It is August which only means one thing – it is Camden Fringe time! Over the next few weeks we are chatting to acts that are performing at the festival and finding all about their show and what they would call this years iconic Camden Fringe Pigeon! Today we speak to the improv team Insert Laugher Here .

Date: 10th & 11th August
Time: 20:30
Price: £10 Concession: £8
Location: The Museum of Comedy
Ticket Link:  https://camdenfringe.com/performances/spin-a-play-2/

Hello! Tell us about Insert Laughter Here?

Hi! We’re an improvised comedy group who got together in early 2019 and have been having lots of fun being very silly ever since.

How did you come up with the name of your show that your taking to the Camden fringe?

Spin-a-Play! is titled because it’s quite literally what we do, we create a “brand new” play from scratch using suggestions from the audience. At the very top of the show we take 14 different genre suggestions and put them onto our colourful spinning wheel, then we spin that to determine which genre gets performed. Throughout the show the audience get more opportunities to get involved and shape the action, they can make suggestions for which direction a particular scene goes, for example, but they also get to choose how it ends!

Tell us a little bit about your style of show?

The core of what we do is colourful chaos. We have a wonderful bunch of performers on the team, each with their own unique brand of nonsense, and when they’re all together it is absolutely joyous nonsense. As for the style of any particular play, we can’t tell you what the next ones will be, but in the past we’ve done everything from noir to ballet; action to farce; and hyper-realism to a courtroom drama puppet show. Who knows what’s next!

What will your set be about?

The best way I can explain it is this: I play a host/guide/head writer, the audience take on the roles of co-writers and decision makers. The other performers (and often myself too) build the scenes that fit the theme and options chosen, until we’ve created a complete play together. Or, very rarely, it just becomes a hilarious and chaotic mess.

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the fringe?

We’ll be trying to catch as much of the comedy and other improvisers as we can – we love to see what everyone’s take on improv is, we’ve tried to grow something of our own and it’s always wonderful to see what others have been working on. A particular highlight for me will be my friend Nerine Skinner’s new show – she does a disgustingly accurate impression of Liz Truss…

Have you done the fringe before? What have been some of your favourite shows to date and why?

No, this is our first time at Camden Fringe! We have performed at Bury St Edmunds Fringe before, but this will be on a whole other level. I think my favourite show so far has been the one where we made up a game show called “who screwed my wife?” and one of our performers was playing the host – he presented the final as one of the contestants having to answer a phone call and gamble his winnings on it. At that exact moment someone’s phone rang in the audience, and it was his wife! We all lost it for a good few minutes after that. Brilliant, I wish we’d thought of it.

What advice would you give to others who want to perform at Camden Fringe next year?

Do what we did and apply! I can’t really offer much else at this point because much like our shows, I’m making it all up as I go along!

London can be an expensive place to perform in – what key advice would you give to performers that is a sort of life hack?

Beware of train strikes! This is our London debut, and at the time of writing we haven’t planned any of our travel arrangements, so I think my current plan is to travel into the future temporarily so I can read everyone else’s tips.

What are your three favourite things about Camden?

A long time ago I used to live in North London and Camden was an often visited hang out spot for me so here’s one I can answer!

–          The vibe, there’s such a rich energy of the place, it’s hard to explain but it always feels fizzingly electric to me.

–          The colours, we are a very colourful group, mainly because I like bright and shiny things, and Camden has a lot of that too.

–          The food market! It’s a dangerous vice, but the selections are incredible!

Favourite one liner you have done in a show and why?

There was a show where one of the scenes we did revolved around a horror story about killer badgers. I said “Oh no, killer badgers are coming right for us!! Oh, never mind, I’ll just shut this gate and then we’ll be alright” – such a silly little moment and accompanying mime, but it made everyone laugh so much. It always sticks in my mind!

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member?

We love it when our audiences bring their craziest suggestions, something that seems absolutely mad when it’s shouted out will always make for the best scenes from us. We don’t pick on people, but it’s great when people are ready to shout nonsense at us to play with. (And in terms of actual people, Mike Myers, obvs.)

The iconic image of the Camden Fringe is the Pigeon – if you could call this year’s pigeon a name to represent its style what would it be and why?

This year he has a gigantic top hat, that just screams Lord Montague the Fourteenth to me.

If people want to find out more about you where can they follow you on social media?

@ILHimprov on pretty much everything, or our website www.insertlaughterhere.co.uk

And Finally in three words – Why should people come and see the show?

Chaotic “playwriting” fun.