Colonel Sanders' copycat, Duncan Hines' double

Two impersonators share their craft

Food lovers may swap recipes and restaurant suggestions, but few of them have a favorite culinary impersonator, perhaps because professional mimics don’t know enough about bygone kitchen figures to do them justice. But C.J. Sizemore has spent decades playing Colonel Harland Sanders, while Jeff Moore recently perfected his portrayal of Bowling Green native Duncan Hines for the city’s Duncan Hines Days festival. They recently joined The Food Section for a Zoom discussion of what they do and how they do it.

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C.J. Sizemore as Colonel Harland Sanders (left) at a KFC in Harrisburg, Illinois/ Provided

Hanna Raskin: It’s so neat to have two great Kentucky food folks—or at least people very familiar with them—here today. As a person who covers Southern food, I of course respect Duncan Hines as a food writer, and Harland Sanders as a fried chicken expert.

Mr. Sizemore, will you tell me how you got started in this impersonation business?

C.J. Sizemore: Well, I worked for the Illinois Department of Mental Health. And I was at a group home and this young man who was living there said, ’You look like the Chicken Man!’ [Laughing] I thought, ‘Well, that's interesting.’

I contacted KFC and indicated that people thought I looked like The Colonel and would there be any problem in my starting to do him. They said no, and they even sent me some props. They sent me glasses and a bow tie. I couldn't find a suit, so I bought a tuxedo and had it modified. That cost me about $500 [Laughing]

That was in 2000. From there, I did it on my own for 10 years, and that’s when KFC contacted me. I was on vacation, down on the beach in Florida, and I got a call on my cell phone. They said, ‘Would you consider being an ambassador for us?’ That started it.

HR: That's great. Now, Mr. Moore, do you have a resemblance to Duncan Hines?