JIM MORRIS is an extraordinary impressionist. And, like any great impressionist, he accurately recreates the voice and the vocal tics of his victims, but he also brings a surreal and wickedly funny twist to his portrayals (Gregory Peck as a cow, Daniel Patrick Moynihan singing "Chitty,Chitty, Bang, Bang"). Known for his Reagan his Clinton and his Bushes (41 & 43), Morris has been an institution in a town full of them (D.C.) and his talent for mimicry has resulted in a rather varied career, with appearances on everything from CNN to black-tie roasts of media superstars. Hearing is believing: His web site offers clips of Morris doing Koppel, Lieberman and others!

SHECKYmagazine.com: Do you call yourself an impressionist or an impersonator? Is there a difference? Do you care?

Jim Morris: Impressionist. Impersonator sounds a bit disingenuous. I think of myself as an artist, and impressionism is what I do. I paint in broad enough strokes to establish a likeness, then fill in finer details, real and imagined that color the way I'd like you to see the character...you know, give it some accent or exaggeration for comic effect. It's much more delicious for me to put a character through a distortion filter. The more subtle, the better. I'm not going for anything grotesque, necessarily...I go for "surreality". It's a good middle-ground place to be these days.

SHECKYmagazine.com: Did you start out doing apolitical then drift toward the political? How did you evolve?

Jim Morris: Everything to me has always been political. I grew up at a time when you either questioned authority, or you were lumped in with what Nixon called "The Silent Majority". I was a kid, during the Viet Nam War, and too young to be drafted or vote, but I asked a lot of questions, and whenever reality didn't square with logic and common sense I'd want to scream! Teachers at school were also authority figures who warranted my scrutiny.

SHECKYmagazine.com: Are you a political animal in your private life?

Jim Morris: Yes, and it pisses my family off! I yell at TVs and I walk out of movie theaters... As I said, for me everything is political. For example, the act of "dumbing-down" films and television shows to hold the attention of a particular demographic group is a crime. Well it may not be a crime but it ain't art to me. And I resent the sneaky product placements and tie-ins by the company's parent conglomerate. I wanna know who's selling me what. And they're gonna tell me what's funny? "Lose the friggin' laugh track you bastards!"

SHECKYmagazine.com: Is your act all political these days? Percentage-wise, what's the breakdown of political material versus non-political material? Does that change from gig to gig?

Jim Morris: All political all the time...you give me a mic and I'll give you the world.

SHECKYmagazine.com: How has your act changed, if at all, since September 11? Are you able to make fun of our current president considering the circumstances?

Jim Morris: I'm able to connect on a deeper level with the audience. These are stressful and confusing times. The stakes are far too high nowadays for the average citizen to not read up on current events. (Clinton era political satire, or what passed for it was pretty much variations of the same joke) So I usually have a well-informed audience that I don't have to "hit over the head", so to speak. Subtlety works. Especially with my President Bush impression. And since I know the audience is listening closely, I lay on a heavy dose of word-play. It's a guilty pleasure and it's pretty much harmless and I doubt I'll be cited for holding up the war effort, or for being unpatriotic.

SHECKYmagazine.com: Comparing impressionists with straight monologists, it would seem that attention to technique might overtake or overshadow your attention to material...just how important is material to you? To put it another way: Can you get away with a strong impression that isn't accompanied by a strong joke? If you discover that you can do a serviceable impression, yet you have no content to put in that celebrity's mouth, do you hold off? Does this ever occur? Are we making any sense?

Jim Morris: All the impressions I do are still "works in progress". I'm always adding to the understanding of each character. It's like peeling an onion. When I first find that I can "do" someone, I always start off with a phrase. If I can't think of a smart joke, I'll just get silly with it. I like taking the person out of context. I'll have them doing a nursery rhyme or singing a stupid song, or I'll turn them into an animal or whatever off-the-wall object suits them. My Bill Bradley still gets laughs; I do him as an ocean-liner. That's the only way some of my impressions can stay in the act after their time on the national scene has passed. Daniel Patrick Moynihan singing "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is another favorite.

