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ARTICLE:
CORPORATE & INCENTIVE TRAVEL
The Magazine for Corporate Meeting and Incentive Travel Planners
September 2003, Vol. 21, No. 9

Are You Seeing Double?
By Marie Doyle

Approximately 5,000 employees and spouses were gathered in the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids , Ml, this past December for Gordon Food Service's annual meeting and awards presentation. Jim Gordon, executive vice president of this multi-billion-dollar food distribution company, had just finished addressing the group and announced that a very special guest had taken time out of his very hectic schedule to be with them.

The house lights were slowly lowered, a spotlight was aimed at a door at the back of the arena, and the song "Hail to the Chief' began. In walked "Mr. President," surrounded by four stern-looking "secret service agents!” "The buzz was unbelievable. Here were men dressed in suits, women in gowns, standing on their chairs trying to get a better look," says Dave Vickery, senior manager of human resources for Grand Rapids . Ml-based Gordon Food Service. "A high percentage of the audience truly thought this was the president, right there in person. It was completely electrifying. 'Mr. President' quickly took the stage and gave the audience such a hard look that it was a hoot."

This is the typical reaction California comedian Steve Bridges, a.k.a. "Mr. President," has been getting since he starting portraying President George W. Bush two years ago. He wows audiences, including numerous corporate groups, with his amazingly accurate, not to mention convincing, characterization of President George W. Bush.

'Mr. President Is Born'

The birth of Steve Bridges' "Mr. President" act began with a phone call. Randy Nolen of Geneva, IL-based Randy Nolen Artists, called a speakers bureau and was greeted by a recording of Bridges doing his impersonation of President Bush. "He was so on the money, that it got me thinking," says Nolen. "As an agent and a manager, I knew I had to meet him. When I did, I knew with the help of Academy Award-winning prosthetic makeup artist Kevin Haney we could bring the president to life."

A writing team was hired and more than $5O,OOO invested in the script alone. Another costly part of the project was the prosthetics that Bridges uses to transform into the president. In total, $25O,OOO has been invested in the development of this project.

Steve Bridges as "Mr. President" is a hot commodity in the corporate world. He is booked for over 1OO dates this year and Nolen predicts that number will double in 2004. He has signed an exclusive deal with The Tonight Show with Jay Leno where he is frequently featured.

Other television shows he has appeared on include Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics, Good Morning America, Fox News with Brit Hume, and Hannity & Colmes. "This is so exciting for me; I know the audience will love the routine. This is a comedian's dream come true. To know you have a show that always is a homerun. No matter if you are a Democrat, Republican, liberal, or conservative, this act will make everyone laugh. It's lighthearted and does poke fun, but not in a mean way," says Bridges from his cell phone as he was making his way to shoot a new ABC television series, "Navy NCIS," an offshoot of JAG, in which he plays the role of, you guessed it, "Mr. President." "The success we have received is a result of the way I have studied the president and have him down, the material that is so sharply written, and Kevin's prosthetics that are so real. I have done stand-up comedy (as himself) at clubs and at corporate functions. But this is the most fulfilling job I've had by far. It's not just comedy, but it's acting. I have to actually become the president."

A master impressionist, George W. Bush isn't the first president Bridges has perfected. He very accurately impersonates Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, the senior George Bush, and Bill Clinton. His repertoire encompasses over 200 personalities, from broadcasters Tom Brokaw, Paul Harvey, and Rush Limbaugh to TV characters Barney

Fife , Homer Simpson, and the ever-popular Mr. Haney from the Green Acres TV show. His routine is around 45 minutes, and the first three or four minutes are customized for the particular corporation or industry he is addressing. He uses many of President Bush's mannerisms but in a very exaggerated way to make it humorous. "Okay, I admit I might not last too long on Jeopardy. Well, my predecessor wouldn’t last two minutes on Temptation Island ," Bridges exclaimed during one recent act as President Bush.

He has perfected many of the phrases President Bush frequently uses. A popular one is, "good people." He asks the audience, "How many of you good people voted for me? How many of you didn't? How many of you would like to be audited by the IRS?" Other jokes deal with natural resources, foreign policy, and pretzels. His show ends with questions from the audience that have been planted.

