We’ve all seen enough Christopher Walken impersonations to think we could do one ourselves. We might even be able to copy those impersonations exactly — in fact that’s probably what most of the lesser acts do: copy the more famous impersonations done by Jay Mohr, Kevin Pollak, etc. But few of us would really get it precisely correct. To properly ape Walken, we need detailed instructions.

Meet Naathan, an Asian-American posing as a British-Asian, who does a great Walken. And in this near-30-minute video from a couple years ago, he teaches us just how he does it. First, he displays a few different Walken voices, such as the whispering Walken and the “normal” Walken voice we mostly associate with the actor. Then, he isolates the ingredients of the impersonation, such as the New York accent, the exaggerated tonality, the pauses, etc.

The best is that he points out where most people error. For example, he says that too many impersonators emphasize every word, which he claims is more Stephen Hawking than Christopher Walken. He also stresses the difference between doing Christopher Walken and impersonating Christopher Walken. And, after presenting what may be the only impersonation of Ewan McGregor’s singing voice in Moulin Rouge, he teaches us how to sing like Christopher Walken.

[via Fark.com]