Josh Rosen - Interview with an Comic Impressionist #241

Josh Rosen, a celebrated impressionist celebrated for his impeccable renditions of figures such as Donald Trump and Larry David, brings a unique perspective to the world of comedy through his work with impersonations. His comedic path, which began with mimicking peers and teachers during his school days, has been shaped by his affinity for characters with anxious or edgy personalities, a connection he believes is essential for humor. Rosen thrives on the challenge of imitating distinctive individuals, preferring those who offer rich material, and his versatility allows him to customize performances to engage diverse audiences. This attention to detail and his ability to engage through interactive Q&A sessions make Rosen’s performances not just entertaining but also memorable, securing his place as a successful and highly valued entertainer.

(00:08:19) Personalized Interactive Impersonation Experiences

(00:10:48) Evolution of Josh Rosen's Impersonation Talent

(00:13:14) Impersonating Unique Sports Broadcast Personalities

(00:17:35) Character Selection Strategies for Impressionists

Transcript

Announcer: 0:04

This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy. Your host and emcee celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and emcee, Scott Edwards.

R. Scott Edwards: 0:21

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the podcast. Man, it's been so fun doing shows this year. We're starting off strong. 2025 is gonna be year for stand up comedy, for entertainment, for podcast. And I have a real treat for you today. You've heard him many times on this podcast. Why? Because he's one of the funniest and most talented impressionists out of South Florida. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the show, the one and only Josh Rosen. Josh, nice to have you back on the podcast.

Josh Rosen: 0:59

Hey, thanks. Thanks for having me. I'm finally getting some respect.

R. Scott Edwards: 1:04

Well, I gotta tell you, we've had so much fun with you. You do a great impression of Joe Biden. You do a terrific impression of Donald Trump. You also do Rodney Dangerfield, Larry David, Woody Allen. I'm telling you, if you're listening out there and you own a corporation and you want some fun entertainment for your staff, give this guy Josh Rosen a call. He is so funny and so talented. But the reason we're talking today, Jo, is that one of your premier impressions is Donald J. Trump. So, Josh, you do one of the best Donald Trump impressions out there. What's gonna happen this year, the first year of your presidency?

Josh Rosen: 1:48

So do you want me to answer that as Donald Trump or leader Josh Rosin?

R. Scott Edwards: 1:54

Well, I thought we'd give the audience just a taste of Donald Trump, but it's up to you.

Josh Rosen: 1:59

Well, you know, we're going to do big league things, Scott. Mr. Edwards. Right. And very soon you're going to be have to call me Mr. President. Okay. And we're going to have a big league. Inauguration day is going to be the biggest invest and we're going to have a tremendous year with lots of record growth. Record growth. Lots of tremendous things. World peace. And we're going to make podcasts great again too, believe me.

R. Scott Edwards: 2:26

Well, ladies and gentlemen, as you could tell, Josh has President Trump now. Josh, as you with President Trump going into another four years, you must be excited about your career.

Josh Rosen: 2:40

Absolutely. It was funny on election night, I was thinking about, all right, here's my plan. If Trump wins, I'm all in on team President for the next four years. If he loses, I'll still imitate him, but I've got to come up with a different game plan. So happy, you know, for my sake, of doing comedy. He won, and, you know, it's gonna be a lot of fun the next four years. And I play to audiences not just Republican, but Democrat, too. The slogan I'm going with is make America laugh again.

R. Scott Edwards: 3:12

Oh, that's great.

Josh Rosen: 3:15

I think both sides can agree on that.

R. Scott Edwards: 3:18

Yeah, no, that's a great way to market yourself. Now, we should let people know that you do a terrific Joe Biden and you've been doing his impression. Let's give the audience an idea of what you did for Joe. So I'll ask Joe a question. So, Joe, you've given up the presidency. What are you going to do now?

Josh Rosen: 3:42

Hey, Peter, I'm sorry, I forgot your name. So for the next four years, I'm going to be selling ice cream with my son Hunter for opening up beer.

R. Scott Edwards: 3:58

And what's your favorite ice cream?

Josh Rosen: 4:01

My favorite is mint chocolate sniff.

R. Scott Edwards: 4:06

Mint chocolate sniff. Okay. Well, thank you, President Biden.

Josh Rosen: 4:12

God bless you. Thank you.

R. Scott Edwards: 4:16

Yeah, you got to get the cough in there these days, don't you?

