The imitator who upset his imitated

Until now, Pablo Zalaquett is a friendly and well-known mayor of one of the largest communes in Chile and recently elected to assume the mayor’s office of the commune of Santiago, a position known as reaching “La Moneda chica”, because of its importance in local politics. His sister Mónica is a deputy and both are members of a right-wing conservative party.

But today, the mayor is nervous. When he was told that the impersonator had chosen him, he discussed it with his team of advisers, who recommended that he not go on the program. But he paid no attention. He accepted but with conditions: that the routine include other characters and, above all, that the comedian not be disguised as him. For this reason, when he sees him come out on stage completely disguised and made up like him, Pablo Zalaquett feels betrayed. He crosses his arms and with a forced smile begins to see how that character, with awkward gestures and strange sounds, will take him over forever.

“When I see it from me, I feel sick, I get cloudy and I start to perspire. I went to black, I didn’t know where she was, where she had to go. If you ask me today what you talked about, I don’t remember anything. It was one of the most shocking moments I have experienced on television, “he confessed years later. But now, Zalaquett is speechless, the resemblance between the two is almost cruel. The new mayor is called “Talked” Zalaquett, who has wide eyes and an expression of insecurity but at the same time fiery. She awkwardly moves around the studio as she tries to seduce the other guests on the show. Pablo, the mayor, does not react and smiles, absently, but above all he perspires, so much so that they pause in the air so that he can dry off and continue. The ridicule is national.

And the worst thing is a detail, a sound made by the comedian that the mayor had never heard before and that from now on will follow him wherever he goes. Every two or three words “Talked” he lets out a high-pitched shriek, a long string of i’s, “iiiiii!”, which to make matters worse for the mayor was what made people laugh the most. Over time, Zalaquett will say that this character got so much into his head and into his life that he really questioned if he spoke that way and if, even worse, he made that unbearable sound.

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Who jumped on stage impersonating the mayor is the Chilean comedian and impersonator of Swiss-German origin Stefan Kramer, a true magician of imitation. He started out performing in bars, then auditioned on a talent show and began to become known for his impressive ability to copy people’s gestures and voices. Thus, a true cultural phenomenon began to take shape in the country, a before and after in Chilean television and humor. He recorded three films that were a success, the first, from 2012, remains to this day the most watched in the history of local cinema. He became a millionaire and no one can ever get tired of his characters, who in total exceed 150. Celebrities, meanwhile, are beginning to take it as a measure of their own success, although each one runs the risk of losing a part of their personality. Imitator and imitated can become indissolubly fused.

After the presentation and before going to the commercials, Stefan Kramer gave the mayor a heartfelt hug, who already sensed that leaving that studio nothing would be like before. 12 years of psychological therapy await him, his children will suffer from bullying and his political career will lose all authority. An example of this is the traumatic episode that he experienced some time later, while he was mayor of Santiago. In the midst of a student outcry demanding improvements in public education, a call through social media gathered thousands of students in Santiago’s Plaza de Armas, right in front of the mayor’s office. The reason for that meeting was none other than to bring together as many voices as possible to sing in unison a monumental and thunderous “iiiiii!!!”, which he reverberated throughout the place. Zalaquett, inside his office, closed the windows, lowered the curtains and wondered if he deserved all this nightmare he was living.

Meanwhile, “Talked” Zalaquett became the favorite character of the people. He was the protagonist of his films, he recorded commercials speaking like him and in his presentations he was the most anticipated character. “Nobody has lived in Chile, of all the imitated ones, what I lived with him. When a person no longer lets go of you, including TV commercials, movies, you have already lost your private life. I would have liked that it had never existed because I think it did me more harm than any advantage in my political career, because it ridiculed part of what I have had and developed with a lot of effort, professionalism and love for public service since I was 17 years old, “says the former mayor Zalaquett through a Linkedin message, 12 years after the first imitation.

“I talked to him and he asked for only one thing. ‘Imitate me what you want, but watch out for the kind of crude imitation you do that affects my family. I only ask you to do what you want to me, but I have children.’ I told him that I was a human being and that my inner circle had been affected. In a good way he replied that he did not do it with bad intentions, that he would not stop imitating me because “Talked” Zalaquett was his most successful character,” he explains.

But time passed, the mayor moved further and further away from politics and the character inevitably lost its strength. He used that time to write a book that he titled “Yes, it can”, where he extensively discusses the case. After years of hard work to improve, Pablo Zalaquett finally began to breathe easy again. And he is noticed. He is noticed because fate brought them face to face, in a coincidence that, paradoxically, was broadcast live throughout the country.

The context is as follows: presidential elections in Chile. Stefan Kramer, the citizen, is elected table member. More than 10 years have passed since the character of “Talked” Zalaquett. Since the fact that Kramer had been selected as a polling officer in a completely random system is news enough, a journalist with a mobile television unit went and interviewed him. They commented on how normal the day had been when, suddenly, Pablo Zalaquett, in a conspiracy of fate, appears at that same table to vote. Everyone mistakenly thinks that the meeting must be fixed in some way. They greet each other and the journalist only manages to stretch the microphone and capture the moment. Kramer, this time he looks different, red with embarrassment. Zalaquett, on the other hand, laughs, without neglecting his courtesy. He looks light, even without rancor. They exchange few words, say goodbye and the former mayor disappears from the camera. The mobile stays with Kramer, who can only manage to say a sentence with the voice of a “Talked” that already sounds old. But Paul doesn’t even listen to him. He has gone and left behind that long nightmare, thinking that he has finally just defeated his enemy. But most importantly, Pablo Zalaquett finally realized something that had taken him to the brink of madness: everything had been an invention of the character, he had never—and now he was finally sure—had never made that damn sound.