On Imitation

Yesterday, my brother Rich and I had a Skype conversation during which were talking about imitating star performances. He then told me this great story.

"In 1998, Nathan Lane played the Cowardly Lion in a concert adaptation of the Wizard of Oz.

"A women came up to him after the performance and snidely said, 'What if I told you that your performance was just an exact imitation of Burt Lahr's.'

"Lane replied, 'I'd say thank you, because Bert Lahr was pretty fucking great!'"

Sometimes imitation is not such a bad thing.