EDINBURGH 2023: Review: PAUL MERTON'S IMPRO CHUMS, Pleasance Courtyard - The Grand

Paul Merton needs no introduction. He's the star of Have I Got News For You, countless Radio 4 panel shows and other TV productions. His shows at the Fringe are the stuff of legend so to have him back with his brilliant Impro Chums - Suki Webster, Richard Vranch, Kirsty Newton and Mike McShane - is a gift for us all. It would be fair to say my expectations were high. 

As soon as Merton comes onto the stage he is effortlessly funny and you know you are in the most excellent of comical hands. 

Once his chums join him there is raucous laughter, silly games, and fantastic music from Kirsty Newton at the keyboard, improvising in tandem with her fellow comedians on stage. 

There are several skits, usually prompted by an idea or two from the audience. For example, where each little performance will be set, whether it should be performed in the style of a hip-hop musical, or mimed. The actors make each other freeze and seamlessly change the story, add the odd word here and there, take phrases written by the audience before the show began and add them into the action as they go along. These guys are pros and don't you know it. 

Despite all this, I feel overall I could have taken more silliness from the Impro Chums. Some of the bits they did were a little too obvious. A show like this one goes way back to the tradition of funny, British humour; of people joking around on stage and making people laugh. And laugh I did, but I wanted more. I wanted my expectations to be subverted a tad further, in the way that I am in things such as Just A Minute, on which Paul Merton is famed for his appearances. He needs make his Impro Chums as funny as he is, because he is very much the star of the show. 

I still had an absolutely great time and I belly laughed many, many times. I can't wait for them to come back next year with even more silliness and joy.

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