Even if you don't recognise Lewis Macleod, you'll have heard him. As one of the UK's most prolific voiceover artists and impressionists, he has lent his voice to everything from computer games to adverts, to Star Wars. He does a lot of work on comedy shows too, and now has his own radio sketch show pilot. We caught up with him to find out more.

Hi Lewis. Have you ever considered changing your surname to 'McCloud' to save all the pronunciation confusion?

Yes. Many times. I met Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud and asked if his was a made up name and he said 'no'. He then gave me a genealogical description of his clan which was fascinating. Height, width, colour, a detailed sketch of them - he described his family plot beautifully. I might visit it one day if the confusion over my name becomes a problem and I want to change it by deed poll.

Anyway, sorry, hello. Could we start off properly by asking you to explain how you first got into the world of impressions and voice acting?

Well my brothers Calum and Donald are both mimics. So I would copy them at the dinner table, mimicking my father. That's how it started. It's the best. A family sat at the table pissing themselves over a shared joy. I was also relentlessly trying to understand why mimicry made people laugh. I would sit for hours copying routines from Kenny Everett, Dick Emery and Peter Sellers and then take them into school to alleviate the boredom of double maths. It became habit very quickly and, because it made people laugh, I just kept doing it. Now I'm mimicking 40 a day. Help me.

I also loved the old Friz Freleng cartoons of The Pink Panther, Fred Quimby and watching celebrity interviews to hear someone like Orson Welles or Peter Ustinov. I've always loved listening to great raconteurs. I always felt I was being educated. In fact, I know that because I am still shit at long division.

As you've demonstrated on shows like 2DTV, Headcases, The Secret World, Newsjack and this new show we'll talk about in a moment, you are indeed particularly adept at impressions. How did you work up to that level?

I had to work at it by using tape recorder to begin with. I would tape television shows and play them back to capture something in the voice. I had dozens of cassettes of telly shows and it was only when we could afford a VCR that I started to copy scenes.

I remember doing my first dubbing session. Christmas 1984, age 14. I shoved the mini jack from a pair of small speakers into the mic input on our Sanyo Top Loader and turned the speakers into a mic. I pressed play and record. I over dubbed half an hour of Channel 4. I think it was after Torvill & Dean doing Bolero on the betamax cassette tape, because my father played it to friends and then I came on talking shite over horse racing from Edgbaston.

Ha ha. Do you have a favourite person to impersonate? Anyone you can't do?

Christopher Walken has a wonderful voice. It's perfect for mimics because you can mess around with his range which is why so many actors have a take on it. He's like an opera singer. It's just so engaging to listen to.

The actress Lynn Ferguson told me that speech is music, and if you approach mimicry by trying to sing the spoken word you can arrive at the voice much quicker. It works. That and YouTube.

David Cameron is a difficult voice to impersonate, but I can do a Nick Clegg by impersonating Boy George and making it less camp. Bizarre but people think it sounds like him.

Have you ever been tempted to use any of the voices outside of work in the 'real world'? For example phoning up your local council as Boris Johnson to try and get your council tax lowered?

Ha ha! Boris Johnson phoning anyone is a riot. Odeon cinema line? It must take hours. I'm sure they use Boris' voice to perfect voice recognition. I wish he was a voice over because he'd make Sat Nav so much funnier.

I have performed my Barack Obama to a retired Secret Service Officer and he played it to his colleagues in Washington. I'm told it went down well.

Talking of council tax... Where do you live at the moment Lewis? It seems like you're having to do some extreme commuting either way, with Newsjack recorded in London but other shows you do based in Scotland?

I commute each week to Glasgow. My family are based there. I record Off The Ball for Radio Scotland either by ISDN or in the studio at BBC Glasgow. I often work remotely for film trailers and commercial scripts.

A slight diversion for a moment: aside from comedy, we notice you do a lot of voice work on computer games. Is that dull, having to read out lots of prompts and cues one after each other?

Video games are a laugh to work on, but occasionally wreck your throat. Almost everything is shouted. I've been recording them since 1996 and I've played everything from Thug 4 to Henchman 7 and made anything from trees and doors come to life.

Nice. You also voice lots of adverts, trailers etc. The best paid gig on TV must be announcing The X Factor though... would you like to get your hands on that job?

I was briefly an X Factor announcer in 2005/6 just before they went to boot camp. Then I was given the boot. I try and avoid 'passing off' as someone else when they already have the gig!

You were also the voice of Postman Pat for many years. You lost that job at one point though due to a previous comedy project you'd worked on?

Indeed. I did voice a Paramount comedy show called Badly Dubbed Porn. It was written by two brilliant writers, Geoff Atkinson and Kim Fuller. Their credits include Bremner, Bird And Fortune, Pallas and Staggering Stories.

We would re-dub footage around satirical plotlines, and some of the results were truly hilarious. However when the job for Pat came along they had to check out BDP. It's badly dubbed. That's all. For a voice over, having anything badly dubbed is not good.

There's a Postman Pat movie coming out soon... but Stephen Mangan is the voice of Pat in that. Sorry to bring this up, but we guess you'd have liked that job?

Ha ha!! Of course I would! Shit stirrers! I'm sure Stephen is brilliant in the role. I still voice the TV show Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service.

Ha ha, sorry. Moving swiftly on... your new radio pilot, Lewis Macleod's Wired News, could you tell us what it's about please?

It's a take on semi topical news stories with a raft of characters and impressions. The presenters are similar in tone to what you would hear on a typical Scottish news programme.

This is the first show you've done with your name in the title - you must be quite excited about it?

It's a big deal, yes. I'm happily shitting myself. It's a fantastic opportunity. I've worked with the producer Gus Beattie many times before and he's brilliant. The writing is also superb. The cast are a hoot to work with and great mimics. So there's a fair amount of doubling up with parts.

Your name is in the title, but the show is a team written affair. Did you get much of a say about what appeared in the show?

No, not really. Although, if there's a voice that might give the sketch another perspective, then I would suggest that. Cuts and trims are something that I might contribute to if something didn't scan particularly well. I did suggest a few writers to our producer and he's been terrifically receptive to seeing their work.

Do you have a favourite sketch? Ours has to be the news anchors getting their news from Twitter...

I liked all of them, but I am enjoying the opening headline moments. The style reminded me of The Two Ronnies. Gabriel Quigley is my co presenter and we had a laugh recording those segments. The Donald Trump sketch made me laugh a lot.

Presumably you'd be keen to make a series if the BBC offers it?

Don't be daft. That's a ridiculous proposition.

Sorry, that was a silly question wasn't it. Anyway, thanks so much for answering all our questions Lewis, and best of luck getting that series commission.

Lewis Macleod's Wired News is on BBC Radio Scotland on Monday 21st October 2013 at 1:30pm. It'll be on BBC iPlayer for a week following the broadcast.