By Nina Livingstone
British actor, writer, and comedian Kieran Hodgson is what both sides of the pond refer to as a “rising star.” With his ingenious wit and deft impressions —think the entire cast of “The Undoing,” “The Crown,” “Succession” among others — Hodgson is surely on the cusp of universal recognition.
It was his parody of “The Crown” (Season 4) that opened the door when it went viral around the globe, leaving some of us wanting more. Fortunately the prolific impressionist has given us a catalog via “Bad TV Impressions” where everything from “The Queen’s Gambit” to “The House of Gucci” can be found.
“Bridgerton” is his most ambitious to date. “I was recreating a multimillion-pound regency costume drama in my living room with shirts rolled down in front of my chest, to try and imitate a plunging bodice line,” said Hodgson during our Zoom interview.
Kieran Hodgson impression of character from “Bridgerton”
But doing TV spoofs from his living room was more of a pandemic byproduct than a well-laid career path. “With no live comedy happening I just needed to find a way of reminding people I wasn’t dead,” he said.
Hodgson said he started in the fall of 2020 with some fairly niche videos from the ’60s, and then made a bid for the mainstream with “The Crown.” “I got lucky on that one: right place, right time. It’s been an enjoyable decline from that early high point,” he joked.
A graduate of University of Oxford, Hodgson, 32, lives with his husband, Anthony, in Yorkshire, England, close to where he grew up. Throughout his childhood, Hodgson played the violin and now performs with the North London Sinfonia.
“I’m from a little town called Holmfirth. It’s a rural idyll and I was beyond fortunate to have grown up there. I was a very keen Boy Scout, lots of hiking on the hills and frolicking in the babbling brooks,” he said. “We were a nuclear family, me and my sister and parents, who made the mistake of encouraging my silly voices and showing off. I went to the local school and showed off, then went to Oxford and showed off there. Nobody stopped me showing off and so I decided to make it a career.”
Kieran Hodgson on Zoom
But it wasn’t Hodgson’s award-winning comedy skits that first brought him to Boston. In fact, it was music and he was 12 years old.
“My music teacher had a friend at the University of New Hampshire, and the two of them masterminded an exchange trip in October 2000,” he said. “It was the first time I’d flown on a plane or eaten swordfish. I was hooked, and no amount of complaints about the ‘Big Dig’ could convince me that Boston wasn’t a beautiful city. It’s most reminiscent of an old-world cityscape. It’s built on a human scale and the roads don’t always join at right angles. This is a great comfort.”
Hodgson doesn’t have a clear picture of his future since it seems to be headed in so many different directions. “I’ve done a TV special about the environment, acted in a couple of upcoming movies that I can’t tell you anything about whatsoever, and been interviewed by some of the most reputable publications in the commonwealth of Massachusetts,” he said, lacing the response with is ever-present humor.
Where does he see himself in 10 years?
“As a better actor. I’ve been working on not moving my eyebrows or forehead so much in my audition tapes, as Timothée Chalamet always keeps his pretty still and seems to get a lot of work,” said Hodgson. “Yeah, I think in 10 years time, I’ll be where Chalamet is now. That’s a good goal, right?”
Kieran Hodgson impression as Hugh Grant in “The Undoing”
But TV isn’t new for Hodgson who in “Downton Abbey” played “first student” in the 2013 season. One of Hodgson’s more memorable roles was in “Alan Partridge” “It’s my one-scene part in the Alan Partridge film with Steve Coogan. He hit me repeatedly across the face all day and I was in heaven,” said Hodgson.
Coming back to “The Crown,” I was curious if anyone from Buckingham Palace had contacted him.
“The royals are very diligent when it comes to not engaging with scurrilous lowbrow attacks on them, such as mine, so I got no response from them quite rightly,” Hodgson said. “But I did get some retweets and responses from the cast of ‘The Crown,’ including Gillian Anderson [who played Margaret Thatcher] which was very sporting of her I thought.
“My impressions are never meant to demean or belittle,” Hodgson explained. “The word ‘bad’ [in ‘Bad TV Impressions’] is the quality of my impressions, not about the quality of the programs.”
Kieran Hodgson impression as Prince Philip in “The Crown”
And what about a return engagement to Boston? No plans just yet. “I love that it’s the city of Tom Lehrer and John Adams. I love trying to do an outrageous Matt Damon in ‘The Departed’ [using a] Bah-ston accent. You got it going on.”
But what if it were to happen? “I shall arrive at South Station, having sailed across the Atlantic to New York and then caught the Acela, first class. From there I shall promenade to the North End and gorge on cannoli from Mike’s Pastry before heading to Fenway Park and throwing the first pitch,” he said. “I’ll get a crowd-funder going to make this happen and your readers can donate at their leisure.”
Chances are it will be Hodgson’s ever-expanding portfolio of work that will bring his stateside. We’re just warming up the big spotlight.
This article written by Nina Livingstone was originally published in Boston Spirit Magazine in February 2022.
