Paul Merton Preview Shropshire Star 08 May 2015

Paul Merton bringing improv         fun to theatre

For many people, the first sighting of Paul Merton on British TV would have been on Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, the vehicle for improvisational comedy that debuted on Channel 4 in 1988.

It may come as a surprise to some folk to hear that, 25 years on, Merton is still busy improvising, not only with London’s Comedy Store Players, but also on tour as part of the Paul Merton’s Impro Chums show, with Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn playing host tomorrow evening.

So what can you expect to see tomorrow night? When Paul Merton’s Impro Chums performed at the Ludlow Festival two years ago, it was described by Wayne Beese in a review for this newspaper as “a surreal, but brilliant night of comedy.”

Quite simply, the audience plays its part by making suggestions on a range of subjects, which the five comedians use for a variety of games. Merton’s introduction to improvisational comedy came in 1985, when he joined the Comedy Store Players in London, along with a young Canadian comic by the name of Mike Myers, later to find fame in the guise of Austin Powers. Three years later, Merton made his TV debut on Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, regularly appearing with two of his current Impro Chums, the big American figure known as Mike McShane and fellow Comedy Store Player Richard Vranch.

As well as McShane and Vranch, Merton will be joined on stage in Shrewsbury by ‘Mrs Merton,’ otherwise known as Suki Webster, and Lee Simpson, a Comedy Store Player since 1989.

By Stephen Taylor