Comic Reggie Brown: I was asked to leave the stage because of time, not because of my act

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s five OFF-SET questions is Reggie Brown, actor and presidential impressionist.

Brown impersonated President Barack Obama on Saturday in New Orleans at the Republican Leadership Conference, poking fun at the president and various candidates. He said that while the First Lady celebrated all of Black History Month, the president, who is bi-racial, only celebrated half the month. Brown also talked about Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, and joked about Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty. At the start of a joke about Michele Bachmann, an event organizer approached Brown and asked him to stop.

But Brown told us he was not pulled off stage.

What happened this weekend?

I think I delivered a great performance, and when I got offstage, as I exited, the audience the responded well. The organizers complimented me. They had a great time. I thought it was a great performance. Then we went back to read what a few people had written on blogs and there was a different story.

What happened is that I went over my minutes. They told me I had 20, but they aired a video before me and then my intro took up more time. When our liaison—they guy who introduced me–came up to me onstage, he said, “Hey, I am sorry—your time is up," and so I finished and went backstage. I was told it was because of my time, not my act, not because of anything I said.

I got a lot of fan mail this weekend, a lot of support, a lot of people subscribing to my Twitter and YouTube accounts, and the phone’s been ringing off the hook.

When did you realize you looked like Barack Obama?

My brother, Lawrence, brought it to my attention—he’s my older brother—he said I looked like him. I was 21—so that was in 2001, and later that week, someone said: you look like my professor, you should google him, and at that time, there were only a few pictures that came up. I could kind of see the resemblance. I could see it in the future. As I got older, my facial characteristics started to mature.

I worked on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago and Obama had an office on South Michigan. So people would break for lunch—I was working at this restaurant–and they would say: you look so much like him. Once he started running for President, everyone passing me in the street would run up and say: you look just like Obama. This was every day.

And when did you start performing comedy?

I started modeling when I was 19, and then I was submitted for commercial roles. I started taking voice over lessons and acting lessons. I’ve always enjoyed doing voices since I was younger. The first time I comedy was in January of ’09-as Obama.

How did you study Obama?

I watched a lot of videotape to learn him–just studying tapes, meticulously, watching everything. I don’t want to give away my secret, but it’s countless hours of watching his speeches, watching his movements, the subtleties. It’s the smile that gets a lot people.

And when I get in Obama campaign mode—not just speaking conversationally–the energy is up, there’s more pointing. It enlivens the character and people respond to that well. So I had to find the voice, because my voice is low. But the smile gets a lot of people

Have you met him?

No, but I am looking forward to the day. I hope it comes soon.

CLICK HERE for more CNN coverage of Brown's performance.