Jon Culshaw talks about his Christmas single with a difference

Virgin Radio

21 Dec 2021, 13:00

Comedian and impressionist Jon Culshaw joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to chat about his Christmas single, This Time In Between, which has been over three decades in the making!

This Time In Between is out now and claims to be the only song written about the weird week between Christmas Day and New Years Day. Jon told Stephen Mulhern, who is in this week for Chris: “The story goes back a long way. I was doing radio cover when I was 19 in Lancashire. I was covering the week before and after Christmas, and I noticed that leading up to Christmas Day, there was all those wonderful Christmas anthems, Band Aid, Wizzard, Slade, Shakin’ Stevens. By about ten o’clock on Christmas Day night, they’d kind of stopped, and through Boxing Day and the 27th and 28th, you couldn’t play those anymore, and it seemed this sparse period.” 

The famed impressionist continued: “So, as early as then I thought, ‘One day I’m going to have to try and invent, if I can, a song that you can play in that funny week between Christmas and New Year, that will maybe take us to the 30th of December, where Happy New Year by ABBA can step in.’”

Despite having the idea way back in 1987, the project didn’t come together until more recently. Jon explained: “It was always at the back of my mind, but I never really got down to it. It was always a case of, ‘Oh, I must see if I can write that, I must see if I can invent the tune, put some words to it.’ Finally in lockdown last year, I was able to knuckle down and fashion something together.”

Jon’s band is called Turk E Curry and features Jon on vocals, musician and producer Michael Bannister on guitar, (formerly of Texas), DJ and broadcaster Josie Smith on drums, and Basil the dog on keys! 

You can check out the song and video here: 

Meanwhile, Jon and the BBC Radio 4 Dead Ringers gang are back with a short new series, The Dead Ringers Annual Christmas Specials, which sees the programme broadcast live from the Radio Theatre in London. It looks at everything from political sleaze to the feeling of not having bought enough potatoes.

When giving advice to anyone who wants to become an impressionist, Jon said: “Keep practicing, keep watching every programme, keep watching every clip, just keep looking out for those characters that you love which are so memorable, those characters where you think, ‘Oh, they’re eccentric! They’re funny’, and then listen, listen, listen, and copy, copy, copy, until all those voices and mannerisms are deep in your mind, and you can just rattle them off.”

He added: “Know which are the funny bits to stretch. The bits to caricature, to make it funny as well. So, mix all that together, keep practicing, and you’ll be grand.” 

This Time in Between by Jon Culshaw & Turk E Curry is out now.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.