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The Man Most Upset About John Madden Retiring
It’s not Al Michaels, NBC President Dick Ebersol, or even the fans. Without question, the man most devastated by the news of John Madden retiring is Frank Caliendo. It’s not even close. Madden was Caliendo’s meal ticket. His best imitation by far and I’m sure a good source of his income came from paid speaking engagements as Madden. I think Caliendo’s impressions are tremendous, but I generally don’t think he’s that funny. I watched 3 or 4 episodes of his now canceled show on TBS and I don’t think I laughed once.
With the news of John Madden retiring, Caliendo was everywhere on sports radio yesterday. I found him on at least 8 sports radio stations yesterday, some as Frank Caliendo talking about John Madden and some with Frank Caliendo pretending to be John Madden talking about his retirement. One of those stations was WHB in Kansas City and this was one of those stations where he pretended to be John Madden and then went back to being Frank Caliendo.
Is He Doing Okay With The News That Madden Is Retiring?
Yeah, I’m working on my Collinsworth. I’m going to bring a picture of a toucan up on stage. “Hi I’m Chris Collinsworth, I’ll make you mad.” No, I love Collinsworth. You know what, it’s interesting because people are writing articles all over the country, first President Bush is gone, now John Madden, what is Caliendo going to do? And I’m always like, well, as like as I’ve still got Al Pacino, Dr. Phil, Charles Barkley and all these others I think I’ll be alright.”
On Hearing The News That Madden Retired:
“My manager emailed me this morning, he goes “did you hear, John Madden decided to retire.” Did I hear? 75 radio stations let me know.”
Caliendo’s Best lines As Madden:
Working at McDonald’s after retiring — “I love eating McDonald’s but it’s tough working at McDonald’s. You gotta make change and you gotta press the right button for the size of the cup and you gotta get the fries out before they turn brown and maybe they get…..garbled…..”Working on the suicide hotline after retiring – “Who calls into that? I just didn’t care enough.”Working at Ace Hardware after retiring You know what I’d be great at? I look like one of those guys who would work at Ace Hardware. Hey, can I help you find the paint? Oh, that’s the nail section, I’m sorry about that.”
On Brett Favre —
“You realize, hey, if Brett Favre isn’t out the playing, why should I be out there calling it?”
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