Tell us about the Britain’s Got Talent Live Tour?
The tour is pretty crazy to be honest. We are up and down the country at the moment. We started off in Manchester, we then went down to Brighton, we’ve been to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Liverpool, Birmingham and at the moment I’m in Aberdeen. The O2 Arena will be the biggest one, it’s crazy.
What’s it like to performing to such big crowds all the time?
Well I used to perform to 200-300 people and suddenly I’m doing it to thousands. It took a little while for me to adjust personally, it took one or two gigs to get used to the vastness of it all. We just went straight into it. The first one in Manchester was huge and a bit daunting but it’s amazing.
What was it like to get to the final on Britain’s Got Talent?
Well, you go in and do the audition knowing it can go either way at any point I suppose. The audition went really well with the standing ovation in Cardiff which is quite hard for a comedy act apparently. Then in the semi-finals, I was really lucky that the judges gave me good comments, the audience always gave me a standing ovation and I was proud of the fact I did something different every single time.
The comments were incredible: “the best impressionist I’ve ever seen”, etc; how did it feel getting those sorts of comments?
Yeah, it was a bit surreal because you expect them to pick bones – especially Simon because he doesn’t really like stand-up and my type of act but to get those sort of comments from someone like him was incredible.
What was your highlight on the show?
I think I got to the stage where I was pleased to get into the semi-final but, once you’re there, you think “Oh now I really need to get into the final to make more of an impact” and to get through to the final as the winner was incredible. The highlight for me was the Harry Hill set-up, I think that worked really well.
So, what’s the process like behind the scenes? How much control do the judges have over what you do?
What happens is that, after you get through, you have a production meeting with directors and you have to come up with an idea for the semi-final and the final in case you get through.
Initially I wasn’t going to do Harry Hill again because I had done him in my audition but they said “We think it will be great TV and will look really good” and I said “Oh alright, ok” and went with it. When they showed me the set, it looked really good.
In regards to input into the actual act, I just went through what I was going to do with them and they said “that’s great”. They didn’t say “maybe you should do this” or try to steer me.
Do you think if you had done your impressions on top of a tilting platform that exploded at the end, you might’ve won the show?
I don’t know. When you look at Spelbound, who were totally awesome, and some of the other acts, there are ways you can make them even more spectacular but you can’t really do that with me.
How did you feel about the sudden press interest in you?
Yeah, fine, you know, it’s part of the gig really isn’t it? The press are all pretty good to me. They always try and get a bit of a story out from somewhere but I think the press have been okay. I don’t think they went to mad on me like they did with Tobias or Spelbound, for instance, but at the end of the day I’m just a bloke who does impressions.
You were the number one trending topic worldwide on Twitter and now millions of people have seen you on YouTube. How did it feel being an internet sensation?
It’s been a bit surreal, it has been very strange. Because you’re in that bubble in the week of the semi-final and final in London, you don’t really get it and, when you’re in the studio you’re not really thinking 19 million people are watching you. When I went home to Bristol to local fair with my children, I was surrounded by people and I just don’t get it. You don’t realise the enormity of the programme until you’re actually out.
Have you heard from any of the people you did impressions of?
I heard from Harry Hill who phoned me after my semi-final and I thought it was one of my mates doing a wind-up. He said how much he and his children were enjoying it and I told him I was going to have to drop him, like Theo Walcott, and get away from the Harry Hill thing. He said “I don’t blame you”. And after I did the final, he was one of the first person to text and congratulate me. Also, Matt Lucas has said good things and Alan Carr did an interview with Chris Moyles talking about it as well.
What did you do before Britain’s Got Talent?
I sort of fell into entertainment by working on a holiday park when I was 18 as a barman and I started mucking about and doing impressions and Robbie Williams’ Dad, who was the compere of the room, heard about them and we did a little double act.
Then I moved on to what was then Weststar Holidays in the South West and a guy called Martin Berger who I owe a lot to. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be doing this because I’d have probably just stayed as a resident entertainer. He gave me the opportunity to do a full-time cabaret on the circuit and I’ve been doing that for fourteen years and now here we are.
You’ve just launched an iPhone application?
Yep, it’s come from people requesting it on Facebook. It came out last week and we recorded a couple of weeks ago. It’s called Burling’s Voice Booth and it’s in the top 20 iPhone apps. It has all the impressions on as well as ringtones, answerphone messages and games.
Where does Paul Burling go from here?
I think we are in Nottingham tomorrow! Who knows? Where the wind takes me really, what will happen, will happen. I’d love to do shows, voiceover work, cartoons – who knows what will happen. I’m just enjoying it really.