The Next Best Thing Recap Biography

The Next Best Thing Recap p Thursday, June 7, 2007 - The Next Best Thing took its show on the road to New York this week, auditioning The Big Apple's best celebrity impersonators. /p The first one to face the judges in The City That Never Sleeps was a guy impersonating The Guy Who Never Quite Seems Awake, Howard Stern. Last week's episode gave us a small preview of the freelance illustrator who captures Stern's likeness perfectly, but the full impersonation has to be seen to be believed. After absolutely nailing Stern's look, voice, and mannerisms, one really has to wonder if this isn t the real Howard punking us. Naturally, he made it through to the next round. p A series of small disappointments followed the successful show opening ( Cher in her Navy Seal days; Donald Trump wearing a mullet wig); until the next impersonator who got a thumbs-up from the judges. You may recognize native Canadian Natalie Reid (pictured) from her appearances on various entertainment programs, and thought, Wow, she really does look like Paris Hilton... with the mumps! Still, Reid managed to convince the judges and made it through to the next round. That's hot. /p Although Reid is a professional impersonator, most of the contestants need to hold down a different day job that is often quite different from their glam look-a-like gigs. Nothing proved this more than the ultra-debonaire Sean Connery impersonator who manufactures bras and underwear by day. p Although this week was only the second episode of the show, it's now becoming clear that the judges have a penchant for projecting puns into each rejection, which, depending upon your sense of humor is either annoying or secretly thrilling. One such example followed the montage of Frank Sinatra impersonators, who were given this response from the judges: More like Frank Si-NOT (Clever, guys.) /p Alternating between the good, the bad, and the Who are you even supposed to be? auditions; the evening's Kenny Chesney impersonator was an oasis in a desert of bad calls. From the hat, to the southern drawl, to the singing; he was ushered through to the next round. So, too, was the Madonna impersonator, circa the singer's Like a Virgin era. Dressed in a white lace bustier, the Madonna-wannabe slithered on stage just like the, uh (virginal?) Madonna of the 80's that we all know and love. p Speaking of 80's Madonna, just a few years ago, Britney Spears was paying homage to Madge by dressing up in her Like A Virgin white lace ensembles and crucifixes. Well, this week featured three different Britney impersonators, while the judges engaged in a game called Guess which one is the dude? Interestingly, Derek turned out to be the best of the bunch nailing Spears dance moves and makeup to boot. /p A few things to note for anyone auditioning in Orlando next week: if you re going to be Borat, make sure you have the really thick eyebrows to match. Otherwise it just looks kind of weird. And if you re a guy in you re 40s-50s, keep in mind that just because you have grey hair, doesn t necessarily mean you look like George Clooney. Don t flatter yourself. p -Giselle Melanson /p