How to do a Kamala Harris impression

Sydney Duncan was entering rehearsal for a UCB show when she got the news that Joe Biden was dropping out of the presidential race. Her first reaction was “I hope he’s OK” — the impressions of Vice President Kamala Harris that were all over Duncan’s Instagram and TikTok accounts were heavy on the “I can’t wait for Joe to die” gags.

“I know I always joke, but, you know, I want everyone safe and sound and all that,” she told The Groove. The next reaction came from the people around her. 

"People were like, ‘get Kamala ready,' " she said. "I think there were people in the New York comedy scene that were more excited than me." 

Since a bored day in her room during the pandemic, Duncan has been doing impressions of Harris on social media and in live sketch shows around the city, creating a version of the character that’s eager to be liked but whose personality is always straining against the bounds of her office. She uses a cackle as a punctuation mark and agrees to forgive student loans by declaring “I forgive you!” to live audiences. 

Then the source material changed suddenly last month: Harris was no longer a figurehead who gave good meme, she was someone who grabbed the torch away from the gerontocracy, who seems, so far, potentially locked and loaded to meet her moment in history. 

Duncan, a Texas native who lives in Manhattan, talked to The Groove about what goes into an impression of the new Democratic nominee for president, how the news affected her perception of the vice president and how she tries to walk the line of “punching across” at Black women in the public eye. 

Do you want to tell me about how you first got started doing the Kamala Harris impression, what was the impetus to take that on?

During the [2020] election, it was the pandemic, and I was bored in my room. I hadn't really started performing comedy yet. I was just taking writing classes online and a couple improv classes, and I really liked doing characters on my TikTok. And I was like, you know what other characters can I do? I have a wig and I kinda look like Kamala, and when I saw her in the debates and on the campaign trail, I was like, “I know this person.” This is every professional Black woman who has grown up in these predominantly white institutions and spaces, and she walks that line on being likable. Oh yeah, I know exactly who that is.

And she was always so much fun, and people were giving me really good feedback on her. So I was like, "Oh, maybe I should really work on this." And then she started getting funnier and funnier. And I always had new things to say, and I really started to fall in love with her. 

"It's almost a punch across for Black women that impersonate people."

How do you mean, she got funnier? 

We were seeing more of her personality. I think the Biden administration, he was in the White House, but she was likable, and I think more physically capable of traveling a ton. 

So we saw the shift in 2022 to now, where she was doing a lot of speaking engagements and meeting a lot of different groups of people, and you're seeing this person go from being a prosecutor to being a public figure and meeting people, kissing babies, shaking hands. And I think changing to this character that is going to help with the administration but not necessarily be at the forefront of lawmaking, then what does that look like? 

Her laugh changed, and she's smiling more. Just like watching her role change was really interesting. And then she got to speak more candidly. I think when she was a prosecutor, it was like, “This is what we're doing, and here's the laws, and here is me upholding the law.” And now it's like, “Hey, Sacramento, how's it going?” 

What are the elements that make up your transformation into her? How do you get into the character?

Before, when her voice wasn't, like, in my body, I would listen to her speeches or a phrase on a YouTube. I sang in middle school, high school, all that; I come from a family of singers. What I do is that I listen to where the key of her voice is. Where's the register? And then I start to hum in the register, just like you would do a song. And then she has a fry. So then I would start to get my voice to not only speak in that register, but pick up her fry, and then listen to her cadence. And then add in a cackle. 

The cackle is actually inspired by my wonderful mom. She's an architect, and she has had to make speeches at diversity functions and architecture functions, and I've seen her in uncomfortable positions, just like Kamala. She says something very serious, she says something that maybe people didn't follow. Then it's that fake laugh that comes in when you're trying to release tension. That's where she cackles. 

My mom is like, “You always know exactly where to cackle.” Because I know that that cackle is where a Black woman in these types of spaces is trying to release tension and be likable when she feels she has failed. It’s almost like trying to get the audience back on your side and almost like subconsciously reminding the audience: I come in peace. 

What about that laugh: how do you look at it? It’s gotten a lot of attention since she’s announced that she’s running. Do you see it as a bad thing?

