Making An Impression / You're Popping

Part 2 of my recording with the amazing Irish impressionist Al Foran and voice acting superstar Kate Harbour. We discuss bad Irish accents and dare Kate to try hers out on Al, we delve into the contained fury of Roy Keane, investigate the wrong voice in the wrong place technique and decide it's high time there was a dedicated show starring all impressionists on TV. Three great sketches with voices that include Roy Keane, of course, Denzel Washington, Al Pacino, a range of young and old ladies and many more. Plus some nice little cock-ups. Enjoy.

This is part 2 of my recording with the fabulous Josh Berry and legendary Alistair McGowan. We discuss the risks involved in doing impressions of the actual people when they're in the same room, the difference between impressions and impersonations, why some voices just appear while others take years to learn, and doing impressions just for our own amusement. Three great sketches with voices that include the Repair Shop crew, Jimmy Carr, Daniel Radcliffe, Jose Mourinho, David Mitchell plus many more – like Prince Harry, Gary Barlow and Hugh Grant – thrown in. Enjoy.

This is part 2 of the show I recorded with the insanely brilliant Rory Bremner and Kate O'Sullivan. We discuss how musicality is so often part of the impressionist's armoury, I talk about doing Billy Connolly in a toilet - as it were - we contrast acting with doing impressions and we cover the importance of rhythm when reproducing a voice. We've got, amongst other impressions, John McDonnell, Trump, Nigella and Sharon Osborne, and Rory and I offer a world first as we share Ozzy in the final sketch. It's very funny. Honestly.

A new voice - indeed, several voices – we haven't heard on the show before, courtesy of the brilliant Francine Lewis. She's joined by the equally brilliant Danny Posthill. We had to overcome some technical difficulties, so the sound quality isn't as good as it normally is. Apologies for that. Francine unfurls her wonderful impressions of Sharon Osborne, Stacey Solomon and Amy Childs, while Danny treats us to Piers Morgan, Eamonn Holmes and Joe Wicks, plus many, many more from both of them. Three sketches, two of which we cocked up (I say we - me) plenty of insightful chat, anecdotes and laughs. Enjoy.

The brilliant Alistair McGowan and Hannah East join us for the first part of this pod. We livestreamed the entire show to YouTube and Facebook and had a lot of fun doing so. It should still be available on the Making An Impression YouTube channel. In this podcast, Hannah explains how she tells her kids off as Sean Dyche, Alistair nails Piers Morgan and Phillip Schofield having done neither publicly before, while Hannah's first attempts at Holly Willoughby and Kate Fleming in our Line Of Duty sketch are equally wonderful. Three sketches in all, loads of impressions, an accent trip through the UK, chat, insights and anecdotes. Enjoy.

This week we're joined by the legend that is Rory Bremner and a guy who blew me away with his boxing impressions when I interviewed him in series 1, super talented Adam Diggle. Adam talks about his experience voicing animations with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and we discuss the difference between vocally accurate and cartoon impressions. There's more chat about Keir Starmer's blockage, how Winnie The Pooh became Tyson Fury, and impressions that work best at the end of a breath. Lots of cock-ups, three great sketches, wonderful impressions. Enjoy.  

Part 2 of this terrific show features the spectacular vocal skills of Alistair McGowan and Kate O'Sullivan. We discuss the difficulties involved in maintaining an impression, Alistair amply demonstrating his mastery of the art in a longish sketch as Chris Packham. Kate excels as Nigella and a host of other characters, while I mostly sit back and leave them to it. Loads of great voices, fascinating chat about how and why we do impressions, plus amazing insights and anecdotes. Enjoy.

We welcome back the wonderful Darren Altman and, making her debut on the show, the phenomenal Hannah East. We discuss how Hannah approaches male voices and hear her amazing football manager impressions, Darren explores ‘beige’ impressions and how to find a way into them, we look at having serious jobs while doing silly voices in your spare time and we politely disagree about the part pitch plays in impressions. Three great sketches including the voices of Bjork, Lady Gaga, Boris, O’Grady, Bean, Sugar, Toksvig, Millican and so many more. And Hannah and I have a bit of a Dyche-off. Enjoy.

The remarkable Christina Bianco joins us all the way from the hustle and bustle of New York and, from steady old Oxfordshire, the wonderful Rory Bremner. We discuss when to use caricature/cartoon impressions and when more accuracy is required, why Rory deliberately used to muck up his monologues on his seminal Channel 4 series, and Christina walks us through the many key changes necessary to pull off several female vocalists, before demonstrating her extraordinary singing skills in a sketch. Two more sketches for you as well and, of course, some truly amazing impressions. Enjoy.

