This month the live show comes to the UAE, with some of the biggest names from the hit TV show: Stephen Frost, Steve Steen, Ian Coppinger, Andy Smart and Phill Jupitus, who talked us through the art of improvisational comedy.

STEPHEN FROST
What is the secret to good improv? Team work, listening and good wages.
What is your favourite improv game? The bit in the show where I say, “Thank you and goodnight!”
What is the funniest suggestion you’ve had from the audience? A monkey in the back of a cab who knows the way better than the taxi driver.
What is the weirdest suggestion you’ve had from them? We asked for an unusual household object in Belfast and someone shouted out “Marmalade in a shoebox” pause, then, “shredded” – weird!
What is the best improv scene you’ve performed in? In a scene with Ian Coppinger in Hong Kong; we were at Chinese customs and Ian wandered off into the audience pretending to go through all the different barriers, while I stood still on stage waiting for him, getting all the laughs with my “waiting” acting.
What is your favourite one-liner?  I’ve had that deja vu feeling before.
What do you think of Dubai? Cross the creek on an abra, shopping down a Souk, watch the sun sink into the Gulf, a cup of sweet tea and  a plate of dates…….ahhhhh I’m there already.

STEVE STEEN
What is the secret to good improv? No idea … Let me know when you find out… But that’s only me… Don’t tell the others
What is your favourite improv game? The ‘meanwhile’ game is where we ask the audience to shout out suggestions of locations or settings for a scene. It’s the most amusing part where we get amazing response from the audience. Either that or “Waiter Waiter”. 
What is the funniest suggestion you’ve had from the audience? Somebody once shouted out ‘at my mum’s’. We had to be careful with that one.
What is the weirdest suggestion you’ve had from them? 

What is your favourite one-liner?Are my plums juicy …Juicy?! Your splashing will attract sharks !!What do you think of Dubai? For me Dubai is Madinat Jumeirah. One of my all-time favourite venues is the Madinat Theatre. It’s a perfect space to play. We performed there twice already. Very cozy, quite posh, beautiful settings.

ANDY SMART
What is the secret to good improv? Listening to each other. Then shouting over each other.
What is your favourite improv game? Foreign Translator, where one of us translates the other.
What is the funniest suggestion you’ve had from the audience? We asked for a job, and someone said, “The person who takes pictures of geese having their feet measured in Clark’s”.
What is the best improv scene you’ve performed in? On a desert island with Steve Steen who was playing an owl.
Me – It was the captains fault we sank.
Steve- Who?
Me – The captain.
Steve- Who?
Me – The bloke who drives the boat?
Steve- Who
Etc, etc, etc.
What is your favourite one-liner? My dog is dyslexic. How does he spell? Awful.
What do you think of Dubai? It’ll be nice when it’s finished. No, but seriously, we love it. The theatre at the Madinat is one of our top 3 gigs of the year!

IAN COPPINGER
What is the secret to good improv? Try to make each other laugh.  If we can do that then I know that the audience are going to love it.
What is your favourite improv game? – It’s a game called “meanwhile”.  The audience shouts something out and we do a scene based on that.  I love it because you just never know what the audience are going to say, great fun. That’s the best time for audience and for us to “shine”.
What is the funniest suggestion you’ve had from the audience? – Being Irish whenever we gig in Ireland I sometimes have to translate for the English lads in the group so for me the funniest suggestions are not actually what the audience has said but what the lads think they have said.
What is the weirdest suggestion you’ve had from the audience? – One time in Dublin I forgot to bring in any pre show music and the only thing we had to play was the soundtrack to twin peaks.  every suggestion we got that night referred to death and murdered people.  we’ve never used that music again.
What is the best improv scene you’ve performed in? – I loved a scene I did with Steve frost in Hong Kong.  The suggestion was “meanwhile going through Chinese customs.  We never actually spoke to each other i just walked around the stage as if going through those endless barriers they have at customs while frosty stood at the other side of the stage waiting for me.
What is your favourite one-liner? – I have absolutely no sympathy for fortune tellers who go out of business.
What do you think of Dubai? – It is always one of the highlights of my year going to Dubai.  The Madinat Theatre is such a great venue and we have such a laugh sunning ourselves during the day. I also manage to put on weight while I’m over there, so good are the lunches J Can’t wait! Hahaha!

 

April 24 to 26
Madinat Theatre, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. Thurs and Fri 8pm, Saturday 7pm. Dhs170. Tel: (04) 3666546. Taxi: Madinat. madinattheatre.com