Josh Rosen: 4:21

Oh, yeah, he's always coughing, and I don't know if he's got acid reflux or whatever.

R. Scott Edwards: 4:26

Well, we had a great interview with you last year. Might have been two years ago. Gosh, we've been doing this a while where you talked about how you got into impressions, but with your really good impressions of Biden and Trump, that's really helped your career as a comic, right?

Josh Rosen: 4:46

Absolutely. When you can. What I've learned is when. If you can imitate the president, who's the most famous person, frankly, in the world, it can get you a lot of. It can get you seen by a lot of people, because everyone knows the president. So for me, it's like, it's always a priority, whoever is president at the time, that I imitate them as accurately as I can, knowing that it can reach a wide audience.

R. Scott Edwards: 5:14

Well. And I've seen you on some videos. In fact, I've got a new video podcast starting called Tag Team Talent Podcast. Everybody listening should look for that. But, Josh, I've seen you on video, and you've really taken your impression to the next level. In certain cases for corporates, you've got the red wig, you've got the mannerisms, you've got. You're getting Donald Trump down really well.

Josh Rosen: 5:42

Everything. Yeah. So I'm doing a lot of private gigs now where people have me come as Donald Trump. And like you said, I wear the suit, the red tie, the wig. I even stuff myself a little bit because I'm like half of Trump's Size. So I try to make it look like I've got artificial. And so it's a lot of fun. I really put a lot of effort into getting the whole character down. So it's not just the voice, but it's all the mannerisms and everything.

R. Scott Edwards: 6:15

Well, that's so important. And I think you just touched on something we should share with the audience, that not only have you done a lot of professional stand up comedy and impressions on some of the showboats down in Florida and a lot of the senior centers and theaters in that area, you also can do private parties and gigs where you can do these various impressions and entertain people. So whether it's a corporate, a retail showroom or a private party, you really can tap into all three. Which not a lot of comics can do, right?

Josh Rosen: 6:53

Yeah, that's right. And I work clean too, which obviously a lot of places want a comedian that can work clean. And recently I did a show on the west coast of Florida. It was in someone's house. It was a surprise birthday party as Donald Trump. And everyone there had a great time. I roasted everyone at the party, including the guy whose birthday it was as Donald Trump.

R. Scott Edwards: 7:19

Oh, I bet that was so much fun. And, you know, I think it's important to remember not only as a professional entertainer and you've been very successful the last few years and really growing your product, which is you doing impressions, but it sounds like you're having fun.

Josh Rosen: 7:39

I do. I have a lot of fun. I love every gig that I do. I'm grateful that people, you know, enjoy what I do as well. And it's like it's my favorite thing in the world. Like, there's really nothing else I'd rather be doing at any time than entertaining people.

R. Scott Edwards: 7:55

Yeah, it really. And when you're with people live, there's kind of a closer engagement or relationship between the entertainer and the audience. And when you're doing impressions, tell me if I'm wrong. But you're actually, even though it's a performance, you're kind of having a conversation with people, which really makes it very interactive. Am I right?

Josh Rosen: 8:19

Yeah, absolutely. Even when I do Trump, most of the time I do a live Q and A. So I'll interact with the audience that's there. And I also try to gather as much information as I can about the venue I'm performing at, the audience members, so I can kind of customize it to the actual event as opposed to just doing my normal scripted routine.

R. Scott Edwards: 8:47

Well, I think that that's going to make you a more valuable Entertainer. And I hope people are making note of your name, Josh Rosen, because you are available for both professional and private gigs. And that's really cool. But we do want to share with the audience that even though the next four years and the past couple years have really been advantageous for you as an impressionist, because you do such a good Trump and such a good Biden, but you do other characters. I know that there's a little bit of Larry David from TV fame out there.

Josh Rosen: 9:22

Hey, you know, it's me, Larry. Gotta say, Scott, I'm doing pretty good. Pretty good.

R. Scott Edwards: 9:30

Well, thank you, mister. Thank you, Mr. David. And aren't you friends with Woody Allen?

Josh Rosen: 9:37

I am. And you know, Woody Allen, kind of a prick. Woody, are you with us, too? You know, I gotta be honest, you know, I never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me or Larry David as a member. We're both horrible, miserable people, and I don't recommend hanging out with either of us.

R. Scott Edwards: 10:06

Josh, those are great impressions, and I think that really helps your comedy show because you don't just do one character. You can really. It's not just political. You can go into the entertainment world. In fact, I think you've got a pretty good Rodney Dangerfield. Is Rodney there?

