Speaking my mind

I have a bit of a secret ambition. One of those jobs that I'd love to do, but I know in my heart of hearts I never will, but I'm not bothered by it.

I'd love to be a voice artist.

Stop laughing at the back.

It's far from a route to fame and fortune. There is one person famous for their voice, and that's Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Barney Rubble and so many more. There is also Rob Brydon, Welsh funnyman, who was a voice artist before he became famous. But it's hardly a proper living, and so I know I never will.

DJing for 10 years meant that I got to use my plethora of silly voices quite often. I have a few 'characters' that I can do, and as my father will testify to, one is a very boring brummie. I can also do a strong scottish accent, and a dodgy 'saaaf lannan geeezer' very well. Some of the stranger voices I can also do include the gofer from the Caddyshack films and Mr. Bean, who has a very strange almost nasal tone about his voice.

One set of voices that were very easy to me were voices by Harry Enfield. Be it 'Tim Nice-but-dim' or Mr 'You Don't want to do that', I found I could adopt these styles and use them for myself. He did a character with Paul Whitehouse called the 'old gits,' and whilst funny, weren't very distinctive. He later changed this pair of characters into a female equivalent, and ended up with the 'lovely wobbly randy old ladies' whereupon he teamed up with the great Kathy Burke. This pair of ladies were convinced they were sex machines, whereas in reality they were spookily scary old women (sounds like my father). And their catchphrase of "YOUNG MAN!" is something I've always enjoyed saying, especially at the start of the Village People's YMCA.

Enjoy.