I don’t know how to put this, but David Babcock is kind of a big deal. People know him. He’s very important. He has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.
Nothing about the local Will Ferrell impersonator’s energy and appearance feels like a costume, from his perfectly manicured combed hair to his off-the-cuff one-liners to his mustache—which is a huge part of his Ron Burgundy getup.Babcock has worked fundraisers, weddings, trade shows, corporate events and birthday parties from Hawaii to London as Ron Burgundy, Buddy the Elf and Ricky Bobby. The gig idea started in 2012, when he won a Halloween costume contest at the Uptown Theater as Ron Burgundy, wearing a thrifted suit that he spray-painted red and “a really bad wig” from the Halloween store.
In a spur-of-the-moment decision a few years ago, he hopped a plane to L.A. after a tip that Ferrell would be at the Staples Center for a Kings game in character as Ron Burgundy. Babcock showed up also dressed as the Anchorman character and caught the attention of the sportscasters, who filmed segments of him for the jumbotron and invited him to the booth. Behind a flurry of bodyguards and cameramen, Ferrell walked past him. “He walked around the corner, looks at me and goes, ‘Get out of here!’”
