Homepage News Reviews - Acts - Shows - Screen - Radio - Books - Clubs Interviews Awards 2006 Edinburgh 2005 - Reviews - Blog - Previews Features Archive Awards 2005 Edinburgh 2004: - Previews - Shows - Diary Guestbook Forum © Emporium Of Mirth 2004 Editor: Lauren Murphy Reporters: Fiona Wilkie Natalie Joanne	Emporium of Mirth Jon Culshaw I roll out of bed at some obscene hour of the morning and remember I’m scheduled to interview Britain’s top impressionist. I crawl bleary-eyed to the phone to ring him. He, thankfully, sounds much brighter than I do. I start by asking him how the latest series of Dead Ringers (the third on television) was for him. “It was fine, yeah, it was very good. The show’s in its stride now, and there was a little bit less...” he emphasises this, “a little bit less of the sort of repetitive elements.” I am glad Jon has brought this up almost straight away, since the impressions programme has received a lot of stick (from fans and critics alike) for relying too heavily on one particular joke (a random song lyric followed by “more on that story later...” springs to mind). “I think they judged to change things subtly as it went along. Yeah, I was pretty pleased with it, really.” I wonder aloud how the transition of Dead Ringers from TV to radio worked. “I think there’s advantages on both sides. On the radio side, the listeners of Radio 4 have got such a great affection for it, and when you listen to a programme on Radio 4 you almost feel as if you’ve sort of discovered this little programme yourself. Ringers has that sort of fond following on Radio 4. You don’t get that on BBC2, coz it’s telly, and the medium works quite differently. But what you do get is a chance to expand the jokes a bit, and add all of the visual elements of people’s gestures, people’s movements.” I feel Tony Blair wouldn’t be quite the same without an emphatic hand gesture between every word. “You have a chance to show Ozzy Osbourne’s doddering nature. And the style of the writing becomes different as well. When you’re writing for telly, you’re writing for the eye rather than for the ear. But it’s nice, with Dead Ringers, to keep it on Radio 4 as well.” I take Jon up on this point by informing him (though I’m sure he’s already aware) that many loyal radio fans are worried that they may be deserted due to the massive success of the series on TV so far. Jon has some words of reassurance. “No, I think we always made a very conscious decision not to do that. We always, you know, get the series out there on the radio whenever we can. But there’s been quite a lot of demands for the TV side of it. We are going to record some radio shows which will be on later in the summer.” I compliment Jon on his improvisation skills, evidenced in all the hidden camera sketches on the TV version of Dead Ringers, and the wind-up phone calls on the radio version. “I like doing that. It just gives you a nice rapport with the audience. The hidden camera stuff is one of me favourite bits, I think!” He speaks in a tone that could either be a fond affection for doing something he loves, or the subtly hidden glee of a naughty schoolboy playing a prank on someone who has annoyed him. “It’s just a chance to really flex the imagination and make some funny things happen, because you get so many great reactions from the public. Just to bemuse a person with an unusual character like [Simon] Schama or something like that. It’s the people you interact with who really bring those parts of the show to life.” I ask if Jon’s increasing popularity is a problem in that area. Does he get people that recognise him under all the makeup? “Yeah, I’m starting to now. But hopefully, we are still able to remain in disguise enough.” I consider to myself that if I had Jon’s talent for voices, I’d use it for my own nefarious purposes. I ask him if he’s ever pretended he was Russell Crowe on the phone to The Ivy, or some such similar scheme. He laughs. “Only in the phone calls. I’ve done so many of those now that you can get a bit tired of them. I don’t really tend to use voices for mischief. I might have done, but it was a long time ago!” Moving the conversation on from Jon’s most famous vehicle, I ask him about his latest series, “The Impressionable Jon Culshaw”. “I’ll probably do another one of those early next year. With that, it was a chance for me to just try and put my imagination across in the show, and just try and give it a feeling that was a bit more daft and more surreal, more, you know, silly. A bit more imaginative, maybe. Having people like Eddie Large to play Claire Short and Bernard Manning to play John Prescott... sort of living Spitting Image puppets!” What a fantastic description. Perhaps that does just about justify their casting. “It was broadly topical, but not all about the day’s news, or the week’s news and so on.” I ask what it was like working with different writers, and about the absence of the main writing partnership on Dead Ringers, Tom Jaimeson and Nev Fountain. “They are, in many ways, the heart and lungs of Dead Ringers, and I wanted to try and evolve the ITV show as differently as possible. I mean, sure, they can always take the