Caroline Whelan meets Galway based impressionist Shane Cunningham
Shane Cunningham is a name is likely to become a lot more familiar to television and radio fans in the coming years. At just 20 years of age, he is building up a name for himself as a talented impressionist, performing at a number of gigs around the country. The Headford native has been noticed by TV3 and appeared on Ireland AM last September. One of his main goals is to make the big one - The Late Late show and it looks to be only a matter of time.
Shane's talent for performing has not been nurtured overnight. He began attending drama classes at The All-Stars Performing Arts Academy in Shrule from the age of eight and soon discovered a love of the stage. He believes the classes were an excellent way to develop the confidence needed to perform to a crowd. "I always had an interest in entertaining but you can't do much in this business without confidence - you need the confidence to put yourself out there and deliver, and the school was excellent for building on that from a young age."
His talent for impersonations was discovered at a young age. He believes it is not something that you can learn and you either have a natural talent or not. "I was just able to catch a good grasp of the different aspects associated with the accents. From then I became obsessed with the ability to copy people’s voices and change my own voice. I spoke in a different voice almost every day. It was after watching Mario Rosenstock and Oliver Callan that I attempted the impressions and before I knew it I had five or six different voices."
The Performing Arts Academy held a Christmas panto every year and that also led to work on the well-known Renmore Panto which he did for two years. "I absolutely loved it but it is a huge commitment so I didn't do it last Christmas as I was very busy with my own show. I played Simple Simon in Jack and the Beanstalk and Buttons in Robin Hood. They were both comedy parts. I really enjoy the comedy and that is where my niche is - but I would love to do a serious part at some stage for a challenge."
Talent that could not go unnoticed
Things began to spiral about six years ago upon entering a secondary school talent competition. "Before I entered that competition, I had a repertoire of about four or five voices which I knew I could do. But as I progressed through the competition, I started having to come up with new sketches, and by the end of it I came out with about 20 or 25 voices. It kind of hit home that I had an ability and I could utilise that. I was then asked to perform as a guest at 'The All Ireland Schools Talent Search' as the interval act and I got lots of experience from that travelling around the country performing to crowds in the different venues."
He has managed to perfect well known voices such as President Michael D Higgins, Daniel O'Donnell, George Hook, and Brendan O'Connor. There is no favourite character as such, but when he learns a new character that person tends to become a bit of an obsession until he can perfect the voice. "Tommy Tiernan is my newest craze. He is great because he is obviously a comedian and I can express my own jokes using his voice. I will not introduce a voice into my act unless I feel it is spot on. Like, for example, Conor McGregor is obviously huge at the moment but for some reason I just cannot get him right, no matter how hard I try."
Having the ability to make a crowd laugh is certainly not something that can be done by the masses. It takes an immensely talented individual to hold an audience's attention for a period of time. "Only people in this business will understand the feeling of cracking the crowd. It’s one thing to stand up and tell jokes but when you engage with your audience like I do and make them the centre of attention then I, as an entertainer, feel what the crowd feels and sometimes to my enjoyment of the whole experience I too burst into laughter."
He now spends his time performing at weddings, social dances, as an after-dinner entertainer and at birthday parties. He has done some bigger gigs performing in the Royal Theatre Castlebar, alongside country music stars such as Nathan Carter, Michael English Derek Ryan, Mike Denver and Jimmy Buckley to a crowd of 2,500 people. Last September he performed alongside Jake Stevens aka PJ Gallagher and this was a great thrill as he is a big fan. "PJ is such a lovely guy. What a lot of people don't know is he suffers from really bad stage fright. He literally goes into his own zone before a gig."
The act is constantly evolving as it has to be topical. "If you stick with the same act, you won't go far, and that is a challenge in itself as it keeps it interesting. Like for instance the political voices are all very relevant at the moment because of the election."
The talented young man is involved in another competition at the moment which is being run in the King's Head. It is called 'Show me the Funny' and first prize is a chance to perform at Electric Picnic and second prize is a gig at the Galway Comedy festival. The final takes place next Monday February 22 at 8pm in the King's Head where 14 acts will go head-to-head. It certainly sounds like a good night's entertainment.
It appears the love of the stage could run in the family as younger brother Barry has shown similar tendancies. "He is only eight but he has this song he loves and if you gave him a microphone he would have no problem performing it to the whole room. In his national school Christmas concerts, all his friends are mumbling their lines and he is rolling them out - loving it!"
Shane is available to take bookings and can be contacted through his Facebook page or on e-mail to [email protected]. He has an upcoming gig with country star Gerry Carney in the Gateway Hotel in Swinford on March 31 in aid of Cystic Fibrosis.
