Man of many
voices uses
comedy to steer
Toyota sales into
the fast lane.
TH E DE TR O I T J EW IS H N EWS
RUTH UTTMANN STAFF WRITER
14
e's no scantily clad auto
spokesmodel — but Eric Weston
will mimic one if you ask him to.
This metro Detroiter stores in
his head a repertoire of voices
that far outnumber his 22 years.
Pope John Paul II, Howard Cosell
and Mickey Mouse are included
among Mr. Weston's many alter
egos. Request a throaty rendition
of Bubbie's angst-ridden coffee
talk, and "Oh, my Gawd!" —
provide it.
Mr. Weston has put his per-
sonalities to lucrative use this
year at auto shows nationwide.
Representing Toyota, he per-
forms high-horsepower shticks
that wrap technical information
into a package of comical com-
mentary on the Tercel and RAV4,
a mini sports utility.
Appealing mostly to an X-Gen-
eration-I-love-Seinfeld audience,
Mr. Weston also snares the at-
tention of older markets with his
grandparent imitations.
"Eric is very believable," says
Toyota marketer J.L. Armstrong.
"He's authentic in terms of his
craft."
Mr. Weston landed on Toyota's
laugh track late last year through
auditions held at Productions
Plus, a talent agency in Bir-
mingham. There, he was handed
a press release and told to go
for it.
Turning promo-babble into a
comedy routine, Mr. Weston per-
formed for judges, including Mr.
Armstrong.
Mr. Weston made the first cut.
He made the second cut. At the
end of two days of auditioning, he
and one other young adult were
chosen from an initial pool of 20
applicants.
"He's definitely a crowd
pleaser," says Toyota Motor Sales
Senior Marketing Specialist Ray
Barthel. "The audience is with
him."
Recently home from the auto
show in Los Angeles, Mr. Weston
is looking forward to upcoming
stints he'll do in Chicago, Atlanta,
Dallas and New York. During
shows, he puts in eight-hour
days, six days a week. He per-
forms his spiel two to five times
an hour, which amounts to more
than 30 repetitions by quitting
time.
With hot showroom lights
beaming down from above, Mr.
Weston might wish his costumes
matched the bathing-suited mo-
PHOTO BY G LEN N TRIE
Whee s
Between auto shows, Eric Weston performs at Gotham City Cafe.
for models'. No such luck. He
dons black pants, a long-sleeved
shirt and leather vest. Casual,
but "I sweat really bad."
At home in West Bloomfield,
Mr. Weston lives with his family
— father Steven, mother Sandy,
and sister Tracy, 15. In the fur-
nished basement of their lake-
front house, he practices his act.
First he's Eric Weston, the 20-
something quick-tongued kid ex-
tolling the virtues of RAV4
construction to befuddled, non-
tech grandparents. In the next
second, he's Zayde, European-
accented Zayde, admiring the
placement of cup holders. In an
instant, he switches to Bubbie
who's concerned that the RAV4
just might not be spacious
enough.
"Oh, but Eric," she chokes in
New York-ese "I'm a big lady, you
know ..."
Mr. Weston says he receives
lots of laughs from his audiences.
Often, people approach to ask
him whether the other voices
were taped. No way, he says. "I've
got thousands of people living in
my head at once. They just come
out."
The same Eric Weston who
shied away from Groves High
School theater ("too afraid") now
performs at Gotham City Cafe in
Ferndale. He has taken improv
classes at Second City downtown,
and hosted his own radio show at
Western State College in Colo-
rado, where he took academics
for a joke, and his jokes seriously.
"I joined a comedy troupe and
all we did was theater games, all
day long," he says. "The day I got
to college, I knew that (comedy)
theater was what I wanted to do.
I did so much that the school said,
`You can do theater at home.' "
That concluded Mr. Weston's
academic shtick.
"As a parent, I would have
rather seen him graduate college
with a degree, but he has to have
an opportunity to follow his
dreams for at least some period
of time," says his dad. "I'm not
going to force him to do some-
thing else, and the auto show was
a great break for him. It's a good
experience. It's a beginning."
Mr. Weston says imperson-
ations come naturally.
"It might have something to do
with watching six to eight hours
of TV a day as a kid," he says.
Despite his phobia of the high-
school stage, Mr. Weston partici-
pated in a storytelling contest
held in 1990 through B'nai B'rith
Youth Organization. The topic:
"If I were the first Jewish ..."
He chose "pope."
Mr. Weston's creative papal
agenda ("Let's move the Vatican
to Florida") boosted him to the
status of International BBYO
champion, beating youth-group
crack-ups from all 50 states, six
European countries and Israel.
But that's in the past. Mr. Wes-
ton has some big plans for the
"He's definitely a
crowd pleaser."
— Ray Barthel
future. "Saturday Night Live"
sounds good. Relocation to L.A.
is a possibility. His top role
model? "Robin Williams. He's my
comedy god."
Or is that "gawd?" Oh my ...
Mr. Weston, who waits tables
for additional cash, says he lives
for getting a laugh out of people.
"I have the mind of a child," he
says. "I never intend on growing
up. When you grow up, you for-
get how to have fun. People some-
times say about me, Whaes that
guy on?'
"What am I on? Life. You
know? I just get a kick out of
it." ❑