You may find it hard to believe, the internet sensation she is, but this time last year, Sarah Cooper was a 43-year-old standing fighter with a handful of followers, happy to be registered at a pizzeria … and almost ready to wave the white flag.
“Did you give up on the idea that it could break?” asked correspondent Jim Axelrod.
“I kind of did,” she said.
Then the president launched a lifeline for her career (unintentionally, of course):
Suddenly, Cooper voicing Donald Trump – taking everything but his words – was the hottest thing in the world.
“What my videos did was take it all off and say, ‘Listen to what he’s saying. Listen to what he’s saying not saying, because, in fact, he is not saying anything, “” Cooper said.
Born in Jamaica and raised in Maryland, Cooper has always had an addiction to entertainment. But in her twenties she chose security over dream – working for Yahoo and Google – and doing parallel comedy.
Still, technology gave her exactly what she needed: material.
“I realized at the meetings that there was a lot of imitation going on,” she said. “You saw someone get up and walk around the room, so maybe at the next meeting, you get up and walk around the room. “
“Someone banging his hand on the table, looking at everyone and saying, ‘Are you going to climb?'” Suggested Axelrod.
“Right!” she laughed. “This is very dramatic, but yes.”
So, watching President Trump at a new conference last April …
“So, assuming we hit the body with tremendous light – either ultraviolet or just a very powerful light – and I think you said it wasn’t verified, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, assuming you brought the light inside the body, which you can do through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test this too. It looks interesting … “
Cooper said, “When he was like, ‘You said we didn’t check this out? Let’s try it, okay?’ I saw the other person in the room talking, What? What are you talking about?“
She knew she had found exactly what she needed and who.
Axelrod asked, “Is there a relationship between these tech brothers that you are seeing using the right phrase and President Trump?”
“Oh God, yes. We see the suit and we see the seal and we see people shaking their heads who think, ‘Oh, it must be making sense. He I owe be making sense, why would all these people be listening and laughing and clapping and agreeing with him? ‘”
CBS News
She made her “How to Medical” video in two hours, working as basic as possible, filming with her smartphone. Sarah Cooper, after 20 years of trying, was an overnight success. “And the next morning, it had a million views or something,” she said.
The next thing she knew, Jerry Seinfeld was retweeting; Cher was calling her Oscar worthy; and Kamala Harris wanted to speak to her.
But when Mr. Trump leaves office, don’t think for a moment that Sarah Cooper is at all in conflict. Axelrod asked, “Do you want him to stick around a little, just because he’s good for business?”
“No, no,” she replied. “I think I found a way to satirize him that was different and interesting. But I think we’re done. We won’t see it anymore. And I feel like I have to use it as a propellant, but I also have to escape it, in a way. I don’t want to be known as ‘The voice actress’. ”
As good as the old school presidential impersonators were, as Vaughn Meader and Rich Little, Sarah Cooper is the next generation.
“You are not Rich Little. You are not Vaughn Meader …” said Axelrod.
“Who are these people?” she asked.
“You are making me feel 1,000 years old!”
Cooper laughed, “I’m sorry!”
As she now opens the next stage of her career. she admits some anxiety: “What if it was that, do you know what I mean? What if it was my 15 minutes? Like, what if I was never able to do something as incredible as that again?”
But a recent Netflix special, featuring guests like Helen Mirren, and a series in development with CBS, means that Cooper is in a very different place this January.
Axelrod asked, “If we sit on this bench in five years, what do you think we are talking about?”
“I would like to do the next ‘Seinfeld,” she replied. “I would like to do the next ‘Office’. I would love to do a show that is really in my voice. “
Her voice … no his. Axelrod asked, “Do you feel like you have to take off your mask, ‘Here’s who I am’?”
“I definitely wanted to,” said Cooper. “I would like to get to the point where I really feel myself.”
For more information:
Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Lauren Barnello.