Jon Culshaw

For the Decca/London record producer, see John Culshaw.

Jon Culshaw
Born	(1968-06-02) 2 June 1968 Ormskirk, Lancashire, England
Nationality	British
Years active	1980s-present
Genres	Impressions, sketch comedy
Notable works and roles	Dead Ringers (2000–2007) 2DTV (2001–2004) The Impressionable Jon Culshaw (2004) Headcases (2008–present) The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson (2009-present)The Sky at Night (2007-present)

Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968 in Ormskirk, Lancashire) is an English impressionist and comedian. He was educated at St Bede's RC High School, Ormskirk and St John Rigby College, Wigan.

He is known for his work on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two's Dead Ringers, ITV's 2DTV, BBC One's The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson and his contributions to BBC Radio 1, particularly on The Chris Moyles Show. He also appeared in ITV's Heartbeat on 26 November 2006.

Early career

His radio career began in hospital radio in Ormskirk. His first job was at Red Rose Radio (now Rock FM) in Preston in 1987, where even then he used to occasionally read the weather in the voice of Frank Bruno. He did voice-over work then was catapulted to prominence with Spitting Image, where he voiced around forty characters, including John Major, the then Prime Minister.

For around four years in the late 1980s, he was a DJ on the commercial radio station Viking FM, based in Hull, and also had a breakfast show on Pennine Radio (now The Pulse of West Yorkshire) and Radio Wave in Blackpool. It was a receptionist at Viking FM who persuaded Culshaw he should go onstage with his impressions and make it his living. He later appeared on BBC Radio 2's It's Been a Bad Week, appeared as a guest on the BBC2 Star Trek Night Quiz in August 1996, and was also a regular guest on the Chris Moyles afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 from 1998–2002, where he would phone up commercial organisations such as a Kwik-Fit garage in the voice of Patrick Moore or Obi-Wan Kenobi, politely requesting whether they could service his X-wing fighter, and how much time it would take.

Later career

He rose to fame in January 1998 by impersonating William Hague while working with Steve Penk on Capital Radio, and succeeding in contacting Number 10 Downing Street. He was put through to Tony Blair who, despite instantly discovering the ruse, had a lengthy conversation with him until a member of Blair's staff ended the call.

Culshaw was one of the stars of the BBC Radio 4 comedy impression series Dead Ringers, which ran from 2000 to 2007, and the BBC Two television series of the same name, from 2002 to 2007.

Between 2001 and 2002 he had a programme on ITV called Alter Ego where he interviewed male celebrities in their own style of speaking, a form of simultaneous translation. On ITV he also appeared on 2DTV, a cartoon version of what Dead Ringers would do when transposed to TV. Using the same production team, in early 2004, he had his own programme, The Impressionable Jon Culshaw which was commissioned for ITV1.

His most famous impressions are ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Obi-Wan Kenobi (in the Alec Guinness persona), Russell Crowe, President George W. Bush, Ozzy Osbourne, Dale Winton, the newsreader Brian Perkins, Sir Patrick Moore and Tom Baker (who played the fourth incarnation of The Doctor in Doctor Who).

He also appeared in the Doctor Who webcast "Death Comes to Time" and audio drama The Kingmaker. In the latter, he got to perform his Tom Baker impression "for real" (voicing tape recordings of the fourth Doctor), although his nominal part was that of Earl Rivers.

In 2005, Culshaw was a celebrity contestant on Comic Relief does Fame Academy.

In January 2006, he began presenting the BBC show Jon Culshaw's Commercial Breakdown shown on Friday Nights. In 2006, he received an honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston.

Culshaw was one of the final judges in Let's Dance for Comic Relief.

In August 2007, he appeared on a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with John Thomson.

In January 2008, he appeared on Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, as part of a pub-quiz team, with Chris Moyles. In May 2008 he appeared in the BBC documentary series Comedy Map of Britain.

He is also voicing Piston Pete in the upcoming film Agent Crush.

On 29 December 2008, Culshaw appeared on Celebrity Mastermind. His specialist subject was British Pop of the 80s. He came third with 23 points.

In November 2007, and again in December 2008, Culshaw appeared on The Sky at Night, where he impersonated a younger version of Sir Patrick Moore. Culshaw is a keen amateur astronomer.

On 31 October 2009, Culshaw started a new comedy sketch show with Debra Stephenson, The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson. Its third series began on 26 October 2011.

In 2010, Culshaw appeared in the television series, Missing, as Des Martin.

In March 2011 he appeared on the 700th episode of The Sky at Night reading viewers questions to the panel of experts. He appeared again on the May edition of the show reporting on the Northern Lights.

In January 2012 he appeared on the BBC2 astronomy programme, "Stargazing Live", with Professor Brian Cox and comedian Dara Ó Briain. He also was invited as a guest speaker at the Cambridge Union Society, answering questions and responding to requests for impersonations.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Channel
2001	Alter Ego	Starring	ITV
2001	2DTV	Voice	ITV
2002	Room 101	Patrick Moore impression	BBC Two
2002–2009	Dead Ringers	Starring	BBC Two
2004	The Impressionable Jon Culshaw	Starring	ITV
2004	Little Britain	Guest	BBC One
2004	Churchill: The Hollywood Years (Film)	Actor (as Tony Blair)	–
2006	The Slammer	Guest	BBC One
2006	The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006	Guest	Channel 4
2007	The Sky at Night	'Young' Patrick Moore	BBC One
2007	Red Nose Day 2007	Various	BBC One
2007	Kombat Opera Presents	Guest	BBC Two
2008	Headcases	Voice	ITV
2008	Hotel Babylon	Guest	BBC One
2008	Agent Crush (Film)	Voice	–
2008–present	Horrible Histories	Voice (Guest)	CBBC / BBC One
2009	The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson	Starring	BBC One
2010	Heston's Eighties Feast	Guest	Channel 4
2011	The Sky At Night	Guest	BBC One
2012	Stargazing Live	Guest	BBC Two
2013	Let's Dance For Comic Relief	Contestant	BBC One

External links

• Jon Culshaw at the Internet Movie Database
• Alter Ego.
• Article in The Stage
• BBC Dead Ringers.
• Honorary fellowship
• Viking FM photo

Audio clips

• Prank call.
• The Time Lord contacts terrestrial organisations by telephone.
• Voice over work.
• Viking FM jingle
• Talking about his work on Dead Ringers.
• Interviewed on Radio Lancashire in July 2006
• Helping out with Budget 2005 on Radio Five Live
• Would You featuring celebrity vocals
• Talking on Danny Baker's programme.
• This is the Radio Four News with Brian Perkins.
• Are you sitting comfortably? It's time for Dead Ringers to begin.

Video clips

• Receiving his honorary degree in Preston (YouTube)