After leaving the room, shaking hands in a very presidential manner along the way, he comes back for at least another hour for photos. Although Bridges' impersonation of the president is a dead ringer, he really doesn't resemble him at all. As a matter of fact, he is 15 years younger than the president"

This is where Kevin Haney, who won an Oscar for the age makeup he created for Dan Akroyd in "Driving Miss Daisy," comes in. The process started with a creation of a life mask of Bridges' actual face. Referring to videotapes and photographs, Haney then made a carefully created sculpture of Bush's face. He then made a negative of the sculpture and filled the negative of Bush's face and the positive cast of Bridges' face with foam latex that is cut into nine interlocking pieces.

The challenge is changing the face but not changing the face's mobility. After the pieces are adhered, which usually takes about an hour, Haney airbrushes, paints, and touches up with many layers of color. A wig and eyebrows top off the transformation. Technically a four-hour procedure, Haney pre-colors some of the pieces and takes other shortcuts, and has the entire process of transforming Bridges down to about two and a half hours. What many find surprising is that these latex foam pieces are disposable. A new set is made by Haney and his assistant for each appearance.

Although Bridges may sit down in the makeup chair, "Mr. President" emerges. Haney's prosthetics is a work in progress. He continuously tweaks the prosthetics and has made a total of 15 revisions in makeup and hairpieces in the last year and a half. Many people do not realize it is the prosthetics that make Bridges look so much like the real president. "I've had many come up to me after the show and say, you look so much like the president that you probably can't leave your house. I used to pull out my driver's license to show them what I really look like, but I now carry around a photo."

One of the biggest highlights for Bridges has been meeting the real President Bush in the Oval Office of the White House. Although he went as Steve Bridges, he did do an impersonation of the president for the President during their 20-minute meeting. The president also asked Bridges to do his impersonation of his dad. "My hope is that I will have the special opportunity to perform for him one day," says Bridges.

The New York City-based International Radio and Television Society (IRTS) Foundation used Bridges for a function they sponsored at the Waldorf-Astoria last fall and was so pleased that they used him for another function a few months later, two times within a three-month period, the first time the society ever did this in its 64-year history. Joyce Tudryn, president of IRTS, says her group is a not an easy one to please. They are senior level media and entertainment executives who are always exposed to the most talented celebrities on a regular basis.

"When Bridges walked into the room there were gasps of disbelief. That moment of suspended belief was something to really behold. Bridges held them in the palm of his hand with his customized humor and impeccable delivery," says Tudryn. Many members of this high-level group also waited on line to have their photos taken with Bridges The IRTS used Bridges a second time for a holiday party they were having. He entered the room as a secret Santa. "Who should emerge from underneath the secret Santa suit but 'Mr. President,"' says Tudryn.

Videotape: Next Best Thing To Being There

Another option of having Bridges as a part of your next corporate function is to have a videotape prepared. Randy Nolen Artists recently built a replica of the pressroom in the White House in Washington , DC . Accurate down to practically the last detail, this new press room serves as a fitting stage for the videos Bridges makes. The videos are completely produced on-site and include all production costs - set, sound, lighting, talent, reproduction, and delivery.

Because all production and post-production will be performed at a single location, Nolen said the final product can be made available to clients in as little as 24 hours. Although Bridges will do most videos solo, Nolen said it's also possible to include a "spokesperson" from the company or organization. 'We essentially will have two basic formats - one as a press conference and another which will look more like a live satellite feed. The finished product will be fully amenable to many different applications," Nolen said. "The videos can be used to open a meeting, at a trade show booth, on the Internet, or via video teleconference."

Bridges prepared a videotape welcoming the Indianapolis . IN-based International Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB), a trade association of speaker’s bureaus, to Washington , DC , for its annual convention earlier this year. "It went over extremely well. People loved it," says James D. Montoya, CAE, executive vice president of the IASB. "Steve Bridges looks like George W. Bush, he acts like him, and he sounds like him. As 'Mr. President,' Bridges uses humor in a way that lightens the typical convention atmosphere. As long as President Bush is in office, Bridges will have material audiences will be interested in. Once President Bush steps down as president, the demand for Bridges will not be as strong."

Bridges is well aware of this and that is why he says he is supporting President Bush in his re-election bid. "l will get a "Vote Bush" bumper sticker and wear it on my forehead," he says with a chuckle.