Jon Clegg - how to make a good impression
It’s a brave chap who impersonates Simon Cowell in front of the man himself but on Saturday night Jon Clegg did just that.
The gamble paid off and he picked up a lot of laughs along with four yeses from the Judges. We caught up with the 43-year-old impressionist to find out just how he constructs his uncanny caricatures.
“I try to keep my impressions as topical as I can,” he explained. “I look for anyone in the public eye or currently on television.
“I tend to record TV programs or look at videos on YouTube and watch them over and over again. The best impressions are the ones you can do straight away. It’s such a great feeling. I had that with Alan Carr and Alan Hansen.
“I pick up certain words people say and the way they say them. With Simon it was, ‘Ok, I’ll stop you there’.”
Now Jon has mastered his Simon impression, we asked him if he would be mimicking any other BGT favourites.
“I’d love to do David Walliams – I have done some of his Little Britain characters before but not him.
“I’ve been planning to do Ant and Dec but they are taking a lot of work. I can do the accent but it is getting their voices that is the hard part.”
Following in his father’s footsteps, Jon began doing impersonations at the age of 12 and has been honing his act ever since.
“I’d do the teachers and kids at school,” Jon said. “Then I progressed to comedy shows that were on at the weekend. I made the other kids laugh and that’s when I realised I had a talent.
"Growing up in the mid-80s, I was influenced by Mike Yarwood. Later it was people like John Culshaw, Alistair McGowan and Rory Bremner. “
And what characters does Jon have up his sleeve if he makes it to the semi-finals?
“I’ve got a few on the back burner that I am working on,’” he said. “Mainly popular TV characters.
“I want to master Paul O’Grady and John Bishop. I’d like to mix it up a bit and try different characters. Obviously if there is one that people really love, I’ll do that again. “
Take a look at Jon’s audition here.