Watch Jamie Foxx Effortlessly Transition Into a Jay-Z Impression After Doing a Kermit the Frog Voice

Foxx opened up about his early years doing comedy for his fellow elementary schoolers and how he discovered his skill for impersonating Kermit the Frog.

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Jamie Foxx has proven himself as a master of impersonations over the years. And as he revealed on a recent episode of the Full Send Podcast, sometimes one impersonation can lead to the next. 

Foxx opened up about his early years doing stand-up for his elementary school classes near the 1:37:00 mark above, and how he discovered his skill for impersonating with “all of the different voices” early on. 

“At that time, it was the Muppets. … So I would do Kermit the Frog. ‘Kermit the Frog, Sesame Street News, I’m here with the three little pigs,’” he said, sliding right back into the impression. “Which actually sounds like Sammy Davis Jr., ‘Because sometimes, who could take a sunrise...’ Which actually sounds like Jay-Z.”

From there, Foxx broke into his near spot-on Jigga impression, with Jay’s facial expressions included in the mix.  “Nice party, it’s crazy,” he said as Hov. “You know, I started off in Marcy Projects, I’m here with Beyoncé. ... Dame had an idea, so we just—hahaha, it’s crazy.”

This wasn’t a one-time, on-the-spot connection, either. Foxx has offered his combination Jay-Z/Kermit/Sammy Davis Jr. impression in the past:

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

After discussing a joke he told Mike Tyson that he’s shared in the past, Foxx gave some insight into his Oscar-winning performance as music legend Ray Charles for the 2004 film Ray around the 1:30:00 mark. As he explained, he had to play the character for a year and slim down by more than 50 pounds to keep the role. While Terrence Howard would stay in character for the entirety of production as character Gossie McGee and even showed up as the character at an NBA game, Foxx said he still had to be attentive to the smaller details to pull off Ray

“I had to lose all of this weight, because they didn’t have no gyms back in the day,” he said. “And for like a year and a half, just listen to the music for this one. It’s not always like that, but for him, listen to the music, listen to the way he [goes], ‘Ay, you know what.’ Just listen to the small things.”

Later in the interview, Foxx shared a story about a time when he hung out on a boat in a conservative area of Florida, at the 1:46:00 mark, where those boating around him were waving Trump flags and singing “God Bless America.” Once the people realized Jamie Foxx was nearby, they switched the music to Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” and partied with him. 

“There was no politics involved,” Foxx said. “It was just good, old-fashioned kicking back and having a good time. Soon as we did that, sales [for Brown Sugar Bourbon] went through the roof. I did hear one of them, when I was drinking, [go] ‘I knew Jamie was a patriot.’ But what it was, it was a cool-ass fucking moment.”

Latest in Pop Culture