Jon Culshaw
About
One of the country’s top impressionists for over 30 years. From Dale Winton to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jon can spoof them all.
Radio
Jon Culshaw began his radio career in hospital radio in Ormskirk. His first job was at Red Rose Radio in Preston in 1987. He used to occasionally read the weather in the voice of Frank Bruno.
For around four years in the late 1980s, he was a DJ on the commercial radio station Viking FM, based in Hull. He also had a breakfast show on Pennine Radio (now The Pulse of West Yorkshire) and Radio Wave in Blackpool.
Spitting Image
After doing some voice-over work he was then was catapulted to prominence with Spitting Image, where he voiced around forty characters, including John Major, the then Prime Minister.
Dead Ringers
Culshaw was also 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.
On the show, Jon impersonated well known celebrities including George Bush, Tony Blair, Ozzy Osborne, Des Lynam, Tom Baker, Michael Parkinson and David Beckham.
Other Shows
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.
Commercial Breakdown
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.
With a catalogue of over 350 impressions Jon Culshaw is one of the best impressionist in the UK.