The show is a chance to get away from the real world
Paul Merton tells he and his comedy chums are offering a large
Are you looking forward to finally touring with your Impro Chums again?
It will be an absolute joy to be appearing on stage again in front of an audience. It’s something I’ve missed.
People need to be confident about going back into theatres again. We’ve done Have I Got News For You before a live audience again.
The first series of spring 2020, that was all virtual from our different houses and in front of a Zoom audience, but there was a bit of a delay, so you’d say something and there’d be a two-second gap and then the audience would laugh. It was very distracting, so we had to cut the sound in the end, but now we have a live audience again.
The Impro Chums tour has also been postponed by at least a year. I hope by the time we are up and running people will feel confident sitting next to a stranger again.
Should we expect Covid jokes?
I don’t think people want to hear them, to be honest. Last time we toured, we said at the start of shows that it was a Brexit and Donald Trump free-zone because people at the time had had enough of it.
The shows offer a chance to get away from the trouble of the real world and go into another kind of space.
We ask for suggestions for sketches and people often come up with something they are scared about, like crematoriums, which is not really very amusing, so we say ‘Can you come up with another one?’
Is it more fun touring with chums than doing a solo stand-up show?
I did a solo stand-up 20 years ago and I was doing two halves of 45 minutes and
I’d be in my dressing room in the interval and could hear people enjoying themselves outside, and I was the loneliest person in the theatre sitting there with a cup of tea.
With the Impro Chums we are a social circle, sharing time with each other after going on stage. Mike McShane and I were in Whose Line Is It In Anyway? in 1988, so have known each other for more than 30 years, and our tour bus is also back.
It seems like a luxury, and I suppose it is, but it is also practical.
We’re able to travel back home after gigs, even if it is 2am when we get back, so you can still sleep in your own bed rather than a hotel.
There are also a few home comforts on the bus, it’s a double decker coach and there are bunk beds. Last time we were on tour in Bradford we ordered a curry and had it delivered to the bus after the show.
Did you feel confident that theatres would reopen?
Even in the early days of the pandemic I always thought venues would come back. After the Second World War was over and football grounds, cinemas and theatres reopened, the number of people going to them was huge.
I think people have really missed live entertainment. We want to bring some laughter, so that people can enjoy themselves.
Being in a theatre among 1,000 people all laughing at the same thing is a unique experience. Christmas 2020 we had five days at the London Palladium and then it closed but, when things were at their worst, we were not really tempted to go out and mix it up.
Even though the rules have changed, I’m still wearing a mask. It’s an easy thing to do. I remember a couple of years ago seeing someone wearing a mask and thinking they’re being stupid, now I see someone out without a mask and I think they’re being really stupid.
It’s also quite a good disguise. People don’t recognise me in the street if I have my mask, hat and glasses on... until I speak.
Where did you and you wife Suki spend lockdowns?
We have a London flat, but moved away to our home in the country. Being able to walk in the countryside and enjoy the vista… walk without seeing anyone, was lovely. London was all closed down. You couldn’t see your friends or go to nice restaurants, so being able to get out and about and go for a walk and never see anyone was good for your mental health. You get cabin fever if you can’t get out.
Do you and Suki have any plans for another series of Motorhoming With Merton & Webster for Channel 5?
We’ll be doing another series after the tour and will be going to Spain about a week after the last show.
We went to the Lake District for the last series. I had never been before and had always wanted to go.
Suki put on a wetsuit and went into the lake. It was so cold, even with the wetsuit, that they had to beep out most of what she said.
We filmed the last series before the school holidays, though, so we had a lot of places to ourselves, but we also found lots of drivers got so annoyed if they are stuck behind a motorhome.
Even if we were going the legal 30mph, they would still get annoyed. Maybe it’s because they couldn’t see what lay ahead.
Paul Merton’s Impro Chums tour runs until June 14. They will be at Weston-super-Mare Playhouse on May 7 and Bath Forum on June 7. Visit paulmerton.com for details