W L
INTERVIEW
CHANGING THE SCRIPT: HOW JOHN MAY REWROTE HIS FUTURE
For years, John May was a familiar face in the local community, running a successful barbershop and connecting with people through everyday conversation. But behind the scenes, a different story was waiting to be told. Today, as an actor, filmmaker and creative force, John shares the realities of starting again, the challenges of ADHD, and how one bold decision set everything in motion.
For readers who may not know you yet, tell us a bit about yourself. I’ m originally from Liverpool and for most of my adult life I was a barber. I cut hair for about 25 years and owned Sweep’ s Barber Shop for 17 of those. The shop was more than just a place to get a haircut— it was a community hub. People would come in to talk about football, life, relationships, everything. In many ways it was where I first fell in love with storytelling because every day you were surrounded by characters.
But deep down I always had this creative itch. I loved performing, making people laugh and telling stories. So while I was running the barbershop I slowly started stepping into acting and comedy. It wasn’ t glamorous at all— it was auditions, rejection, learning the craft and trying to balance two completely different lives.
Looking back now it was years of graft. Nothing came easy and nothing came quickly. But slowly, bit by bit, things started to move. Today I work as an actor, comedian, radio presenter and filmmaker, and I run my own production company called Progress Pictures. Sometimes I still have to remind myself how far the journey has come.
You’ ve spoken about living with ADHD. How has that shaped your journey? ADHD has played a massive role in my life, although for most of it I didn’ t even understand that’ s what it was. My brain has always been extremely hyperactive. It can feel like there are ten different radio stations playing in your head at once. Ideas, worries, excitement, fear— all at the same time. That can make life quite chaotic. Organisation, structure and slowing down don’ t come naturally to me.
At times it’ s been really difficult. ADHD can make you feel scattered or overwhelmed, and it can lead to self-doubt because you sometimes feel like you’ re fighting your own mind.
But there’ s another side to it as well. ADHD can give you the ability to hyper-focus on things you care about. When I become passionate about something creatively, I can lock in completely and give everything to it.
So in many ways ADHD has been both my biggest challenge and one of my biggest driving forces. The same restless brain that causes chaos is also the one that pushes me to create things. One day I would love to use my platform and creativity to raise awareness of ADHD on a much bigger scale. I think there’ s still a lot of misunderstanding around it. If I can help people understand the condition through storytelling, film or comedy, that would mean a lot to me.
You’ re known locally for the comedy character Turkey Teeth. How did that come about? Turkey Teeth started as a bit of fun online. It was just a character that exaggerated a certain type of personality we all recognise. Liverpool is full of humour and characters, and Turkey Teeth became a way of celebrating that. I never expected it to take off the way it did. The videos started spreading online and suddenly thousands of people were watching them. It opened the door to live shows, sketches and a whole new audience. Comedy has always been something I love because laughter brings people together. In a strange way Turkey Teeth allowed me to explore storytelling and performance in a way that connected with people instantly.
You’ re also heard on the radio now. Tell us about that. I host a Sunday show called“ Johnny May’ s Sunday Service” on In Demand Decades, which goes out every Sunday afternoon. Radio is a completely different challenge to acting or comedy because you’ re connecting with people through conversation and storytelling rather than visuals. I love it though. Liverpool has such a strong sense of humour and warmth, and the interaction with listeners is brilliant.
You made a huge life decision to walk the country. What led to that? A few years ago I reached a point in my life where I felt like I needed a reset. I had been running the barbershop for years and while it was successful, I knew deep down that if I didn’ t take a leap into the creative world fully, I might regret it later in life. Around that time I met Tim Edwards, the father of Elle Edwards who was tragically killed in New Brighton. We decided to walk from Land’ s End to John O’ Groats together. That walk changed my life. It was about grief, healing, friendship and raising awareness around men’ s mental health. When you walk across a country like that you have a lot of time to think. It strips life back to the basics. We filmed parts of the journey and what started as something very personal eventually turned into a feature documentary.
24 wirrallife. com