Josh Rosen: 10:25

Yeah, I'll tell you about right now. But, Lance, we got a rough shape, you know, I mean, they told me to look out for number one, and I stepped in number two. Don't respect at all, you know.

R. Scott Edwards: 10:37

Oh, Josh. Well, how fun is that? Are the impressions from TV how you got started, or was it. It didn't start on a political vein?

Josh Rosen: 10:48

No, actually, I think it started probably first when I was in school. I used to just watch the students and teachers in the class and just start mimicking them.

R. Scott Edwards: 11:01

And it wasn't really famous people, just people in your world.

Josh Rosen: 11:05

People in my world. And then other. And then people would give me feedback and they'd be like, wow, you really got that person down. And that's when I kind of knew, okay, I have this talent. And then I started as a. I used to want to be a sports broadcaster, too. That was like my first dream job.

R. Scott Edwards: 11:23

I wanted.

Josh Rosen: 11:23

And I used to imitate Marv Albert, who was a famous broadcaster for many years. And I think that was like my first famous person that I imitated.

R. Scott Edwards: 11:34

Well, getting into. So politics has been really hot the last year, but sports kind of goes on perpetually. And if you could do sports characters, I would imagine it would be a great foundation. So we've done political. We've done Some TV superstars. When it gets to sports, Marv Albert is a little bit of an old school person, but I think everybody knows his voice. What does Marv Albert sound like?

Josh Rosen: 12:03

Yes, it counts. And the foul. A series of moves. Bunny, Larry David put on a Donald Trump. Yes. The game is tied.

R. Scott Edwards: 12:16

Yeah, well, being an older gentleman, I grew up with Marv Albert. That's very good. Now you're about half my age, so Marv was towards the end of his career. You must really be into sports.

Josh Rosen: 12:29

Yeah, I've always been a huge sports fan, you know, enjoyed watching. I used to play basketball and golf a lot, and I've just always enjoyed, you know, the best broadcasters, too, because they put a unique take on the games. And it makes the games, I think, either better to watch and listen to or worse. It can go either way.

R. Scott Edwards: 12:50

Well, yeah, definitely. Marv Albert had a way, especially with the inflections of his voice, to make the game that he was calling that much more interesting. So I'm not surprised as a sports fan that you picked up on his impression. But as I said, I'm not into sports as much as you, and I'm older than you. Who are some of the hot sports guys these days?

Josh Rosen: 13:14

Oh, well, there's a bunch of guys I do on tv. Skip Balas, who's a real character. And that impression of mine's gone really viral on Twitter. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's my turn now, Mr. Edwards. I've got the clutch gene, unlike Lebrick James, or as I call him, Le Choke.

R. Scott Edwards: 13:39

Well, I'm not as big into sports, so I don't know Skip Bayless, but that's a great impression. It sounds like he's got some interesting quirks. Is it true as an impressionist that when people have quirks or voice inflections, it makes it easier to imitate them?

Josh Rosen: 13:56

Absolutely. The people that are the toughest to imitate are the ones that are kind of neutral or boring or have a monotone voice because it's like, what do you do to make it funny? How do you make. How do you emphasize the funny points of the character? But, you know, Trump, for instance, he's a character in himself just as he is. So it's easier for me to. To imitate someone like him versus, you know, someone like the governor of Florida, who's very popular. But Ron DeSantis, who I've tried to imitate, there's not. He doesn't have as many things going on to make it to make fun of.

R. Scott Edwards: 14:37

Yeah, he's very monotone, very level. He talks at a slow, steady pace, which is good for communication, but not for impressions.

Josh Rosen: 14:47

Right.

R. Scott Edwards: 14:49

Well, now, again, I'm not a big sports guy, but I have heard of a guy named Steve Smith. Steve A. Smith? Something like that. What's he do?

Josh Rosen: 15:00

Oh, Stephen A. Smith. Well, let me be very, very clear, Mr. Edwards. I've gotta say you are box office. You are not a scrub. And I know a lot of scrubs like this brother, Kwame Brown, he's a scrub. Joe Biden, he's a scrub. But you are box office.

R. Scott Edwards: 15:21

I've got to look that guy up. That's a great impression. Now, I don't know this Smith guy in sports, but that sounded like a great impression. Congratulations, Josh.

