Tell us about:

Your latest improv show: 

We are running am improvised musical jam on Tuesday 22^nd October.  Anyone can jump in an do a musical scene or two themselves, then AdLibretto will perform an improvised musical in the second half. The show is at Shoreditch Balls, which does excellent cocktails and pizzas and provides massive support to the impro community.

Your favourite suggestion you have been given? 

We ask for what someone had dreamt they might grow up to be when they were a small child, and my all time favourite was a laminator. We had so much fun with that.

Your favourite venue to perform at: 

Our Chiltern Open Air Museum show was very special indeed. Instead of getting an ask from a member of the audience, the museum provided us with Thomas Jeffrey (the costumed interpreter who “lives” in Leagrave Cottage) – a Middle Ages peasant farmer who weaves straw for the hat-making industry. We performed the show under an ancient lime tree in front of the cottage.

Improv hero: 

Showstoppers. The whole lot of them. Winning their Olivier moved impro into a whole new tier.

Dream venue to play at: 

The Comedy Store. It’s been the mecca for stand-up and impro for decades.

Describe the feeling you get when you walk on stage to do a show: 

I am always excited. We have taken impro to many clubs that have never had impro – or musical acts – before and it is a privilege to introduce an audience to a new art form. The vast majority of our shows are outside the London impro bubble (where most of the audiences are improvisers), so we and the audience embark on a new journey together.

The hardest improv suggestion to perform and why: 

Where the offer is an object. Suggestions around relationships and childhood ambitions are endlessly nuanced: on the rare occasions we have been constrained by an offer of an object, we have had to be more imaginative, rather than reactive, and it’s difficult not to end up in crazy town.

Essential items you always take with you to a show? 

Our musical director’s keyboard! We have never attempted an Acapella musical, and haven’t drilled any of the necessary techniques.

What we can look forward to from you this year: 

We will continue doing two shows a month, and are planning to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in 2025. We will also be venturing from London next summer, returning to the Bushey Performing Arts Festival, Chesham Fringe and Aylesbury’s Limelight Theatre

IF YOU ARE A COMEDIAN OR IMPROV ACT WANTING TO FEATURE IN THIS ARTICLE THEN EMAIL PHOENIXREMIXCOMEDY@GMAIL.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION