What to they think of you? \nA: Well, John Madden doesn't like me at all. I've never heard from the president, but I did a Dick Cheney impression while he was sitting right next to me. He ended up giving me a standing ovation. Letterman likes it. Jay Leno let me do an impression of him on his show. Most people seem to be OK with it, but I'm sure some people probably hate me for it.
Q: Any last words?\nA: Thanks a lot. Stay in school.
