The former President of the United States is a controversial figure, but Donald Trump was a target for comedians long before he actually became President. Many comics have their own impressions of Trump, but we may have seen the absolute best one ever come from Jamie Foxx. The Oscar winner does a remarkable job with his own Trump impression.
In a recent appearance on the Rap Radar podcast, Jamie Foxx broke into his Trump impression. And if you closed your eyes I would wager you might be fooled. At least right up until the point when the former President of the United States starts talking about how much he loves Death Row Records. At that point you might begin to wonder what you were hearing. Check out Jamie Foxx’s performance in the clip below.
Jamie Foxx has become such a great dramatic actor in his Oscar worthy roles from Collateral to Ray that it’s easy to forget that he started his career as a comedian, doing stand-up and appearing on In Living Color. With that background, you would expect him to be solid at impressions. He may not have needed to perfect a Trump impression, but that’s exactly what he’s done.
While the clip above is missing the context, the impression came about during a discussion with the podcast’s other guest, Snoop Dogg. Foxx and Snoop appear together in the current Netflix movie Day Shift and will be together again in the upcoming comedy All-Star Weekend. Snoop who talked about reconnecting with one of the founders of Death Row Records, Michael Harris, known as Harry-O.
Harris spent more than 30 years in prison on drug charges, but was pardoned by President Trump in 2021. Harris is now back at work with Snoop Dogg, who acquired Death Row Records earlier this year. It’s after Snoop mentions the pardon from Trump that Foxx breaks into the impression, completely and hilariously unprompted, talking about how much Trump loves Harry-O.
While Jamie Foxx’s upcoming movies are a mix of drama and comedy, there probably isn’t a film that’s going to allow him to show off his incredible skills as an impressionist. It’s too bad because this Trump impression shows just how skillful Foxx is in that regard. Many impressions of any famous person, while still funny, intentionally take different elements too far for comedic effect. For Foxx the comedy comes from just how perfectly he captures Trump’s particular manner of speaking.
Hopefully, Jamie Foxx will find places in upcoming projects to use this incredible talent. If he can do Trump like this, he’s certainly capable of other impressions that are just as good. Maybe we need an impression focused Jamie Foxx comedy special.