Frank Caliendo

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Impressionists tend to bill themselves as men of "1,000 Voices" or variations thereof. Frank Caliendo would need a big billboard to fit, "Man of A Dozen Voices He Does Really Well."

Caliendo, a likable guy’s guy who gained a national profile through "MADtv" and NFL pregame sketches, works hard to walk a narrow bridge over two traps.

On one side? Standard bits that make some people roll their eyes at the mere thought of an impressionist: "Not Christopher Walken again."

On the other? People who will be mad if they don’t see that stuff. Sure enough, on the night of his red-carpet debut, someone yelled for Jack Nicholson, and Caliendo turned that into a joke in its own right.

The Monte Carlo’s new headliner sticks close to the voices he knows he can knock out of the park. And, until he seems to run out of options, he doesn’t do the usual suspects just because everyone else does.

Because comparisons are inevitable in Las Vegas, it’s also important to say that Caliendo doesn’t sing. Well, a few lines here and there for extra comic punch (and to justify a four-piece band). But he doesn’t try to do sound-alike singing in the manner of Gordie Brown or the late Danny Gans.

(It would be a stretch to read meaning in this, but Caliendo takes Kermit the Frog and Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman" — two impressions Gans used for big "awww" moments of sentimentality — and does them just for laughs.)

If Caliendo brings anything new to the table, it’s his attempt to weave his impressions into a credible context. The jokes often stem from the celebrity’s actual behavior, or role in pop culture, rather than absurd transpositions ("What if Robert De Niro did a commercial for hemorrhoid cream?").

Instead, Caliendo knows that De Niro really did play the Frankenstein monster, just as he knows Casey Kasem and Ted Knight were on the old "Super Friends" cartoons. And Charles Barkley getting pulled over by the police with Jaleel White (TV’s Urkel)? In a car full of wine coolers and bearclaws? It’s as ripe for comedy as any situation he could have made up.

It’s admirable, at least for a while. Barkley, George W. Bush, John Madden and Bill Clinton end up with so much stage time through "callbacks" that you wonder if Caliendo is stretching to make 70 minutes of a comedy club set.

Without the singing, it does seem like a lot of time to fill. Caliendo warms up with the take on Bush that put him on the map on "MADtv," reminding us what the last president looked like when he would say stuff "even he didn’t believe."

He’s soon on to Barkley, one of his great "finds" as an impressionist, right up there with the dead-on Madden he saves for later.

Caliendo eases up on his rigid pace to let the second half get more scattershot, with hit-and-miss results. There’s not much point to pulling wigs out of a trunk if he’s merely adding hair to do Madden and Jay Leno again.

And, on this night at least, a talk show desk to the side of the stage sat unused. Maybe you’ll be the one to see what he does with it, as Caliendo pledges to keep his set flexible. Good idea, until he gets this Vegas thing down.

By the time he does get around to stock impressions — Bill Cosby, Sean Connery or Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump — it’s hard to tell if Caliendo is trying to crowd-please or if he’s run out of unique material. A bit of both, I would guess.

As noble as it is to aim high, it’s almost a relief when he goes the easy road to show Pacino as Darth Vader, or Chris Farley as Batman. Chances are, you didn’t buy a ticket for an impressionist to see a distinct comic persona. And by then, Caliendo has at least tried to give you one.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.