Impersonator Speaks Out on Fooling the AP

It’s not every day an impersonator pulls a fast one on The Associated Press.

Washington D.C. radio producer Marc Sterne did his best Christopher Walken on Friday’s “The Tony Kornheiser Show” on ESPN 980. An AP reporter heard Sterne on the radio and thought it was Walken discussing the Natalie Wood investigation.

“After it aired and AP ran with it, everybody was calling the radio station saying we need the audio,” Sterne told Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Access Hollywood Monday. “Finally there was a producer that tracked me down and said, ‘Can you just send me the audio?’ and I said, ‘Oh sweetheart, you’re going to be really embarrassed in about three seconds.’ And she said, ‘Why?’ And I said, (puts on Christopher Walken voice) ‘Because it’s me Chris right here, talking to you… It’s me doing the Chris Walken voice.’”

Sterne is no stranger to impersonations as he plays an English immigrant named “Nigel” on the daily radio show.

Oh, AP. How could you fall for that? They issued the following correction Friday afternoon:

“The Associated Press has withdrawn the 12th and 13th Ld-Writethrus of its story about the Natalie Wood investigation. The story mistakenly quoted Christopher Walken as telling Washington, D.C. sports talk radio station ESPN 980 about his recollections from the night that Wood died. An Associated Press reporter mistook what was actually a station employee’s impersonation of Walken as a real interview.”

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