JFK Impersonator Vaughn Meader: Death of a Career
Listen now
Description
November 22, 2023, marks 60 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the end of one of the era's biggest comedy acts. During Kennedy's term, Vaughn Meader’s impersonation of the president made him a household name. The comedy album "The First Family,” in which Meader uncannily played JFK, broke sales records and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Meader's act was so convincing and edgy for the time, White House advisers actually worried about the public confusing him for the real thing. Mo tells the story of Vaughn Meader's brief and blazing time in the limelight and the long darkness that followed, alongside never-before-heard tape of Meader recorded shortly before his death. This episode originally published on January 17, 2019. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More Episodes
This special episode comes from the audiobook edition of ROCTOGENARIANS, a brand-new collection of stories from Mo Rocca that celebrates the triumphs of people who made their biggest marks late in life. Chances are, you know something about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. If, like sixty...
Published 06/11/24
Published 06/11/24
Long before her turn as the sermonizing Aunt Esther on "Sanford and Son," LaWanda Page was dazzling Black nightclub audiences - first as the flame-swallowing “Bronze Goddess of Fire”. Then, following in the footsteps of her childhood friend and eventual costar Redd Foxx, she became a queen of...
Published 01/03/24