There is one thing that fascinates me about improv and that is how it is portrayed in Television and Film. This is becoming more and more apparent in recent years because the comedy art form is sort of in fashion. There are some interesting topics that we can gain from these ways they are displayed so every so often we are going to look at different scenes from different shows and films.

I really enjoy watching Have I Got News For You – I have watched it on and off for many years but sometimes the world is so serious you just need a show that looks at the top stories and really make a light of them and that is exactly what this show can do.

One of the panelists has always been Paul Merton, for anyone who performs improv will know that he is a key player in the world of the comedy form. You only have to watch the show to see his quick reactions and wit to see how sharp he is to react to a comment, that is one reason to watch the show, solely for him and the way that he reacts. However, I was watching the new series the other day and the mention of improv came up randomly (it never usually does) and in the context it is mentioned it is really fun and interesting to watch his reactions.

On episode three of the new series, there is a discussion near the beginning about the ex-president Donald Trump. They show a clip of him on a rally and the gets distracted by flies, after the clip is shown one of the guest panelists, journalist Helen Lewis turns to Paul Merton and says ‘I always thought he would make a good improv comedian, don’t you?’ Paul Merton instantly reacts shocked with the word NO!

After this has gained laughs, Paul then goes onto explain why improv is not a thing for Trump:

One of the key things of improvisation is that you have to listen.

Paul Merton, Have I Got News For You

This gets a laugh and then the journalist responds back to Paul saying that after thirty years of doing this show I finally see you look offended which Paul retaliates stating quite clearly yes. It is a very brief passing of improv being mentioned in the show but it is one I wanted to highllight and give a lot of praise to Mr Merton for.

I have mentioned many times on this article that improv is used as an easy joke to criticise someone or in a negative way and it was a breath of fresh air that Paul did not let it slide and actually stood up for the comedy art form. It is so easy to use improv as an easy joke and for someone to stand up on it on prime time television is a fantastic thing to see. he could of easily just ignored it and moved on but he didn’t he stood up for it and that was great.