David Frye - Helping Us Laugh Our Way Through President Nixon's Administration

Much as I love Rich Little, there was 1 impersonator that made surviving the late 60s & early 70s a lot more fun-ier David Frye. His comedy albums are classics with his playing almost all the characters.

He started out in the LBJ administration, but he reached his peak under Nixon. He was nonpartisan in his humor. Nixon & LBJ, Humphrey & Bill Buckley, Truman Capote & Billy Graham, Muhammed Ali & Howard Cossell, & many many others were skillfully captured by his talents.

In his 1st album that came out in 69 he dealt with the transition from LBJ to Nixon. 1 of my favorite bits on the album was this (all the male voices were done by Frye) scene set shortly after the 68 election. The White House doorbell rings & JBJ answers.

JOHNSON [doorbell] "I'll get it,

Lady Bird! Who's there?"

NIXON "It's Dick and Pat."

JOHNSON [shouting back information] "It's Pick 'n Pat!"

NIXON "No, it's Dick and Pat: The President Elect...and Mrs. Elect."

Nixon goes on to explain he is there to tour the White House. We find out that Nixon never went above the 1st floor & that VP Humphrey runs the White House elevator. (Listen to whole bit & the rest of his 1st 2 albums here.)

Probably my favorite album was Richard Nixon: a Fantasy. Unlike most of his albums that were collections of bits, this 1 was a 30s crime movie style narative of the Watergate saga in the days before Nixon actually resigned. I won't give the entire storyline away. It included Nixon going to the Godfather for help, Nixon being tried & convicted by some evidence that was uniquely Nixonesque in its source. Nixon ends up in prison & eventually attempts an escape. You can listen to the entire album here. IMHO it still holds up after all these years.

While he did continue after Nixon left office he was never able to reach the same heights. But his humor more than anything will define that era for me.
David Frye passed away last week in Las Vegas on 24 January at age 76.