How I Found Myself — By Impersonating Other People | Melissa Villaseñor | TED

Hi, I'm Melissa Villaseñor, and I do voice impressions.

For example,

this is Kristen Wiig about to go skydiving.

“I changed my mind.

I'm, I'm scared, I'm scared I'll get stuck on a cloud,

and then I’ll have to become an angel.”

(Laughter and applause)

Thanks.

This is Sandra Bullock

if she were to knock over a bunch of dominoes.

Just pretend they're here in the room.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.”

That's it.

(Laughter)

She always does that in movies.

And this is Lady Gaga

if she gave birth to a baby in "A Star is Born."

(Vocalizing)

(Vocalizing baby crying)

(Applause and laughter)

Miss Gaga, a star is born.

(Laughter)

And this is Melissa Villaseñor giving a TED Talk.

Hi, I'm Melissa Villaseñor and I do voice impressions.

(Laughter)

A little bit about me.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California,

to a Mexican-American family.

Middle child, OK, I was very shy.

I didn't do the best in school,

but I was very observant, maybe a little creepy.

And I realized I had this superpower of doing voice impressions

when I was 12 years old.

And it all began with the pop singers at that time, OK.

Britney Spears:

“All you people look at me like I’m a little girl.”

I know, spooky.

(Laughter)

And hot.

I should do that all the time, huh?

(Laughter)

I sang a lot of Shakira back then, just,

“There’s a she wolf in the closet.”

And I was kind of wolf-like singing at 13, you know, hairy, puberty days.

(Laughter)

I looked up to Gwen Stefani in high school.

I loved Gwen Stefani from No Doubt, and I wanted to look like her.

So I shaved my eyebrows real thin to copy her,

like in the "Return of Saturn" days, that Gwen.

And I thought, "Oh, my friends at school must think

I look just like Gwen Stefani."

I probably looked more like It, the clown.

It was spooky, thin, just,

“I kinda always knew I’d end up looking like It.”

(Laughter)

I loved making my friends laugh at school with my voices.

And I suddenly wasn't so shy anymore.

I felt like, oh, this is why I'm here.

This is my purpose, to bring joy and laughs.

And I suddenly got obsessed with Saturday Night Live at 15 years old.

And I was so determined, I was like,

I'm going to become a comedian

and I'm going to get on the cast of Saturday Night Live.

So right after high school, I graduate,

I go straight to signing up for open mic shows in Hollywood.

My parents went straight to worrying for their daughter.

(Laughter)

Now I went to junior college for them.

You know, I went for, like, a quarter or a semester.

I don't know, I wasn't there long enough to find out.

(Laughter)

But thankfully I got amazing opportunities pretty early on in my career

because I think it was rare to see a female voice impressionist

at comedy clubs.

And a cute one.

(Laughs)

(Laughter)

But I got the opportunity to be on “America’s Got Talent”

season six in 2011.

I'm not going to lie, I killed it, OK, 90 seconds.

I did a bunch of impressions, just,

Barbara Walters.

I did a Natalie Portman from the "Black Swan."

I did a Sarah Silverman.

Wanda Sykes.

I did Miley Cyrus.

And Christina Aguilera, oh, oh.

(Laughter)

From that exposure, being on that show,

I was able to quit my part-time job

and become a headlining comedian around the country

for clubs and colleges.

Now, that's amazing if you've been doing stand up for a while,

but I only had ten minutes and suddenly I had to do an hour

at comedy club.

So I bombed a lot.

I cried in a lot of hotels around the country.

But I noticed something as I was on the road,

working on jokes and performing,

I noticed that everyone was laughing at all the impression bits.

But every time I tried to talk about myself and my life, my family,

it didn't get laughs and it was starting to bug me.

People will come up to me after shows and they would go,

"Oh, I love your Owen Wilson impression.

He's so funny."

And I'd say, "Thanks,"

but inside I'd be like,

"Wait, do they only like me for my Owen Wilson impression, wow?

That really bums me out, man."

(Laughter)

So at that point I became determined again.

I was like, no, I'm going to write about myself.

I want to find my own voice among the voices that I do

because I think it's important and it's special,

and I think it's the best feeling to connect

as your true self with other people.

(Laughs)

(Applause)

And, you know, thankfully, I did find a voice.

Yeah, a funny-sounding one, but a voice.

And I like making fun of things in life.

It just makes life a little easier to handle.

I like making fun of my energy.

It's not sexy.

You feel it.

(Laughter)

My energy is a lot like a proud dad's.

(Laughter)

No wonder relationships don't work out.

Because every time I go on a date,

I check out the dude, first thing I go,

"Man, look at you."

(Laughter)

"Ah, you look good.

Is that a new jacket?

You look really sharp, my boy."

(Laughter)

"Here's 20 bucks.

Don't tell your mom, go ahead."

(Laughter)

I like talking about how I'm Mexican, you know?

And I don't look it, a lot of people don't believe me.

All my life, people would say,

"Oh, you're Mexican? You don't look Mexican."

