Jon Culshaw: The Impressionist Who Fooled the Prime Minister

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Global

Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Long before Dead Ringers or Spitting Image, Jon Culshaw was a schoolboy with a knack for mimicry and a fierce determination to escape into voices- finding freedom, fun, and a future through the radio dial.

In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Jon to explore how a shy kid from Lancashire became one of the UK’s best-loved impressionists. They trace his early love of radio, his first gigs as a hospital DJ, and the key moments that transformed a quiet obsession into a celebrated career.

Jon reflects on the emotional intelligence behind impersonation, how he’s always felt a sense of companionship in voices, and what he learned by studying the characters he came to embody- from Boris Johnson to David Bowie

Endearing, reflective and full of rich storytelling, it’s a portrait of an artist who built a career out of listening- and reveals how sometimes, speaking in other people’s voices can lead you closer to your own.

Find out more about Dead Ringers 25th Anniversary tour here

Transcript

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0:00.0	lunchtime time time to get my macro in the microwave oh kitchen banter afoot if in doubt join in
0:07.0	oh hey jim you listen to comedy on audible too uh yeah so funny yeah what's your favorite title
0:17.2	uh the comedy comedian show that's not a real show is it jim get in on the jokes with comedy
0:26.2	on audible subscription requires the audible dot code at uk for terms pst have you seen tk max lately weekend
0:33.0	wardrobe tk max sunshine ready looks tk max something a little TK Max, it's a head to toe in TK
0:40.8	situation, fresh, trending styles at up to 60% less than the RRP, head in store or shop
0:46.5	online now.
0:47.6	There's no deal like a TK Max deal.
0:52.1	This is a global player original podcast hello and welcome to full disclosure a podcast
1:04.0	a podcast project conceived entirely to let me spend more time with interesting people than
1:08.5	I would ever be allowed on the radio.
1:15.4	John Colshaw, welcome. James, it's great to see you. Thank you for having me on the podcast.
1:22.5	I imagine it's going to be my pleasure. But everybody knows who you are. But does anybody know who you are?
1:29.8	Who I am. Well, I suppose a sort of a mild-mannered Lancastrian. I've never come across anyone having a bad word to say about you, which is a lovely thing. I mean that. That is a very lovely thing. I like to be
1:34.4	quite unassuming and so on. Was it always so? So, Ormskirk, 1968, Ormskirk in Lancashire, seems to
1:43.1	have been a very happy childhood.
1:44.8	Yes, it was the 1970s, and everything had a sort of a sepia tint, didn't it?
1:50.4	And that sense of the real world, you know, you used to sort of go out on your chopper bike and play and climb up things, climb up haystacks, and go back on your chopper bike and spot butterflies.
2:05.0	It was, yes, it was a contented period of time.
2:08.0	Was it quite rural? I've been to Armscoat, but it was a very long time ago.
2:12.0	It is very rural, a market town, a lot of farmland. So they say it's the potato capital of
2:17.1	Europe. I think Kings kings no uh hang on
	...

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