Two amazing voice talents on this week's show. From Ireland, the extraordinary Al Foran and from England the immensely gifted Kate Harbour. We discuss the weather – well you have to – and cycling. Why not? Al conveys the misery of performing gigs to Zoom audiences, while Kate discusses how she invents new voices for animated characters. Three new sketches featuring Mourinho, Rio Ferdinand, Ramsey, Clarkson, Olivia Colman and Julie Andrews among many others. There’s a song at the end which, I’m afraid, got a bit chaotic because of slight timing issues over the internet so we lost some of the sweet chorus but, if nothing else, it tested my editing skills. Loads of impressions chat, anecdotes and laughs.

Two brilliant impressionists for you. The legend that is Alistair McGowan and the extraordinary young genius Josh Berry. We discuss whether impressionists should tell the audience who they’re about to do, we look, again, at how some impressions flow naturally into others, and how we add little tics and nuances to scripted dialogue to make impressions really fly. Three more great sketches involving football managers, and tennis players, with James Acaster, Stewart Lee and many others thrown in, and Alistair demonstrates his virtuosity by voicing several characters consecutively in the last sketch. Enjoy. 

The peerless Rory Bremner and stunningly talented Kate O’Sullivan bring their amazing vocal skills to the show this week. Rory and I discuss how to do Keir Starmer – essentially it involves loading up on phlegm, there’s a bit of Sean Dyche for you and a sore throat for me, and Boris and Jacinda Ardern squabble about their respective responses to the pandemic. We talk about the problems presented to impressionists by bland voices and why the Geordie accent so often slips into Welsh. Amazing impressions, funny new sketches and some revealing showbiz inside from Rory.

The amazing Alistair McGowan and Kate O'Sullivan tackle three brand new sketches. Tess Daly, Carol Kirkwood, Louis Theroux, Lyse Doucet and Alan Shearer are among the many characters who make an appearance. Alistair drills down into the complexities of Jose Mourinho's accent. Kate reveals the loneliness of the solo performer. We discuss the techniques necessary to do two or three impressions consecutively, while I selflessly takes on a couple of impressions I've never done before. Ahem. Plus there's a fascinating insight into the script editing process. Enjoy.

Danny Posthill and Darren Altman join me for this hilarious episode, the first in the new series. The sketches include an attempt at three Morgan Freemans (funny but failed), some biting political satire with Putin, Biden and Boris (funny but not that biting) and my valiant but ultimately doomed attempt to nail Jeff Goldblum (funny, not in a good way). These two outstanding impressionists and natural comedians compare notes on doing Piers Morgan, offer some insights into the art of impressions, unfurl some majestic voices and spin some fantastic yarns. Danny's Peter Beardsley story at the end is worth the admission money alone. Enjoy!

Kate O'Sullivan is one of the most in-demand voiceover artists in the country. As those who heard her on our sister podcast Making An Impression will know, she is also a magnificent impressionist. And it was those skills that took her from stage and screen to the vocal booth where she became the voice of numerous high profile products. Hear about her heavenly VO session with Hugh Laurie, dubbing Hollywood stars in films and commercials, Brian Blessed bellowing through a soundproofed room and the numerous superstars with whom she has shared a booth. Witty and engaging, Kate is the perfect guest.

Hugely experienced and massively versatile voiceover artist Tanya Rich is our guest on You're Popping this week. Tanya has voiced everything from high profile TV and radio campaigns to animations and corporate videos. She can turn her hand to any accent and is as convincing as a nine year old girl as she is a woman of ninety. A wonderfully entertaining and perceptive raconteur. Anecdotes aplenty, with a few famous names thrown in.

Vocal genius Jim Meskimen is my guest this week all the way from LA. Having dazzled us with his impressions and techniques on Making An Impression, here Jim talks about his life behind the microphone as a voice actor, covering some of the issues he's faced over his 30+ years as a pro. Like finding fifty character voices for an audio book. And doing female voices convincingly. Jim also discusses his favourite and weirdest gigs, how to voice a 'genuine' character and managing superstar egos in the booth. Plenty of great voices, insights and lots of laughs.

Clare Reeves has been churning out top quality work from her home studio for years. A self-confessed geek, she revels in tweaking her audio output to within an inch of its life. TV and radio commercials are her staple, but give her a complex technical read and she's in heaven! Hear about her whispering technique to overcome tricky words, how she entertained Jarvis Cocker, treats voiceover work - rightly - as rocket science and knows exactly why we do what we do: to make people obey! Funny, bubbly and effortlessly charming.