I see it as neutral. I just see her laugh as a characteristic about her. We all have that nervous laugh and hers just happens to be very iconic. 

I got some really great advice: With impressions, it's not just the voice, the laugh or whatever. It’s, what is that unusual thing, or that thing that stands out about them that you want to play? 

I don't think her laugh is unusual, but it's really an unusual thing a typical politician may not have, because there’s not a lot of Black female politicians. So I think that it always sparks our interest when someone is laughing in the position she's in. I don't think of it as a bad thing, but it's truly such a fun thing to use when I play her game. 

You made a video where you talked about being compared to every light-skinned person ever. Did anyone compare you to Harris before you started doing the impressions? 

If someone asked me to do an impression, I would usually get like, Solange. I don't get [Harris], but if I put on the wig, the blazer, sometimes at shows someone will be like, ‘For a second, I thought it was her.’ Why would she be at this bar show in Bushwick? 

Is there a part of her that's hard to get down, that you're working on or that you want to work on?

It's just like nailing her voice more and more. I think also, as she has become the presidential nominee, her tone has gotten more serious. I started with “wheels on the bus go round and round.” And now it's like, "what are we gonna do about XYZ?" So keeping the seriousness of what she's doing, still making it funny. 

Also she is, you know, the head honcho in charge. When she was vice president, it almost felt like she's coasting for a couple years. They're doing speaking engagements and having fun. And now I don't think she thinks the fun is over, but I think her role is changing. But I think there's still some juicy stuff. Anytime she has a big speech there's always something funny that she says. It'll be challenging, but I think because of the work I've done the past three years, it's just more fun to come.

Is it safe to assume that you will vote for her in November? 

Oh yeah. With these particular elections, I think about the states where there are less privileged people, disenfranchised people. There are people in Iowa, Texas and Alabama and Louisiana that are losing access to care. That is who I most care for and who I want to vote for. So I vote. 

A lot of the way that you portrayed her, as of a couple weeks ago, at least, was kind of the joke that she's waiting for Biden to die. Have you found a new kind of hook to build her character around? 

That joke was years old, you know, it was almost like, I thought it was funny for someone to be waiting in wings, almost like a Black Swan, in a way, like waiting for Odette to break her ankle so she can come in and be the star. 

The news is forever changing. Now she’s kind of like, “You know, I've had a pretty good week. I don't know about y'all, but I'm getting a job promotion,” almost her being elated that it finally worked: “I wanted him to die, this is even better!”

It's really funny, especially at a bar show in Bushwick, being very candid, how she feels about her job, because it's how everyone does stand up. “Hey, so this is my life, and here's how I feel about it.” Well, what if Kamala is the same approach? She has a job too. She has a Black job too.

No one in politics should be exempt from being made fun of at bar shows in Bushwick, but how do you navigate impersonating someone who is about to get a lot of attacks from all sides? 

I got some advice a couple years ago: a Black woman is harder than impersonating white men in politics, or just white men in general. The positions these Black women are in, who have the status and the celebrity to be able to impersonate them, there are so many levels of oppression and struggles that all of these women have had to go to get to where they are. Someone said [to me], “Be careful with your impressions, because we do not want to make fun of the fact that they are Black women; we want to live in a world where we get to celebrate them, which is a very hard thing to do.” 

White guys have Trump and Biden, and they have had so much power that you're always punching up when you're doing these impressions. But it's almost a punch across for Black women that impersonate people. So I always try to have a level of respect for all of them, because it's like, I do Angela Davis, I do Alicia Keys, like these people are not actively walking around looking for our demise in any way. And I think about that, how can I praise them and highlight them, versus punching down and making fun of them? And I hope to keep finding that balance. 

If anyone’s ever looking to impersonate women of color, think about that context, because I feel they are deserving of it. And then other times it's like, throw it aside and just have fun and see what happens.

It sounds almost like we need someone doing that for Black women in the public eye, because that is like a form of equality, right?

Hey, now we have someone on that level to impersonate, and that means, hopefully, jobs and opportunities and sketches.

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