Lancashire's Jon Culshaw tells celeb reporter Aimee Seddon all about his new show coming to Blackpool & why he loves the town so much.
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00:00Well, it's lovely to meet you, John. I'm from the Lancashire Post.
00:04Oh, yes. Very fond of that paper. Very fond of Blackpool.
00:08I've got so many. I feel I will always have a perpetual connection to Blackpool.
00:14Lived and worked there for many, many years.
00:17I will definitely ask you about that.
00:19But let's start, John, by obviously I'm talking to you, though, because your national tour is starting next month.
00:26Yes. So can I ask you how you're feeling about that?
00:29Yes, it's come around so quickly.
00:31I thought I had the idea to give the show a run again last summer.
00:36And it all feels so distant and far away when you talk about it at that point.
00:41But then time has a habit of just whip cracking right to the present moment.
00:46And it's starting very soon.
00:49So I'm very much looking forward to it, ready to go.
00:52And it's a longer version of I did a shorter run of this show in Edinburgh at the Fringe.
01:00And you get about just under an hour for an Edinburgh show.
01:04So here's a chance to broaden this one out, add in some more characters, add in some music, make it two acts,
01:11give the theatres a chance to open the bar and get it up to its full speed, its full tilt.
01:17You've started hinting at it there, but I was next going to ask, what can audiences expect from Impostor Syndrome?
01:23Well, there's a run through all the characters, old and new, looking at some of those classic ones, familiar prime ministers,
01:33familiar presidents compared with the ones of today and how more or less flamboyant they may or may not be.
01:43Same with sport. Quite a few anecdotes as well about times when you've met characters who you impersonate and how that goes.
01:54Everyone from King Charles to Ozzy Osbourne to Chris Eubank to William Hague, whoever it might be.
02:04So I've run through lots of anecdotes. Liam Gallagher, another one.
02:08What happens when you impersonate people opposite them and some of the favourite musical songs and tunes and pop videos,
02:21which I've sort of converted to the stage that we've done over the years.
02:25So, yes, that kind of blend.
02:28You're coming to Blackpool with the show. So how are you feeling about that?
02:32Oh, well, Blackpool is Las Vegas with fish and chips and it's such a, the atmosphere that you get with a show in Blackpool,
02:45it's so celebratory, it's so beautifully vivid and it'll bring all the memories of my working in Blackpool over the years at Radio Wave for about four years,
02:58Red Rose Radio in Preston, where I started. And I remember when I was 20, I used to be a DJ in a few Blackpool nightclubs, Shades and Jellies.
03:10You know, I used to be there playing Banana Armour at Rick Astley when I was 20 in 1988.
03:15So, yeah, wonderful memories. You step into Blackpool, it's so vivid and celebratory and it just brings back all the lovely memories,
03:25puts you instantly into a good mood.
03:28From Umskirk, so can I ask you, does it feel different when you're on stage in Lancashire compared to elsewhere?
03:33I think it does because you're playing a home game and, you know, there might be some of your relatives in the audience or some old school friends or, you know, people who you've known over the years.
03:48So, you know, that's always there. That gives you a little bit of an extra frisson to things, you know, because you don't want to muck that up when there's folks, you know, in the crowd.
04:02So, yes, you are aware of that, but it does make you feel, you know, all the more supported. It makes you feel all the more amongst friends.
04:09So, yeah, it's special to play a home game.
04:12Have you been to the ground before?
04:15Oh, I have. I have, I have, I have. The first thing that I ever did in the Grand Theatre was with Radio Wave in Blackpool.
04:24And I interviewed Nige Ure on the stage at the Blackpool Grand.
04:31I interviewed him there and it was great. I love the classic Victoriana, beautiful classic Victoriana.
04:40I did a show, The Great British Takeoff there as well a few years ago.
04:46And yes, it's, you know, it's it's the palladium of Blackpool, isn't it?
04:50You know, the Grand, it's the something you walk a little taller when you go in, you know, it's called Grand for a reason.
04:57So I shall be very proud to be back there.