TICKETS for Paul Merton's one and only show of 2007 were like gold dust and the expectation was tangible at a sell-out Memorial Theatre on Friday night.
Just like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Impro Chums features Paul and four well-honed improvisers including Whose Line? regulars Mike McShane and piano man' Richard Vranch, plus Suki Webster and Lee Simpson.
Based entirely on audience suggestions, whether shouted out or written on slips of paper, the quintet are thrown into increasingly bizarre situations, purely on the audience's whim, sometimes cracking up, sometimes spontaneously bursting into song.
I laughed so much my face hurt as the panel portrayed Welshmen on a gondola, an over-friendly traffic warden, a nerd on a beach and gay owls in a Brighton tattoo parlour, taking on every film and theatre genre from horror to vaudeville and finishing up with their own take on Shakespeare - this time it was The Taming of the Teddy.
Fantastically punchy and loaded with self-deprecation, all five went at full throttle for the entire two-hour show.
Suki and Mike were particularly good at off-the-cuff duets, Lee had everyone crying with laughter at his Frank Sinatra-singing worm (you had to be there), while Richard Vranch stepped away from the piano to show off an effortless talent for impro.
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It would've been easy for this to have been all about Paul Merton, and while his trademark asides had the audience guffawing in delight, all five chums had an equal chance to shine/make a fool of themselves, depending on the mood of the moment.
This show is an absolute must-see - let's hope Paul decides to return to Frome next year.
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