I have lots of talented friends. I can't do much more than write silly stuff and cook turkeys in my George Foreman rotisserie oven. But I have friends who can sing, dance, juggle…even sound like other people. One who can do all those except maybe the juggling is the incomparable Christine Pedi, who is oft-referred to as "Christine Pedi of Forbidden Broadway." She no longer performs in that show but when she did, she won raves for her uncanny carbons and burlesques of celebs like Ethel Merman, Liza Minnelli and Elaine Stritch. (I saw her do Liza at least a dozen times over the years and watched the impression get broader and broader. It's had to, since Liza is now doing an increasingly-broad imitation of herself and Christine has to stay ahead of the real thing.)
You can read a nice article about her that ran in The New York Times by clicking here and another piece on TheatreMania by clicking here. And you can see Christine on your very own TV. She's scheduled to do a number this coming Tuesday (January 22) on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
Funny story how I met Christine: She was appearing in a production of Forbidden Broadway that was appearing at the Tiffany Theater here in Hollywood — an excellent company that included Brad Oscar, who is now on Broadway, playing Franz Liebkind in The Producers. (That is, when he isn't filling in for Nathan Lane as Bialystock.) I took a group of friends to the Tiffany to see the show — a group that included Stan Freberg and June Foray. After the performance, which we all loved, Stan wanted to meet the cast and, of course, they all wanted to meet one of America's great satirists. So we all massed in the lobby and when Christine met Stan, somehow the subject of his career doing cartoon voices came up. She said she wanted to get into the field and Stan pointed to me and said, "That's Mark Evanier. He does the Garfield cartoon show and he can tell you all about the business."
So she came over to me, introduced herself, told me that she was fascinated by the business and asked me what June Foray was like. I pointed to the lady standing next to me and said, "She's exactly like that woman." (I felt like Woody Allen: "I just happen to have Marshall McLuhan right here…")