FOLLOWING ON FROM last week’s YouTube Top 10, which featured this hilarious Matt Williams-aping clip, we decided to draw up a list of the best impressionists of sport stars ever.
And we’re talking purely from a comedic, sketch show-type viewpoint. In other words, Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull, or Martin Sheen in The Damned United don’t count.
And no, Jamie Redknapp’s bad impersonation of a decent football pundit doesn’t count either…
7. Darren Farley
Okay, he was never successful enough to get his own TV shown, and seems to have faded into obscurity following five minutes of YouTube-inspired fame, but what a five minutes it was. His impressions of Steven Gerrard and Rafa Benitez were so uncanny that even the stars themselves had to admit to their excellence, with Benitez remarking: “He does me better than me.”
6. Alistair McGowan
Quite probably the only sporting satirist who has also worked as an actual commentator, Alistair McGowan is surely one of the most versatile entertainers around. In addition to featuring in the BBC’s coverage of this year’s Wimbledon, he has also written plays, acted in shows such as Skins and served as an ambassador for the World Wide Fund for Nature. This commitment to a variety of roles probably explains why his sports sketches have been less prominent in recent times, but they were always entertaining and immensely popular circa early 2000s. He still occasionally impersonates people these days, as the clip below attests.
5. Dermot Morgan
Dermot Morgan will of course always be most famous for Father Ted, however before he launched the award-winning hit comedy, he featured in Scrap Saturday, a radio show that was less well-known but at times equally funny. In addition to ripping on numerous politicians, one of his favourite people to parody was Eamon Dunphy, thus making Morgan the precursor to the ensuing success that Aprés Match acquired.
4. Mario Rosenstock
Not solely a satirist of sports stars, but still consistently funny when he does choose to rib some of the most well known figures in this area – from Roy Keane to Jose Mourinho to Ronan O’Gara, he never fails to draw a laugh from his audience. And unlike inferior mimics, not only does he demonstrate an acute ear for the speech patterns of sports people, but he also manages to include funny stand-alone jokes and thus, realises that simply doing a good impression of someone is not enough on its own.
3. David Mitchell
Sky television specialise in hype. Whether it be Manchester United against Arsenal, or some random Blue Square Premier fixture, they make it sound as if the end of the world is being broadcast live. And no one summed this up better than David Mitchell in the fantastic sketch below, with some help from his comedic sketch partner Robert Webb no doubt. The duo rarely perform sport-related sketches, but when they do, the results are invariably hilarious. See also: the superb football fan sketch.
2. Apres Match
The sketch show has been around for so long that it has almost become as much of an institution as the array of famous figures that it mocks. Picking one clip is almost impossible, as there have been numerous highlights over the years. Some of the most memorable sports people mocked include Eamon Dunphy, George Hook, Mick McCarthy and of course, Pat Spillane.
1. Steve Coogan
Again, Coogan has only dabbled in sports mimicry, but the few occasions he has undertaken the challenge have produced arguably the funniest sports-related sketches ever conceived. The 1994 World Cup one is undoubtedly the most well-known of Coogan’s efforts, however his horse racing commentator sketch is quite possibly even funnier. Alf Ramsey will never be thought of in the same way again.
WATCH: ‘Armless Archer’ breaks Guinness World Record>
Read: View from the Frontline: Simon Hick’s World Cup dispatches, Part 3
Have we forgotten anyone? Let us know.
The League of Ireland is in a sorry state. This carry on is is not going away. As a Drogheda United we know more than most what its like when ones club chases the rainbow. How any player in the lower echelons of League of Ireland think its a good idea to be a footballer in Ireland is beyond me. All of these players will be out of contract at the end of the season, claim the dole and then go back to earning peanuts again. Its hardly a long term career plan. The FAI should use the their competition as a measure of how they as an association are performing….well its failing miserably. I’d love to see it get better, even to see it get to a Scottish standard with stadiums, facilities and televison deals would be enough but we are light years away from that.
@Patrick McHugh: so long as we keep ploughing our money into the EPL and the plastic paddy’s up north then we will never have a decent domestic league. Always love coming on here and seeing guys who proclaim to be Irish fans but will then on an EPL thread announce themselves as fans of UTD or Liverpool. The FAI don’t help though that much is true. If ever proof we’re needed then just look at the photos of Delaney or Mo’N in Inchicore poring over plans for the Richmond Bowl and on TV saying how good it will be for the game here. Oh, wait you can’t, Because they don’t exist!
@David Lawlor: Hi David, what do you mean by ‘ploughing money into the EPL and the plastic paddy up north’?
@Sean McFadden: Spending millions on trips to England and Glasgow Celtic. Non Irish teams.
@David Lawlor: Ok I get the EPL connect. The other part a reference to Hoops supporters from the North in particular?
@Sean McFadden: where does it say anything about people from the North? Very clearly talking about Celtic being north of England
fai imposes stoopid faux “licencing” bs scheeme on clubs wastes money on junkets 4 blazers & psuedo corporate fluff stuff (eg. Consultants) organization needs complete restructure & repurpose. Ireland’s soccer set up is unsustainable for long term ignoring grass roots development & proper investment in & development of local LofI &subsidiary league clubs & structures.
All our senior clubs have faced financial crises in recent times. The dundalks corks rovers etc included all hv faced financial catastrophe. FAI top brass response 2 ongoing recurring situations is 2 further distance itself from domestic scene.
Soccer is no.1 sport in ireland in terms of active players and reach, yet unlike other orgs like gaa irfu fai is appalingly run wthout proper strategic leadership or direction
When will the FAI realise that you can’t sustain a two division league system in this country and how many more teams have to go out of business for them to realize this and how do many of them get a licence year on year .Have one league with 14/ 16 teams but we all know its about money from UEFA ????????
@James Kelly: I think there’s some stipulation that you have to have at least 2 leagues to allow teams qualify for European competitions. I think
@Zossima: Nah, Gibraltar (the obvious one I could think of!) only have one division.
Love to see what that chancer Fran Gavin has to say about this.
It’s sad when this happens a club . Players have to be paid at the end of the day ! Some junior players are getting paid and they hold down jobs also , this is a stumbling block also to the clubs , why would a guy bother playing and travelling all around the country to train and play ! FAI have a lot of work to do when they get their heads out of the sand