And I get so apologetic, I'm like,

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot my sombrero.

Oh, man.

Did I not roll my Rs enough? Sorry."

And I just have to salsa away.

(Laughter)

I know, exterior, you wouldn't believe it,

but just know that inside ...

A lot of piñatas in here.

(Laughter)

I bleed Tapatío.

(Laughter)

You know, I don't speak Spanish.

I was a lazy kid,

second generation Mexican, I didn't work on it.

I know, shame on me.

Or as you would say in Spanish ...

I don't know.

(Laughter)

I have been working on my Spanish though,

because there's a lot of relatives of mine that only speak in Spanish.

And I think back when I would hang out with my great grandma, my abuelita,

you know, I would just nod and smile and wave at her.

How rude.

But she didn't mind, she would just stare at me lovingly, you know.

I'd be like, "Hey, abuelita, how are you?"

“Ay.”

(Speaking in Spanish)

Thanks, you’re bonita, too.

(Laughter)

"Ay."

And then she'd start talking crap about me in Spanish.

(Speaking in Spanish)

(Laughs)

(Speaking in Spanish)

(Laughter)

(Laughs)

I know I’m loca. You too, huh?

"No, me no."

(Laughter)

(Speaking in Spanish)

(Speaking in Spanish)

What? The tone changed.

What are you two saying over here?

I don’t like this. Why are you sad now?

(Speaking in Spanish)

What is that, boyfriend?

I don’t want one right now, I’m free.

(Speaking in Spanish)

(Laughter)

Fair enough.

See, I like imitating my family and talking about them,

because that'll never get old, that's always a part of me.

Celebrities, I don't even know them, you know?

But this means so much to me.

I like imitating my mom, she's a funny character.

When I'm driving my car and she's in the passenger seat,

she's a backseat driver,

she comments on my driving,

and she knows it pisses me off.

So she whispers everything about my driving,

which is like, that's worse.

Everything sounds so dirty to my innocent ears.

I'm driving,

she's in the passenger seat holding on to that rail, you know.

She's pressing --

I didn't know there was a brake pedal on that side

because she is pressing it, she's just --

(Breathes sharply through teeth)

(Whispering) "Slow down."

(Laughter)

(Whispering) "Oh, you're going too fast."

(Laughter)

(Whispering) "Oh, we're not in a rush."

(Laughter)

(Whispering) "Oh, my back."

(Laughter)

"Oh, there's a spot right there,

right there, right there, right there, oh."

(Laughter)

"You missed it."

Ew, nasty.

(Laughter)

Now, after nine years in my journey,

I did get the chance to audition for Saturday Night Live in 2016,

and I get cast on the show.

(Cheers and applause)

It was so beautiful to be on the show and magical,

I felt like I entered ...

I mean, my dream, it was real.

It was ...

It was beautiful.

And being on SNL amplified everything I ever wanted,

especially for doing voices.

Now, I left SNL after six seasons on the show, just recently,

because, one,

I wasn't strong enough anymore to handle the pressure of the show.

Two,

I wasn't having fun anymore looking up celebrities.

And three, there was something inside me, inside Meliss, that was saying,

there's more to discover about myself, there's more talents,

there's more things to learn, to expand on.

So now I'm in a funny position because I did the --

Evil laugh.

(Imitates evil laugh)

(Laughter)

No, but it is a funny position I'm in

because that was the goal I worked for since 15

and it's so like, now, like, what do I do?

Has anyone here reached a life goal and still have years left?

(Laughter and applause)

There was one day recently, I Googled

"What the hell do Olympians do after they go to the Olympics?"

Just because I want to know other people that feel this way.

I did find out on Google, Olympians become teachers and mentors.

And I thought,

"Well, eff that. I don't want to do that."

(Laughter)

The thing I noticed within the six years of being on SNL,

there was something -- the best stuff that I did

were pieces where I was doing my impressions,

but I was also very much being Melissa.

So as I go forth in my journey,

I've got to remember to always share the gifts that I have of doing voices

and also make sure I could be vulnerable and be myself.

So something I love to share at my standup shows is

how I struggle with low self-esteem,

and I constantly have to tell myself positive talk and affirmations.

Now I don't use my voice.

No, I sound too sarcastic, I don't believe me.

(Laughter)

If I say, "I'm good at what I do, I'm funny."

I don't ... no.

Thankfully, I have a Dolly Parton impression,

so I say my affirmations as Dolly.

Works way better.

“I’m good at what I do.

I work hard.”

(Laughter)

(Singing) I work nine to five.

What a way to make a living.

More like 10 minutes because I’m doing a TED Talk.

(Cheers and applause)

So I hope the lesson or thing you leave with

is that I hope you could put your masks down, your personas,

and be your true, true self because man, it rocks.

Maybe learn a Dolly impression so you could look in the mirrorm

and say, "I am brave, I am beautiful."

Or better yet, learn your Melissa impression

so you can look in the mirror and say,

"Man, look at you.

Yeah, you're cool."

Muchas gracias, thank you.

(Cheers and applause)