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After Sixers game, Charles Barkley interviewed by Charles Barkley

Washington, D.C., sports talker Danny Rouhier brought his viral impersonation of the Hall of Famer to "Inside the NBA."

Hall of Famer and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley discusses Tuesday night's games on "The NBA on TNT."
Hall of Famer and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley discusses Tuesday night's games on "The NBA on TNT."Read moreTNT
    by Rob Tornoe
    Updated 
    Published 

Everyone loves Charles Barkley, so TNT figured the more the merrier.

On Inside the NBA Tuesday night, Barkley was interviewed by Danny Rouhier, a Washington, D.C., sports talk host and comedian who went viral last week for his dead-on impression of the former Sixers star.

Barkley is one of those celebrities who is easy to caricature, so it’s no surprise so many comedians have perfected their own versions of the Hall of Famer. Rouhier may have topped them all with an impersonation so accurate if you close your eyes, you might not know the difference.

“I’ve heard a lot of guys do you. I don’t know if anybody’s been better than that,” TNT host Ernie Johnson said.

Barkley also praised Rouhier’s version, but as if on cue, mispronounced his last name.

“That’s pretty good right there,” Barkley said. “Danny Rootier?”

“Rouhier,” Johnson responded.

Rouhier’s Barkley may have appeared out of nowhere, but the Washington sports talker has been perfecting his impersonation for 17 years. It began as a bit for a radio show in Baltimore with comedian Joe Robinson that featured celebrities reading their own Wikipedia pages.

“They were doing a bit where they would have a pretend celebrity read his own Wikipedia page, and they asked if I could do Charles Barkley,” Rouhier told the Washington Post. “I gave it a shot, and they kind of looked at me like, ‘Oh my God, that’s good.’ "

» READ MORE: Longtime WIP host returns, while Natalie Egenolf discusses her 97.5 The Fanatic departure

Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes joining WIP

Leave it to Crossing Broad’s Kevin Kinkead to scoop me on news involving one of my colleagues.

Outspoken sports columnist Marcus Hayes is taking his notebook to sports radio, joining 94.1 WIP as a part-time host. His first spot on the station will be alongside Rob Ellis on Sunday, June 20.

While this will be Hayes’ first time in the chair hosting a radio show, he has appeared regularly on both WIP and 97.5 The Fanatic over the years. He was also a mainstay on Daily News Live on Comcast SportsNet through 2017, where heated discussions were the norm with Michael Barkann and Ray Didinger. He was also the weekly Carson Wentz expert on 740 The Fan in Fargo, N.D.

Hayes started at the Daily News in 1995, eventually moving his way up to cover the Eagles, Phillies, and the Olympics. He’s been a columnist since 2010.

Over the years, The Inquirer’s sports desk has acted as a pipeline to successful broadcast careers. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was once a Sixers reporter and columnist, and longtime WIP host Angelo Cataldi was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his Inquirer stories covering Buddy Ryan and the Eagles during the 1986 season.

Other former Inquirer or Daily News scribes who have gone on to find success on TV and radio include Didinger, WIP hosts Glen Macnow and Al Morganti, 97.5 hosts Anthony Gargano and Mike Missanelli, and former ESPNer Kate Fagan, who recently signed on with Dan Le Batard’s Meadowlark Media.

» READ MORE: Sixers playoff schedule: Game 3 vs. Hawks moves to ESPN

Quick hits

  1. Don’t tell Gritty, but if CNN’s Jake Tapper were forced to stack his favorite Philadelphia sports teams in order, the Flyers would be last. Not because he doesn’t have love for the Broad Street Bullies — because he has a hard time following the puck. “I was really excited during that short period where … there was a laser thing that you could follow the puck, and then they stopped it,” Tapper told The Inquirer’s Ellen Gray.

  1. Fox Sports #NASCAR analyst and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon is weighing his future with the network after this season, and he could leave the booth to take on a larger role with Hendrick Motorsports, Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern reported. Gordon has been in the booth calling NASCAR games for the network since he retired from racing in 2016.

  2. ESPN’s Jay Williams said on Get Up! Tuesday that he was approached by Kevin Durant at a holiday party a few years ago and was told by the Brooklyn Nets star to never compare him to Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. After the segment aired, Durant called Williams a liar, writing on Twitter that people “will do anything to advance their careers.”

  1. New Tennessee Titans wide receiver Julio Jones had no clue he was live on TV when he told FS1 host Shannon Sharp on a telephone call he was leaving the Atlanta Falcons, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. The call has become “a strain on the billion-dollar relationship between Fox Sports and the NFL,” according to Front Office Sports, noting that among other things, calls originating in California require two-party consent before recording.

  2. What is it they say about a broken clock?