SHECKYmagazine.com: In the eighties, you were known for your Reagan impersonation. Do you still do Reagan? Does the fact that he's suffering from Alzheimer's disease affect how you portray him?

Jim Morris: I used to do him "slightly out to lunch" all the way through his presidency. And then all of a sudden it wasn't OK to do him that way. At first, when I learned that he has Alzheimer's disease, I was angry that he stole my act, but now I find that I'm very generous in my portrayal of him. I present Reagan the way we all remember him from his prime: the smooth operator, master communicator, and defender of "that shiny city on the hill". He really is a bigger-than-life figure to a lot of Americans, so I guess he'll remain in the act...as long as I can continue to be respectful, if not reverential.

SHECKYmagazine.com: Is it embarrassing to do an impression in front of the person you are actually impersonating?

Jim Morris: Yes. I hope it's embarrassing...to the person I'm imitating. That's my aim.

SHECKYmagazine.com: Is it easier to make fun of a President once he's out of office?

Jim Morris: Only if he was out of his mind when he was in office, as is the case with Nixon.

SHECKYmagazine.com: What group has the better sense of humor: Democrats or Republicans? Politicians or journalists?

Jim Morris: I've always thought that Democrats have the better sense of humor. I'm often proven wrong. Go figure. Politicians or journalists? As a rule, journalists. By nature, they can easily see the absurdity in a given situation, however they can't be disrespectful to the politicians they cover. While enjoying political satire really is somewhat of a subversive act, I think we're all better off with the tension release that laughter brings. A smart politician has a great sense of humor. How could this not be the case? A smart politician knows how ludicrous the whole charade is. The dumb politician is the one who takes himself way too seriously. (It's these types of guys that are more likely to end up in my act.)

SHECKYmagazine.com: Who was your first celebrity impression? When did you do him/her?

Jim Morris: I remember being twelve or thirteen (my "deformative years") and being able to do three impressions: Truman Capote, Lily Tomlin's "Ernestine", and Julia Child. Then my voice changed and I could only do Julia Child. I had to work from there.

SHECKYmagazine.com: How soon after someone dies do you have to wait until you can resume doing the impression?

Jim Morris: Good question. I don't know what the correct answer is. Impropriety has it's place too. One time, and this is true story: One week after Richard Nixon was buried, I found myself at the podium speaking to a huge black-tie crowd at the Waldorf-Astoria. It was a Friar's tribute to Barbara Walters. Sitting next to Walters was Henry Kissinger who was just back from Yorba Linda, California, where he gave a tearful eulogy at the Nixon funeral. I reached deep down, and summoned a very emotional former president (formerly president; newly dead) from beyond the grave: "Henry, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for those wonderfully kind and generous words last week. I never knew you cared so deeply." The crowd was stunned. I broke character and apologized. "Did I say something wrong? Jeeze, the last thing I wanted to do tonight was bomb. But hey, you got away with it in Cambodia, didn't you sir?"

SHECKYmagazine.com: How many albums/CD's have you recorded?

Jim Morris: None. My career's been a well-kept secret.

SHECKYmagazine.com: Since our voice sounds different to us than it does to others, how do you know when you've nailed an impression?

Jim Morris: When I've nailed the guy's wife.

SHECKYmagazine.com: When and where did you start your comedy career?

Jim Morris: Boston, 1978. Other graduates from my class include Bob Goldthwaite, Steven Wright, Paula Poundstone and Lenny Clarke.

SHECKYmagazine.com: What comedian did you admire when you were young?

Jim Morris: Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, David Frye, Monty Python, Marx Brothers, Three Stooges.

SHECKYmagazine.com: What do you think is the most overdone impression?

Jim Morris: Abe Vigoda.

SHECKYmagazine.com: How is the food at the Washington's Correspondents Dinner?

Jim Morris: So good, you get to wear it home: "Hey schmuck, this tux is not a rental, I own it! And look, Eduardo...last course, I got your elbow in my eye socket. Could you go easy on my groin with the gravy this time? That's hot stuff, you sonovabitch!"