Dead Ringers style and deliberately write against it, but at the time of filming The Impressionable... the preparations were going on for the up and coming Dead Ringers series, so I don’t think they would have been able to do it, particularly. Tom and Nev’s style is that they are very good sketch-writers, very good gagsmiths. And they’re good at narrative too. They’re writing their own Radio 4 sitcom.” (Aha, that would be Elephants to Catch Eels, review on the radio page, loyal reader.) “So they can do everything across the board. They’ve certainly made a great presence in Ringers, and they’re very good at... you know, on the Sunday night recordings, they’re there in the background, really just sort of surveying every avenue of news. There’s like a three-foot tall pile of Sunday papers, and there’s all these news websites going on, and they’re watching every news bulletin just trying to see what stories might develop.” I ask Jon what the next stage of his career would be. Possibly doing a live show with his talent for impressions? “I’m sure it’ll come around at some point. I’ve been a bit busy with making the telly shows and what-not...” he says this as a matter of course, as if we hadn’t noticed his massive popularity. “I do present a lot of awards and do quite a lot of after dinner things. All the corporates and stuff like that, from time to time. There is talk of doing a West End version of Dead Ringers...” I try to imagine how that might work, but I’m having difficulty. “I’ve been asked if I want to play the part of Jerry Springer, in Jerry Springer the Opera, which would be a challenge!” Certainly. Rather a drastic change in direction, too. I talk about Jon’s big break into the world of comedy; the infamous phone call he made to Tony Blair as William Hague while working on his regular spot on Chris Moyles’ Radio 1 show. Jon was so convincing as the then-Tory leader he got instantly put through to the Prime Minister, and proceeded to ask about an exercise video that Cherie had supposedly lent Ffion. “I think that’s just a little novel hook to hang your hat on. It’s something that people ask about, but it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. It’s just a nice little talking point. It’s quite jolly though! It’s one of those little quirky things. I was glad of the way it played itself out.” During the call, Blair had realised he wasn’t actually talking to Hague, but had played along gamely anyway. I helpfully remind Jon of his frequent comparisons to Channel 4’s impressionist heavyweight, Rory Bremner. “I think it’s coz we sort of look similar, I suppose. Similar colouring and so on. But I like Rory Bremner, so I’ve no problem with that at all!” I enquire whether Jon has any plans to move away from comedy and concentrate on straight acting. “I think that’s the next stage, really. That’s got to be the next thing I move into. Even just having acting roles which aren’t impressions, they could still be comedy, they could still be characters.” Jon seems eager to make this transition. “No rush! You know, I’m not like some sort of former pop star who says, ‘I want to get back to it now, you know, like, I know I’m quite good at that, I want to do it, oh, it’s me destiny, like...’” The Liam Gallagher-y voice Jon uses to say this is the first voice other than his own he has introduced to the conversation. I wonder if he ever gets tired of simply trotting out impressions to audiences or interviewers. Does he not sometimes wish he could just be himself in the public eye? “No, they’re quite good fun. It’s not like I’ve just been doing that for twenty years or something, it’s only in the last few years on TV, with things like Ringers or with my show. I’ve got into me stride, that’s fine.” It’s very noble of him to say so, too. “I like the situation where, for part of the year, you’re doing some comedy impressions and stuff, and also some other roles. Other things tend to come along anyway, like presenting certain things, or joining in in whatever, you know, Children in Need, or music awards, that’s what I like doing. So there’s lots to keep me occupied.” Jon definitely seems to have the sort of personality which, if it were a child, wouldn’t be able to sit still for a minute. I ask him what route he would taken if he hadn’t chosen comedy. “I don’t know, I dread to think really! It would have to have been something I was interested in. I’d probably have been up a mountain in South America digging up dinosaurs, or something like that! Or I would have been a counsellor or a therapist, coz I’m quite a good listener.” Ironic really, considering Jon’s whole career is based around talking. I finish by asking him if he has any specific projects in the pipeline for the future. “I think just to grow the character acting or straight acting side of it, and bring that area into fruition, that will be something to look at.” So, for any dramatic casting agents reading, Mr Culshaw is your man. For more information, go to the Dead Ringers website: www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/deadringers Jon was interviewed by Nat, summer 2004 RSS  Printable version	Visit our Siamese Twin Sister Site!