Nicola Redman is one of the country's top voice and accent coaches. She's also one of the best voiceover artists around. In this week's pod, she lifts the lid on some amazing vocal exercises, tells us how she was once that voice telling you you've had an accident, talks us through a sex phone line gig, describes how she handles egos when teaching the stars and recounts how she learned how to sniff coke from Ray Winstone. Laughs and vocal tips galore from the charming and hilarious Nic.

Brilliant impressionist and voiceover supremo Darren Altman chats about playing a blocked drain and a superhero pig, lifts the lid on his throat-ripping video games experience, offers some insights into his interesting editing technique and, of course, throws in some stunning impressions including Donald Trump eating a hamburger. Not to be missed.

Melissa Sinden has been among the UK's top voiceover artists for 30 years. Along the way, she has been on the end of endless weird directions from creatives, struggled to say 'traditional', worked in some very odd studios and been up close and personal with Hugh Laurie in his motorcycle leathers. Plenty of laughs and fascinating insights.

Just a short trailer to tell you about my new podcast, You're Popping. Featuring some of the finest voiceover talents in the world, You're Popping will delve into tough gigs, difficult words, celebrity tittle-tattle and a whole load more. Anecdotes and insights galore. Featuring Alex Lowe (Clinton Baptiste/Barry From Watford), Jim Meskimen (top US impressionist), Nic Redman (leading accent/vocal coach), Kate O'Sullivan (brilliant voice artist) and many, many more. Some amazing stories, wonderful voices and laughs aplenty.

Scheiffer Bates is a phenomenon. Already an internet star with millions of views for his gold standard Gordon Ramsey and '100 impressions in 5 minutes' videos, he has already appeared on US television and voiced numerous characters for radio, TV and internet projects. His natural voice is warm and rounded; it's his ability to transform it that marks him out as a truly special talent. And a lovely guy to boot.

Josh Robert Thompson was the voice - and puppetmaster - behind Geoff Peterson on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson for nearly 5 years. He provided hundreds of character voices and impressions and often took off the guests, Morgan Freeman and Matthew McConaughey among them. A consummate impressionist, Josh's Goldblum, De Niro, Arnie and Freeman are immaculate. He articulates his technique and the vagaries of showbiz in this highly entertaining hour.

Jim Meskimen is one of the best known impressionists in America. An accomplished actor, comedian and artist, Jim has been a master of his craft for 40 years. His approach is compelling, and he illustrates his technique and process with some wonderful voices: Tommy Lee Jones, George W, Colin Firth, Anthony Hopkins and so many more. An articulate, engaging and very funny man.

Josh Berry first came to prominence as a fresh-faced 16 year old doing amazing tennis impressions at Wimbledon. Eight years on, he now has a huge following on social media, impersonating everyone from Louis Theroux to Russell Brand. Already making strides on radio and TV, Josh is a rising star and amazing talent.

Jon Culshaw has been among the country's top impressionists for over 20 years. A star of Dead Ringers since its inception in 1999, he has appeared on countless TV and radio shows - including his own ITV series - and has toured shows nationally and abroad. A highly amusing guest who talks articulately and passionately about his craft, offering insights and tips for all aspiring impressionists.

Luke Kempner has been making waves over recent years with his brilliant impressions on ITV's The Imitation Game, The Now Show on Radio 4 and a host of other TV and radio shows. A witty and charming guest - despite supporting Arsenal - Luke discusses his approach to voices and throws in a plethora of wonderful impressions including a magical Biggins.

Brilliant Irish impressionist Al Foran joins me this week. He's an internet superstar, his impressions having been watched millions of times around the world, and he demonstrates why he's so popular with over 20 spot-on voices from the worlds of sport and film. Al discusses his techniques and career.

Dead Ringers regular Duncan Wisbey joins me to discuss his fascinating career as an actor, writer, musician and impressionist. He offers numerous insights into his vocal techniques and a plethora of on-the-money impressions. Plus some hilarious songs with Duncan accompanying himself on the piano. A genial and entertaining guest.

Paul Burling shot to fame as a finalist on Britain's Got Talent in 2010, having put in the hard yards as a Redcoat, in panto and as a touring pro. His own Christmas show on ITV was watched by millions but ITV didn't follow through with a promised series. A fascinating story and a charming man. And his impressions are truly top notch.

