Skip to main content

Weird, Wild Stuff: Dana Carvey to host a celebrity impressions game show on USA

Wheel of Impressions with Dana Carvey
The celebrity-integrated game show formula seems to have worked for programs like Lip Sync BattleCelebrity Name Game, and Hollywood Game Night. And now, we’ll see a new show that pits contestants against one another to do their best celebrity impressions, coming to USA Network, reports Variety.

Called First Impressions, the unscripted, half-hour comedy will feature celebrity impressionist extraordinaire Dana Carvey, who will mentor amateur impressionist contestants and help them perfect their best Trumps, Carsons, and Obamas. Viewers at home will vote on the winners every week.

Related: Kal Penn teams with Harold & Kumar writers for Fox News spoof

In addition to Carvey, other celebrity guests will appear on the show to mentor contestants, and participate in game play in some fashion  – perhaps trying out (or showcasing) their own impressionist skills?

Carvey also serves as an executive producer of the show, which comes from Renegade 83 and Gaspin Media. Jeff Gaspin, David Garfinkle, and Jay Renfroe will executive produce alongside the actor.

In speaking of his love of impressions, Carvey humorously states that he has “always enjoyed watching an impressionist nail somebody – as in capture their voice. Now I get paid to watch.”

Jackie de Crinis, Executive Vice President of Original Programming at USA Network, says there’s “no better talent to mentor these contestants than the master of impressions, Dana Carvey….we can’t wait to have his world famous celebrity impersonations on our network.”

Carvey appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week where he played the game Wheel of Impressions, showing off his ability to impersonate everyone from President Obama to Keith Richards, and Paul McCartney. Check out the clip above. Perhaps his best known impersonations, however, are of George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot, which were frequently featured during his time on Saturday Night Live.

There’s no word yet on when First Impressions will air. Stay tuned.

Christine Persaud
Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…
The 50 best shows on Netflix in May 2024
Jeff Bridges in A Man in Full.

Netflix keeps such a regular schedule of updates that there's not much difference in terms of new content between the beginning of the month and any other week. To kick things off in May, Netflix has debuted David E. Kelley's adaptation of Tom Wolfe's novel A Man in Full, while also adding the supernatural thriller Evil.

Neither of these series have broken into the list of the most popular shows on Netflix yet. But that could change by the end of the weekend, especially since A Man in Full is the first Netflix original of the month. Thankfully, it won't be the last, as more new shows are on the way in May. And you can keep up with all of them by checking back every Friday as we update our list of the best shows on Netflix right now.

Read more
The best new shows to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Max (HBO), and more
Elisabeth Moss standing by a mirror, looking behind her in a scene from The Veil.

FX and Hulu's spy thriller The Veil debuted on the last day of April, and it's still one of the best new shows to stream this week, alongside the third season premiere of the Max original comedy series Hacks. However, Star Wars fans are going to have to wait until Saturday, May 4 to watch the new animated anthology Star Wars: Tales of the Empire.

But if you missed any of last week's new shows, Knuckles, Dead Boy Detectives, and The Big Door Prize are still worth watching this month. You can find those series and more in our weekly roundup of the best new shows to stream below.

Read more
10 best movies of 2024 so far, ranked
Paul walks in the desert in Dune: Part Two.

This is sure to be an unusual year for Hollywood cinema. With the regular cadence of franchise blockbusters disrupted by the Hollywood strikes of 2023, there are fewer surefire bets at the box office. And some of the studios’ supposedly safer gambles, like Madame Web and Argylle, have already fallen flat upon release. Of course, this doesn’t mean there hasn’t been anything worth seeing in theaters or streaming at home.
In addition to a few standout franchise entries, the year to date has seen a number of terrific smaller-scale dramas, horror flicks, and indie comedies, many of them by debuting filmmakers. With luck, the relative lack of competition for audience attention will allow one or more underdogs to make a big cultural splash.

10. Abigail

Read more