Making An Impression

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.