Kate O'Sullivan started doing other people's voices professionally when she was 10. Since then, she has appeared on a raft of TV and radio shows like Who Do You Do, 2DTV, Hedz and Double Take and is the voice behind several leading commercial brands. Funny, talented and engaging.

Terry Mynott takes us through his transition from musician to impressionist to actor and voiceover artist. Terry starred in two series of the brilliant if underrated The Mimic on Channel 4 and was a regular on The Morgana Show among many other TV and radio shows. He discusses his life, career and vocal techniques, and gives us some glimpses of his very best impressions.

More brilliant impressions, insights and stories from the inimitable (that's right) master impressionist Rory Bremner. Hear about the impression that stumped him, how Louis Walsh is essentially Donald Trump, the myriad accents that span a tiny stretch of northern England and how deep fake technology is changing the game for impressionists.

The peerless Rory Bremner discusses his extraordinary career, from his days as a young impressionist on the alternative comedy circuit in the 1980s to his long and hugely successful stint as a sharp and influential political satirist on BBC and Channel 4. Articulate, funny, insightful and captivating. And, of course, a master impressionist. Part 2 coming soon.

One of the outright funniest Making An Impressions podcasts so far with the brilliantly gifted Stefano Paolini. He can knock out endless wonderful impressions - Harrison Ford, Portillo, Samuel L Jackson and more - but it's how he packages them that makes him unique. Beatboxing, foreign languages, accents. It's a real treat.

Actress, artist, writer, singer and impressionist Jessica Martin shot to fame in the early 1980s as a regular on a variety of prime time TV shows. Impressions of characters like Margaret Thatcher and Hilda Ogden were spot on, but she was even better known for her amazing singing impressions: Streisand, Garland, Monroe, Cilla and many more. Here she discusses her career, vocal techniques and graphic novels.

Charlie Hopkinson is a young genius who has already garnered millions of views on his YouTube channel. Spine-tingling impressions of Morgan Freeman, Ian McKellen, Walter White and Jessie Pinkman, plus fascinating insights into Charlie's methodology and career to date. A star in the making.

A bonus show featuring the amazingly gifted Adam Diggle. Adam nails Lycett, Attenborough, Grylls and Cage among others, and treats us to his pantheon of brilliant boxing impressions - Fury, Froch, Eubank, McCrory and Tyson among them. Plus some great insights into his vocal techniques.

Steve Nallon shot to fame in 1984 when his seminal Margaret Thatcher impression first appeared on Spitting Image. He also provided the voices of Roy Hattersley, Enoch Powell and many others. Since then, he has worked as a stand-up comedian, impressionist and voiceover artist, alongside teaching comedy at Birmingham University. Funny and fascinating.

Dead Ringers regular Lewis McLeod is my guest this week. He describes how he lived the dream: from Star Wars fan to voicing characters for the franchise in Hollywood. Funny stories and amazing impressions including the definitive Trump and Jeremy Vine, plus Farage, Boris, Mark Kermode, Connolly, Connery, George Michael and many more. His attempt to teach me Ian McKellen doesn't end well!

Livewire actress, singer and impressionist Christina Bianco joins me this week. Funny, engaging and insightful, Christina belts out pitch perfect renditions of Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Dolly Parton, Celine Dion, Julie Andrews and more, as well as some excellent spoken impressions including Katherine Parkinson and Jennifer Saunders. Essential listening.

Britain's finest impressionist joins me this week to discuss his brilliant career. He illustrates his vocal techniques with a plethora of magnificent impressions. Articulate and cerebral, Ali is immensely funny and as humble, generous and delightful as I remembered.

The brilliant and hilarious Danny Posthill is my guest this week. Danny relates his journey to BGT finalist and beyond with a host of insights and hilarious stories. Plus a stream of marvellous impressions: Diane Abbott, Conor McGregor, Dara O Briain, Tim & Jeremy Vine, Boris, Trump, Farage, Gazza, Ant & Dec and many more. Apologies in advance for my constant wheezy laugh, but I couldn't help it!

In this week's Making An Impression, Simon chats with drummer, voiceover guru and ace impressionist Darren Altman. Voices and laughs galore plus fascinating insights into Darren's vocal methodology. He also tries - and fails - to teach Simon how to do Joel Dommett.

The second part of my conversation with gifted impressionist and all round voice maestro Alex Jordan. More great impressions, more insights into the impressionists' art, plenty of laughs and more besides.

Simon talks to actor, voiceover artist and impressionist Alex Jordan. Some fascinating insights into his technique and some amazing voices. Part two to follow.