As the standard-bearer of the conservative party, Mitt Romney may not draw as many Hollywood endorsements as his rival.

But what his celebrity backers lack in quantity they make up in unconventional appeal.

Case in point: aging rocker Meat Loaf, who wore a sequin-sleeved blazer to endorse Romney in a halting but heartfelt speech Thursday.

The entertainer didn't perform his signature hits, but he did paint in stark terms voters' choice this November.

"This is the most important election in the history of the United States," he told an audience in Defiance, Ohio. "Because there has storm clouds come over the United States!"

"There is thunderstorms over Europe," he continued, warming to the weather theme. "There are hailstorms, and I mean major hailstorms, in the Middle East."

Meat Loaf also offered a dubious defense of Romney's running mate's controversial budget plan.

"I want you to know at 65 that Paul Ryan has not pushed me off the cliff in a wheelchair," he joked.

The next evening, "Everybody Loves Raymond" actress Patricia Heaton cracked some edgy jokes of her own at another football field rally in North Canton.

Telling the audience she came from an Irish-Catholic family, Heaton invoked Romney's Mormon religion - something he does not frequently mention on the campaign trail.

"I have over a hundred first cousins on my mom's side, so we're giving those Mormons a run for their money," Heaton said.

After joking about nearby Akron ("I was born on the west side of Cleveland. You know what Cleveland's motto is? At least we're not Akron!"), Heaton couldn't resist poking fun at the well-toned body of Romney's clean-cut running mate Paul Ryan.

"I have to tell you, backstage I didn't recognize him with his shirt on," she said, adding: "And I did wear orange, not only because I'm a [Cleveland] Browns fan, but I was afraid Paul would have his shotgun."

On Friday, as has become common over the previous weeks, Romney supporters were also entertained by a folksy band who voiced their support for the candidate in between twanging riffs. The parade of country singers who have backed Romney are perhaps an unusual fit for the former governor of Massachusetts, whose running mate has joked he is an aficionado of elevator music.

None of these high-profile fans could equal the pithiness of Romney endorser and football great John Elway, who announced in October he was backing Romney with perhaps the briefest speech on record.

His entire statement, including a reference to a winning football game a day earlier, is below:

"I must say today has been a very good day," Elway told an audience in Denver Oct. 1. "Not only because of what happened yesterday, but because I get the opportunity to introduce to you the next president of the United States, Gov. Mitt Romney."