First impressions: Morris polishes his presidential timbre
By Dean Johnson
Saturday, February 19, 2005

Jim Morris is a one-man Disney attraction, his own Hall of the Presidents, which is why the impressionist is at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway during Presidents Day weekend.

     Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and Bushes senior and junior are all included in the more than two dozen impressions that are part of the one-man show ``A Weekend with the Presidents.''

     Morris, 47, knew what he wanted to do for a living even before he graduated from Framingham North High in 1975. As a senior, he pretended to be the school principal and made an early dismissal announcement on the public address system.

     ``I already had enough credits to graduate, so it was a calculated risk,'' he said about the prank. ``I had been the class president for the last two years and had a good relationship with the principal, so I knew he could take a joke.''

     Morris was right. He never was punished for the stunt.

     An original member of Boston's legendary Ding Ho comedy club crew, Morris moved to San Francisco and began to get noticed because of his uncanny ability tomimic Ronald Reagan duringReagan's White House years.

     ``At that point, fear started to drive me as an impressionist because everyone started asking me, `What are you going to do after Ronald Reagan leaves?' That's when I realized that if I wanted to keep the gravy train going I would always have to be ready to do the next guy.''

     It isn't always easy. Morris said he starts working on about six major candidates each election year and then narrows the field as the primaries progress. ``My career is littered with the remains of failed candidates,'' he said.

     ``What I do requires watching a lot of videos and a lot of mannerisms, and then as one to two major candidates emerge, I drop all the others and refocus my attention.

     ``I work from the inside,'' he added.

     ``I don't try to get the mannerisms or voice first. I let hours of observing and listening wash overme until I get some essence of the character.''

     Learning to mimic George W. Bush involved a great deal more than tweaking his imitation of the elder Bush.

     ``The essence of the character of George W. was, for me, the smirk and the frat boy bravado,'' he said. ``And that's just not his dad at all.

      ``I wouldn't have been able to do things like have a conversation between the father and son if I had just decided that all I had to do for the son was chip a little off the old block,'' he said. ``There are major differences in accents and attitudes there.

     ``Kerry was also very different,'' he said. ``He's so careful and nuanced. His speaking style is very, very contrived and derivative, whether it's from the Kennedys or French aristrocrats. There was so much there, and I was fascinated.

      ``So I started with his appearance with Dick Cavett and his Senate testimony back in 1971. It was easier to do him by starting from there. As the campaign wore on and Kerry was finding his voice, so was I.''

     Morris said he's already prepared for the next elections, with one exception.

     ``Hillary would be a real problem,'' he confessed.

( ``A Weekend With the Presidents'' is at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway tonight and tomorrow. Tickets are $25. Call 866-811-4111 or go to www.jtoffbroadway.com. For more information, call 617-591-1616. )