Jon Culshaw: 'I don't think Trump would see the funny side of my presidential impression.'

When Jon Culshaw purses his lips, narrows his eyes, and holds his palms outwards, you know which voice is coming.

Culshaw has been refining his Donald Trump recently because as a satirist, the US President is ‘such a gift for comedy’.

‘There are times when he wants to be presidential, just for a few moments, but then there’ll be a moment where he’ll mess it up and it’ll all unravel’, he tells Yahoo.

One of Britain’s best-loved impressionists, Culshaw has mastered more than 300 celebrity voices – from Ozzy Osbourne to Simon Cowell, via Frank Bruno and Russell Crowe.

Lately, however, he only gets one request, as he explained when he visited Yahoo for a Facebook Live chat.

‘It’s always the Donald’, says Culshaw, as he slips seamlessly into Trump-mode. ‘You get the impression there are times when he feels out of his depth, but he’s very good at bluster, very good at talking, very good at speaking very fast.’

Does Culshaw think the famously prickly POTUS would appreciate the impersonation?

‘He seems so thin-skinned it’s odd to think it would rattle him more than anybody. I’m not sure he could laugh about it!’

Politicians remain a rich source of material for Culshaw, who started his impressionist career on hospital radio in the late 1980s.

WATCH THE FULL FACEBOOK LIVE INTERVIEW WITH JON CULSHAW:

Over the years he’s nailed the mannerisms of Tony Blair, William Hague, Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, and more recently Jeremy Corbyn.

‘When I was growing up in the 1970s there were so many big characters then and it’s come back to that now. There was a time when some of them were a little bit bland, but what a bumper range of characters there are now.’

So what’s the secret to getting those impressions so perfect? According to Culshaw, sometimes you just have to let them ‘percolate’.

‘You just have to listen for long enough. If you stay with it, then something should drop into place. The key to it, which a lot of impressionists do, is to listen and repeat – it’s like learning a new language – if it’s not going in to the brain you’ve just got to leave it.

‘When you come back to it, it might’ve just worked on its own, without you deliberately going at it.

‘If you listen to something over and over it sticks in your subconscious. Sometimes there’s a temptation to do a voice before you’ve fully learned it.’

Do any other celebrities take exception to his spot-on impressions?

Culshaw has impersonated the likes of Ricky Gervais and George Michael to their faces, but insists his ‘subjects’ almost always take it in good humour.

‘When you’ve got the person or character right in front of you, you can just watch directly. Michael McIntyre said he couldn’t watch my impression of him because it scares him.

‘I suppose people feel a bit decoded.’

As for the future, the shifting political landscape means Culshaw is constantly busy as new faces come and go.

The current Labour leader, for example, poses problems for satirists, as Culshaw explains.

‘Jeremy Corbyn is an interesting character. He can suck the life out of your comedy sketch. He’s slightly petulant at first, you get the sense he is trying to hold his temper in.’

JON CULSHAW ON HIS FAVOURITE IMPRESSIONS:

DONALD TRUMP: The first thing you notice is probably the pursed lips, like a tropical fish that wants to be fed. The hand gestures show a sense of nervousness, that he’s trying to work it all out. They symbolize him holding on and hoping he doesn’t drift too far away.

SIMON COWELL: Very swoopy, choppy hand gestures. Sort of judging things, very dismissive.

GARY BARLOW: Very calming to do, very measured.

RICKY GERVAIS: You can almost get away without saying any words. It’s all little looks to camera, and the odd eyelid flicker.

NIGEL FARAGE: He’s got that very aggressive, barking, repeated way of speaking. Sometimes he shows the lower teeth, and you can tell lots of cigarettes have been had.

BORIS JOHNSON: He’s ‘quantitative easing’ for impressionists when there are boring politicians around. The only person outside of The Beano who says ‘Cripes!’

JON CULSHAW: Some other impressionists do me – they basically do a polite woodland creature. It’s rather sweet, and I deserve it!

Jon Culshaw’s award-winning comedy impressions show ‘Dead Ringers’ returns to BBC Radio 4 in June.