As the old saying goes: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. For generations, brilliant performers on stage and screen have made careers out of impersonations of others—from movie stars, musicians, and sports figures alike. The skill needed to execute a flawless imitation takes talent, discipline, and for Gordon Keith, a desire to find a reason to stay employed at The Ticket in Dallas, TX.
“I know nothing about sports, and I worked at that station. I kind of had to find a way to stay employed up there,” said Keith. “The other guys were all real sports guys, but they’re also really funny. I would just kind of do voices around the cubicle area and crack them up, and we decided to throw them on the air.”
Gordon Keith’s creativity has led him to craft a career for over three decades as a co-host and contributor on The Ticket’s longest-running morning show, The Musers. For over a quarter century, Keith has found different characters to imitate for the program, but none have stood the test of time like one of the most dynamic personalities in all of sports: Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager Jerry Jones.
When ‘Fake Jerry’ Became Destination Radio
Keith recalled the origins of the impression dating back to 1994, when the Dallas Cowboys were amid a run of Super Bowl championship titles.
“Somewhere along the line, we had to interview Jerry Jones. Can anybody do a Jerry voice? So, I kind of did a half-ass Jerry voice, and we threw it on the air. It was just an endless source of entertainment because you could make Jerry say any crazy thing you wanted,” explained Keith. “At the time, they were winning Super Bowls, so it was great.”
The imitation became a fan favorite. Keith has continued to do the impersonation since 1994 and balances its use between in-season and off-season. Off-season appearances of what has been dubbed “Fake Jerry” are limited to when the Cowboys make news, while in-season appearances happen weekly following Cowboys games.
As with any imitation, there’s always curiosity about the subject’s reaction. Jones has not been shy about his approval of the impression.
“There have been several times where he and I have interfaced. He lights up when he realizes that I’m the guy who does the ‘Fake Jerry.’ He gets a big kick out of it,” said Keith. “That’s one of the crazy things about Jerry [Jones]. He is so showbiz savvy that he seems to welcome all portrayals of himself.”
Getting the Call From Cartoon Network
For Keith, the imitation of Jerry Jones as “Fake Jerry” has not only become a staple of The Ticket’s morning show—it’s soon to go national. Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim requested Keith’s impersonation for an upcoming series called Keeping Up With The Joneses, reportedly set to debut in spring 2026.
“I had gotten some emails from a casting director for Warner Brothers Animation, and they wanted to talk to me about a project,” noted Keith. “They were super nice and said, ‘We have this project with Jerry Jones as a character in it. We understand you do Jerry Jones. We’re really interested in you reading for the part.’”
Following an audition over Zoom, Keith landed the part after what he called a “very intimidating” audition. This was the first time Keith had auditioned for a role of this scale, reading for creators whose work he already admired.
“The only reason I wasn’t more nervous was because that’s not my regular job,” joked Keith. “If I get it, that would be wonderful. If not, and they need someone who’s better than I am, that’s fine.”
As a fan growing up idolizing Mel Blanc and David Letterman, Keith found himself in a role he once dreamed about as a child—recording a voiceover for a cartoon character he created in a professional studio in Dallas.
“I always wanted to do cartoon voices,” explained Keith. “The Ticket has been a crazy career turn that I never would’ve predicted and I never desired. It’s been a fantastic job. I’ve stayed with it, but I had to kind of make a place for myself up there because I didn’t have any of the skills that the other guys had.”
The Musers Branching Out to Podcasts
Keith began his career at The Ticket as an intern for Skip Bayless when he hosted mornings on the station. Shortly thereafter, Keith was paired up with George Dunham and Craig Miller to form The Musers.
While the morning trio has been entertaining Ticket listeners for over twenty years, The Musers launched their own podcast in July, simply called The Musers: The Podcast. The weekly episodes are the first time all three members of the program have collaborated on a podcast together, in partnership with the Cumulus Podcast Network.
“We were always caught in a hard decision of when do you decide to start competing against yourself. You have a changing landscape with podcasts on the ascend, but we still love broadcast radio,” explained Keith. “We are certainly aware that time spent listening to us on podcast is time not spent listening to our station.”
Keith noted the program is attempting to find the balance between giving their listeners more of the product they want and also appealing to those who don’t listen to them on the radio. He said he would have liked to start the project five years ago, but didn’t feel he had the time or energy to contribute then.
“This year was when we cut back our hours. We had been doing 4 ½ hours every morning of talk radio,” noted Keith. “We cut it back to three hours a day. That gave us a little bit more energy and time to do a podcast. I don’t think we could’ve been doing it [the podcast] five years ago and still also been doing our 4 ½ hours a day.”
The early returns have been positive. Keith noted that they’ve received up to 100,000 downloads through five episodes. While Keith stated he would have liked to begin podcasting sooner, the concept originated with the talent themselves.
“It was our idea to do it and when to do it. We talked to management and asked if they were interested in partnering with us on this. Fortunately, they said yes,” explained Keith. “I was glad that they partnered with us, because I also didn’t want to deal with any kind of headache or a conflict with another company doing our podcast. We don’t want to conflict with our terrestrial radio job.”
The partnership with Cumulus was welcomed by all parties, with the broadcast company having no reservations about the long-standing morning show venturing into the podcast realm.
“It’s making some little small dent that’s good to build on. We knew it was going to start slow and then build. I’ve been really happy with it,” said Keith.
With the success of a career built on his own unique creativity, Keith says he’s excited to see where the journey takes him next—building a new podcast platform with The Musers while awaiting the debut of “Fake Jerry” to the masses on Cartoon Network.
“I’ve seen some of the early animation with the voices. I love the other voices that the creators are doing,” said Keith. “I’m really excited for our people to see it, because I think they’re just going to get a real kick out of it.”
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