Josh Rosen: 15:33

Oh, thanks. Yeah, you've got to look up Stephen A. Smith. He is a huge star in the sports.

R. Scott Edwards: 15:41

Well, I will do that. But what I think is important for the audience, the podcast audience, to realize is that as an impressionist, if you're going to go pro, which you've recently done, you've really only been a pro the last couple years, as far as I know, is you have to have a variety of characters that you can call on again, because you don't really. What's interesting about stand up comedy, and this has been mentioned several times in the podcast, is you never know what audience you're going to get and what their mood's going to be. And I think what's interesting about impressionists like you, Josh, is that you can pull up the characters that you think will work in that crowd. Right?

Josh Rosen: 16:24

That's right. Yeah. I mean, some people aren't as the president, most people know regardless, but not everyone is familiar with the sports crowds, for instance. So that's a different audience. Woody Allen impression plays with an older audience and then, you know, being able to make fun of all the presidents. So this way you're not just getting, you know, one specific type of audience is really important.

R. Scott Edwards: 16:51

Yeah, that's interesting because as we were talking about previously, whether it's Democratic or Republican, if you're able to kind of COVID both sides of the political spectrum, that gives you a whole section for your show with an audience. And then if you have an older crowd, there's Rodney Dangerfield and Woody Allen. If you got a sports crowd or younger crowd, you could do more sports stuff. But I think the fact that you have all these, as they would say, arrows in your quiver that you can pull out depending on the situation must really help you be successful with the various crowds. Congratulations.

Josh Rosen: 17:29

Thanks so much. I'm having a lot of fun with it and I love entertaining.

R. Scott Edwards: 17:35

Well, I think that you're going to have to be on your toes. I think the next four years, you're pretty comfortable with Trump. But as any impressionist, it's important to stay on top of the new characters in the cultural world. Right. If somebody comes on really strong that somebody might learn to imitate.

Josh Rosen: 17:55

Oh, definitely. Especially if I'm interested in the person and I think I can relate to the character in some way. I have more fun imitating characters that are a little bit anxious. Maybe I can relate to that character more. A little bit. A little bit more. You know, the ones that are too laid back. I'm not. I'm not saying that I'm not that way at all, but I can relate more to the characters that are a little bit on edge all the time.

R. Scott Edwards: 18:24

Well, yeah, and also, as a comic, you need a little bit of an edge or anxiousness to be funny. I think you were talking about the governor of Florida. If he's too monotone and too serious, how are you going to pull that into a comedy set? Whereas when it's a political character, especially one that's as flamboyant as Trump, it really opens up the opportunities to exploit that. Right?

Josh Rosen: 18:51

That's right. Yeah. Someone was asking me recently if I could do a J.D. vance impression. And again, that's an example. J.D. vance seems like a really nice guy. I know he's popular, but he doesn't really give me much in terms of to work with as an impressionist.

R. Scott Edwards: 19:06

Right, right. No, I get that. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's always great to talk to professional entertainers. Josh is unique in that there's not a lot of really good professional impressionists out there. But he does such a great Donald Trump. And with Trump just getting into office, it's going to be four years of hard work for Josh. Josh, if people wanted to hire you for a corporate or a private gig, what's the best way to reach you?

Josh Rosen: 19:35

Yeah, the best way is go to my website, joshimpressions.com. you can send me an email through there. I also on all my social media channels, Instagram, X, YouTube, if you just type in Josh Impressions, you'll find me and you can send me a message and that's how you can reach me.

R. Scott Edwards: 19:58

Well, ladies and gentlemen, don't forget joshimpressions.com. that's joshimpressions.com if you want to get one of the best impressionists, he is out of South Florida. But he can work anywhere in the world. And I got to tell you, when you get him on stage, especially doing some of his stronger characters, he is one entertaining guy. Hey Josh, thanks so much for coming back on the podcast and we wish you so much success with your Donald J. Trump and your Joe Biden impressions over these next few years.

Josh Rosen: 20:29

Thank you so much. We will make America laugh again. God bless.

R. Scott Edwards: 20:35

Thanks, Josh. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be back next week with another great show, and thanks for listening. Bye.

Announcer: 20:44

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stand Up Comedy. Your host and emcee. For information on the show merchandise and our sponsors, or to send comments to Scott, visit our website at www.standupyourhostandmc.com. look for more episodes soon and enjoy the world of Stand Up Comedy. Visit a comedy showroom near you.

R. Scott Edwards: 21:06

It.