Making An Impression: The Sketches - East & Altman

Part 2 of my recording with the amazing Irish impressionist Al Foran and voice acting superstar Kate Harbour. We discuss bad Irish accents and dare Kate to try hers out on Al, we delve into the contained fury of Roy Keane, investigate the wrong voice in the wrong place technique and decide it’s high time there was a dedicated show starring all impressionists on TV. Three great sketches with voices that include Roy Keane, of course, Denzel Washington, Al Pacino, a range of young and old ladies and many more. Plus some nice little cock-ups. Enjoy.

This is part 2 of my recording with the fabulous Josh Berry and legendary Alistair McGowan. We discuss the risks involved in doing impressions of the actual people when they’re in the same room, the difference between impressions and impersonations, why some voices just appear while others take years to learn, and doing impressions just for our own amusement. Three great sketches with voices that include the Repair Shop crew, Jimmy Carr, Daniel Radcliffe, Jose Mourinho, David Mitchell plus many more – like Prince Harry, Gary Barlow and Hugh Grant – thrown in. Enjoy.

This is part 2 of the show I recorded with the insanely brilliant Rory Bremner and Kate O’Sullivan. We discuss how musicality is so often part of the impressionist’s armoury, I talk about doing Billy Connolly in a toilet - as it were - we contrast acting with doing impressions and we cover the importance of rhythm when reproducing a voice. We’ve got, amongst other impressions, John McDonnell, Trump, Nigella and Sharon Osborne, and Rory and I offer a world first as we share Ozzy in the final sketch. It’s very funny. Honestly.

A new voice - indeed, several voices – we haven’t heard on the show before, courtesy of the brilliant Francine Lewis. She’s joined by the equally brilliant Danny Posthill. We had to overcome some technical difficulties, so the sound quality isn’t as good as it normally is. Apologies for that. Francine unfurls her wonderful impressions of Sharon Osborne, Stacey Solomon and Amy Childs, while Danny treats us to Piers Morgan, Eamonn Holmes and Joe Wicks, plus many, many more from both of them. Three sketches, two of which we cocked up (I say we - me) plenty of insightful chat, anecdotes and laughs. Enjoy.

The brilliant Alistair McGowan and Hannah East join us for the first part of this pod. We livestreamed the entire show to YouTube and Facebook and had a lot of fun doing so. It should still be available on the Making An Impression YouTube channel. In this podcast, Hannah explains how she tells her kids off as Sean Dyche, Alistair nails Piers Morgan and Phillip Schofield having done neither publicly before, while Hannah’s first attempts at Holly Willoughby and Kate Fleming in our Line Of Duty sketch are equally wonderful. Three sketches in all, loads of impressions, an accent trip through the UK, chat, insights and anecdotes. Enjoy.

This week we’re joined by the legend that is Rory Bremner and a guy who blew me away with his boxing impressions when I interviewed him in series 1, super talented Adam Diggle. Adam talks about his experience voicing animations with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and we discuss the difference between vocally accurate and cartoon impressions. There’s more chat about Keir Starmer’s blockage, how Winnie The Pooh became Tyson Fury, and impressions that work best at the end of a breath. Lots of cock-ups, three great sketches, wonderful impressions. Enjoy.

Part 2 of this terrific show features the spectacular vocal skills of Alistair McGowan and Kate O'Sullivan. We discuss the difficulties involved in maintaining an impression, Alistair amply demonstrating his mastery of the art in a longish sketch as Chris Packham. Kate excels as Nigella and a host of other characters, while I mostly sit back and leave them to it. Loads of great voices, fascinating chat about how and why we do impressions, plus amazing insights and anecdotes. Enjoy.

We welcome back the wonderful Darren Altman and, making her debut on the show, the phenomenal Hannah East. We discuss how Hannah approaches male voices and hear her amazing football manager impressions, Darren explores ‘beige’ impressions and how to find a way into them, we look at having serious jobs while doing silly voices in your spare time and we politely disagree about the part pitch plays in impressions. Three great sketches including the voices of Bjork, Lady Gaga, Boris, O’Grady, Bean, Sugar, Toksvig, Millican and so many more. And Hannah and I have a bit of a Dyche-off. Enjoy.

The remarkable Christina Bianco joins us all the way from the hustle and bustle of New York and, from steady old Oxfordshire, the wonderful Rory Bremner. We discuss when to use caricature/cartoon impressions and when more accuracy is required, why Rory deliberately used to muck up his monologues on his seminal Channel 4 series, and Christina walks us through the many key changes necessary to pull off several female vocalists, before demonstrating her extraordinary singing skills in a sketch. Two more sketches for you as well and, of course, some truly amazing impressions. Enjoy.

Two amazing voice talents on this week's show. From Ireland, the extraordinary Al Foran and from England the immensely gifted Kate Harbour. We discuss the weather – well you have to – and cycling. Why not? Al conveys the misery of performing gigs to Zoom audiences, while Kate discusses how she invents new voices for animated characters. Three new sketches featuring Mourinho, Rio Ferdinand, Ramsey, Clarkson, Olivia Colman and Julie Andrews among many others. There’s a song at the end which, I’m afraid, got a bit chaotic because of slight timing issues over the internet so we lost some of the sweet chorus but, if nothing else, it tested my editing skills. Loads of impressions chat, anecdotes and laughs.