Alec Baldwin was explaining what happens when his children stop listening to him when the conversation suddenly turned into an unexpectedly convincing Robert De Niro impression.
The 68-year-old actor said his New York accent becomes much stronger when he gets angry, something his children regularly tease him about. As Baldwin demonstrated how he might order one of them to pick up a blanket, his voice and facial expressions shifted enough for comedian Jordan Jensen to immediately recognize De Niro.
Jensen watched the transformation across the table and told Baldwin his face looked as though it were “morphing” with CGI, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Baldwin has performed the impression for De Niro himself and also spent time being directed by him on the 2006 spy drama The Good Shepherd, giving him firsthand material that still finds its way into the routine.
Baldwin’s Angry-Parent Voice Suddenly Turned Into De Niro
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The moment came during the Sept. 21 episode of RIP Jordan Jensen as Baldwin discussed raising his seven younger children with Hilaria Baldwin.
He said frustration sometimes brings his Long Island accent back more forcefully, then demonstrated the way he might tell one of his children to pick up something left on the floor.
Jensen immediately noticed the resemblance to De Niro and asked whether Baldwin had deliberately developed the impression.
During the full podcast episode, Baldwin said he had performed it in front of De Niro before. He then described the actor as one of the people whose work inspired him to pursue acting in the first place.
De Niro Directed Baldwin in ‘The Good Shepherd’
Baldwin played FBI agent Sam Murach in The Good Shepherd, which De Niro directed and also appeared in alongside Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, William Hurt and John Turturro.
Baldwin told Jensen he was nervous working around De Niro because so many of the actor’s famous performances were running through his mind whenever they interacted on set.
He recalled filming a nighttime scene with Damon when De Niro called cut, spoke with cinematographer Robert Richardson and then approached the actors with a note.
Baldwin recreated the direction in his De Niro voice, remembering him praising the work but asking Baldwin to slow down and react to Damon’s character with less visible interest.
Jensen again focused on the physical side of the impression, telling Baldwin that his face appeared to transform as he spoke. Baldwin responded by saying other performers do a better De Niro than he does.
De Niro Has Already Praised Baldwin’s Impression
De Niro offered his own assessment only days before Baldwin’s appearance with Jensen.
During a Sept. 15 episode of Amy Poehler’s Good Hang, De Niro was asked how he feels about the many comedians and actors who imitate him.
He specifically mentioned Baldwin, saying he does “really good impressions.” De Niro recalled one routine in which Baldwin mocked a gathering of The Godfather actors by exaggerating the understated way he and Al Pacino sometimes speak.
De Niro called Baldwin’s performance “hysterical” during the Good Hang interview.
Baldwin Has Been Doing De Niro for Three Decades
Baldwin’s public version of De Niro dates back decades before the two worked together.
On Jan. 20, 1996, Baldwin appeared as De Niro in Saturday Night Live‘s “The Joe Pesci Show,” opposite Jim Breuer’s Joe Pesci.
The sketch became one of Baldwin’s early celebrity impressions on the show, and he has said people continued asking him to perform De Niro long afterward.
A decade later, Baldwin went from parodying one of his acting heroes on SNL to taking direction from him on The Good Shepherd. Thirty years after that 1996 sketch, a story about getting his children to clean up was enough to bring the impression back again.