Great impressions spark comic career for David Sparks
David was featured in the September 2009 issue of Lake Erie Lifestyle:
By Cornell Green
When former President Bill Clinton lefta phone message for Lake Erie LifeStyle editor Pam Parker, he said that she just had to meet a clever comedian. It was worth a chuckle. Of course, it wasn't Clinton stumping for a Democratic candidate. It was David Sparks (as Clinton), a funny impressionist who sparks smiles everywhere he goes.
When you meet Sparks in person, he may sound a lot like Clinton. Or actor Christopher Walken. Or ex-boxing champ Mike Tyson. Or Homer Simpson. Don't worry. The Erie native is not into politics, uppercuts or cartoons. He just wants you to have fun.
Sparks' colorful range of zany impressions has helped him add pizazz to everything from Erie-area golf outings to baby showers. At some events, he works the crowd. At others, he's the main event. But regardless of the venue, Sparks will probably be in character -- any or all of them.
"Halloween is almost every day for me," Sparks says. "I can be someone different every day."
Comedy started out as a way for Sparks to distinguish himself from the pack during his days at Academy High School in Erie, Pa., when the now magnet school was a city public high school with post-integration bouts of racial tension.
"Everyone wants to have a shining light," Sparks says. "As a thin white kid, that's what kind of helped me stand out."
But eventually, comedy became a way for Sparks to see the bright side of some not-so-sunny situations. At 12, Sparks started what has been a 30-year battle with diabetes.
"It didn't come at the best time, but then, what would have been the best time?" Sparks says of the disease, which hit when life was already becoming a little more complicated.
"You're out playing football with your friends, and you have to come in for a snack, or you have to come in and take your medicine. That got sort of awkward at times," he recalls.
Since then, Sparks' main business has been serving up the best medicine -- laughter. In May of last year, he added some oomph to the United Way "Rock and Roll" golf outing and the Arts Erie "Passport to Paris" fundraiser. In June, he helped spice up the Venango Valley YMCA Golf Outing. This year, in March, he provided entertainment at the Erie Art Museum fundraiser, "Party Like a Rock Star." Tammy Roche, the Erie Art Museum's director of development, said Sparks was entertaining and every part the professional. Sparks moved through the crowd, introducing guests to his range of celebrities.
"He definitely added to the rock star theme that we were looking for." Roche said. "It was just the right mix."
Janet Burchfield said Sparks displayed the same kind of clean-cut professionalism, when she hired him for her daughter-in-law's baby shower.
It was cold that day and the crowd was nearly all women. Sparks made it work.
"He took going to a baby shower on a wintry day and kind of ran with it," Burchfield said. "It wasn't like a standup routine, where he did everything. He involved people."
He was funny. But he wasn't crass.
"So much comedy today is off-color," Burchfield said. "I appreciate a comedian who can just have fun. He's just downright funny without having to buzz-up a crowd."
Burchfield's favorite Sparks impression is Barney Fife, the bumbling deputy sheriff character made popular by actor Don Knotts on 1960s television program, "The Andy Griffith Show."
"It's so real," Burchfield says. "I don't know of anyone else that does the impressions he does."
Gerry Schneggenburger, who hired Sparks to record some funny audio skits to promote his band, Drift@7 agrees.
"The man can entertain," Schneggenburger says. "I just created structure for what I wanted him to do. He filled in all the details."
If you happen to meet a guy who sounds like Larry King, Tracy Morgan or Bill Clinton, but doesn't exactly look the part, you might be talking to David Sparks. If that case, get ready to laugh. Because, as Sparks himself says,"I've got a personality, and I'm not afraid to use it."