Fernando Ufret finds viral success with South Park impersonation
Fernando Ufret, a familiar face in the Rochester music scene, is making his rounds this summer after a year and a half of strictly online performances. While his platforms grew substantially during the pandemic, he is eager to return to a live audience. “It does something to you when you can’t be in that element,” he says.
Working mainly as a cover artist, Fernando takes on a wide variety of genres, performing songs from artists such as Elton John to Radiohead. When away from his regular work, he impersonates Cartman, the eccentric South Park character, with outstanding accuracy. In recent weeks, Fernando’s musical performances as Cartman have generated millions of views through his TikTok, Facebook and YouTube channels.
While you may have seen him perform at local Rochester favorites such as Fiddlehead and Canadian Honker, Fernando has plans to travel the world. Aside from booking tours in Portugal and the U.K. with Nuno Casais, he intends on visiting his home territory, Puerto Rico, to perform and see his family. However, he mentioned, “Rochester will always be my favorite” place to perform.
We recently spoke with Fernando about his experiences as a fast-growing musician and what being a cover artist and impersonator truly entails. Minor edits were made for flow and clarity.
MCB: How did your musical journey begin?
Fernando: I started playing when I was nine years old. I did not expect to be a musician, I just wanted to play songs that I really liked … I actually wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. Right around when I was 14, 15, I found really technically complex music and started getting into progressive metal and classical music as well, and I studied classical music in college … I’ve been doing [Cartman impressions] since right out of high school.
MCB: Did your Cartman impersonations expand your fanbase?
Fernando: The first video got 83,000 views. The second video got over 1 million views … Then, I did a Linkin Park cover, and that’s when everything went wild … Suddenly, I was trending on Twitter, and Mike Shinoda, from Linkin Park, interacted with my video. It went crazy viral with half of a million views on Twitter and Facebook. I started seeing internet write-ups from Loudwire, iHeartRadio, commicbook.com, Rolling Stone Brazil … by the end of the week I had almost 100,000 followers.
MCB: Do the Cartman impressions ever interfere with your other work?
Fernando: I try to keep them separated. It happens to me when I go live on YouTube. They say, ‘do it in a Cartman voice’ and I’m like, ‘nope, this is YouTube, and on YouTube I do my real work. If you wanna hear Cartman, go to TikTok.’ But, I do have Cartman stuff on YouTube too. I made a [YouTube] shorts playlist called, ‘Cartman shorts and covers.’ I will have full covers on that playlist, but they will be very specific, and will go directly on that playlist … During my live videos on TikTok, people ask me, ‘can I hear your real voice?’ And I say, ‘yeah of course,’ and then I sing something in my real voice. They’ve said, ‘That’s awesome. I came here for Cartman but stayed for the grooves.’ It’s pretty cool because they learn to appreciate the whole thing, not just, you know, the funny part.
MCB: How do you anticipate returning to live performances will feel?
Fernando: It’s gonna take a bit to get used to a grind like that again, just because I’m performing from the comfort of my own home right now. And, it’s been stressful because of the pandemic, not being properly employed, and pushing my luck on the internet. I’m at the mercy of people who might send me tips, and then I have to hope they enjoy my work and come back tomorrow … But, being out there with a real show, it doesn’t matter if people like you or not. I play regardless of if they’re there for me or not. It’s more of a scheduled thing, versus being on the internet which is more of a chance thing.
MCB: Where are you when you’re not in Rochester?
Fernando: I’m either here or in Iowa, and I started playing in Missouri recently. I just played at a place there called the Watershed, and people were amazing. It’s a small bar/restaurant in the outskirts of Jefferson City. I’m also going back to Contrary Brewing in Muscatine, Iowa, which is a place that I’ve played during the last couple of years just as I was going out of Iowa. I was thinking, ‘why did I have to find this place right when I’m about to leave?’ It’s incredible. I love the people there. Muscatine is a very special place for me, and I’m going back for the first time in a year and a half, so it’s going to be very special.
MCB: You work as a musician, impersonator, and you run multiple social media platforms. What is the time commitment like?
Fernando: Entertainment is something that demands so much time from musicians … What I really do when I get to Rochester is play eight shows in four days. I play a lunch show, an evening show, a lunch show, an evening show … If I’m doing two shows a day, I get up around 9:30, and by 11:00 I’m already set up at the food court in Peace Plaza. I do an hour and a half to two hours there, depending on how long the lunch rush actually lasts. Then, I have dinner at the Honker, set up at the Honker, and play 7-10 … [Social media] takes up a pretty big chunk of my morning and a pretty big chunk of my evening. I take at least an hour and a half to do both, and I do a two hour stream on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, unless I have a real show.
You can follow Fernando Ufret on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.
Grace Sprecher is an incoming NYU freshman planning to study percussion performance and journalism. Aside from experimenting with any musical instrument she can find, she enjoys camping, baking, and traveling to new places.
