The Comedy Store Players
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The Comedy Store Players
The Comedy Store Players are a group of improvisational comedians who perform at The Comedy Store in London. The group first came into being in October 1985. The Players Members of the group have included: *Dave Cohen *Jeremy Hardy * Kit Hollerbach *Josie Lawrence * Paul Merton *Neil Mullarkey *Mike Myers * Lee Simpson * Andy Smart * Jim Sweeney *Sandi Toksvig * Richard Vranch Currently there are five regular cast members; Josie Lawrence, Neil Mullarkey, Lee Simpson, Richard Vranch and Ruth Bratt, who in 2024 became the first new permanent member of the Players in almost 30 years. Sweeney retired from performing in 2008 but is still listed as a member and is also the group's President. Paul Merton ceased appearing as a full-time member in 2020 in order to concentrate on Paul Merton's Impro Chums but makes occasional appearances as a guest performer. They are in the Guinness World Records for being the world’s longest-running comedy show with the same cast. Shows ...
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Improvisational Theatre
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written Play (theatre), script. Improvisational theatre exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances. It is sometimes used in film and television, both to develop characters and scripts and occasionally as part of the final product. Improvisational techniques are often used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film, and television and can be an important part of the rehearsal process. However, the skills and processes of improvisation are also used outside the conte ...
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Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian and actor. He has worked in stand-up comedy, television, radio and musical theatre. He has appeared on many BBC television and radio shows. Early life Brigstocke is the son of Nick Brigstocke, a stockbroker from a Welsh landed gentry family, and Carol, daughter of senior Royal Air Force officer Air Marshal Sir Walter Pretty. He was raised in Surrey, and educated at St Edmund's School, Hindhead, St Edmunds School in the village of Hindhead in Surrey,Oglethorpe, Tim (21 April 2001). "Interview: Marcus Brigstocke - Savage past of Marcus; Marcus Brigstocke of The Savages on his misspent youth and how he got back on the straight and narrow". ''The Express'' (London, England). MGN Ltd.archive at Westbourne House School in Chichester, West Sussex, King's School, Bruton in Somerset, and Hammersmith & Fulham College in west London. He then attended the University of Bristol, where he studied drama, but did not complete his ...
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The Masterson Inheritance
''The Masterson Inheritance'' was an improvised comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1993 to 1995 billed as ''"an improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself."'' There were three series and two Christmas specials. It was broadcast from 1993 to 1995. From time to time, repeats of the show are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. In each programme, the cast members – Josie Lawrence, Phelim McDermott, Paul Merton, Caroline Quentin, Lee Simpson, and Jim Sweeney – would be given a particular historical setting, and, incorporating suggestions from the audience, would improvise that episode in the saga of the Masterson family. One episode, ''The Marooned Mastersons'', was never broadcast but is available on Jim Sweeney'website Music Each episode of the saga was introduced by and ended with Erich Korngold's Hollywood-style title music from the 1946 film noir ''Deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The ...
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Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK TV Series)
''Whose Line is it Anyway?'' (shortened to ''Whose Line?'' or ''WLIIA'') is a short-form improvisational comedy television panel show created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson, presented by Clive Anderson, and produced for Channel 4 between 23 September 1988 and 4 February 1999. The programme features a panel of four performers (six in the Christmas special) conducting a series of short-form improvisation games, creating comedic scenes per predetermined situations made by Anderson or from suggestions by the audience. Such games include creating sound effects, performing a scene to different television and film styles, using props, and making up a song on the spot. The programme originally began as a short-lived BBC radio programme, before the concept was adapted for television. During its history, the programme featured a variety of noted comedians from Britain, America and Canada. Frequent performers during the show's run included John Sessions, Stephen Fry, Archie Hahn, ...
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Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commercial activities, including Television advertisement, advertising. It began its transmission in 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the television licence, licence-funded BBC1 and BBC2, and a single commercial broadcasting network, ITV (TV network), ITV. Originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which was established in 1990 and came into operation in 1993. Until 2010, Channel 4 did not broadcast in Wales, but many of its programmes were re-broadcast ther ...
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YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, it is the second-most-visited website in the world, after Google Search. In January 2024, YouTube had more than 2.7billion monthly active users, who collectively watched more than one billion hours of videos every day. , videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and , there were approximately 14.8billion videos in total. On November 13, 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion (equivalent to $ billion in ). Google expanded YouTube's business model of generating revenue from advertisements alone, to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content produced by and for YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subs ...
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Suki Webster
Suki may refer to: People * Suki (Low Sook Yee) (born 1989), Malaysian singer, winner of the reality TV series ''One in a Million'' * Suki Brownsdon (born 1965), British swimmer * Suki Chan (born 1977), Hong Kong artist * Suki Chui (born 1984), Hong Kong actress and Miss Hong Kong participant * Suki Goodwin, actress who appeared in ''Hell Night'' * , actress, married to actor Jonathan Scarfe * Suki Seokyeong Kang (1977–2025), South Korean multimedia artist * Suki Kim (born 1970), Korean American writer, author of ''The Interpreter'' * Suki Kwan, Hong Kong actress who appeared in ''Drunken Master II'' and other films * Suki Lahav (born 1951), Israeli violinist, vocalist, actress, lyricist, screenwriter, and novelist * Suki Manabe (born 1931), Japanese meteorologist and climatologist * Suki Potier (1946–1981), English model * Suki Schorer (born 1939), American ballet dancer, ballet mistress, teacher, and writer * Suki Sivam, Tamil scholar, novelist, and TV host * Suki Somm ...
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The Sitcom Trials
''The Sitcom Trials'' is a stage and TV show devised, produced, and presented by Kev F. Sutherland. Beginning in Bristol in 1999, it showcases new sitcoms and comedy items in a head-to-head format. The audience then vote for the one they like best and only see the ending of the winner. History ''The Sitcom Trials'' began life on stage in Bristol and London in 1999, its original venues being The Comedy Box in Bristol and the Comedy Pub (main venue 1999–2006) in London. Other London venues have included The Camden Head, Ophelia Dalston, the Leicester Square Theatre, the Canal Cafe Theatre, Finborough Theatre, Soho Theatre, Ealing Studios, The Green Room Club, and the Hen and Chickens Theatre. ''The Sitcom Trials'' debuted at the Gilded Balloon venue at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2001, with a show starring Miranda Hart, returning in 2002 & 2004. The first TV series was a Carlton production for ITV/ HTV, broadcast live from Bristol over eight weeks in 2003. The first Hollywood ''Si ...
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Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is an open-air theatre in Regent's Park in central London, established in 1932. Originally known for its Shakespearean productions, the theatre now features a wide variety of performances, including musicals, operas and plays simplified for children The theatre Established in 1932, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is one of the largest theatres in London, with 1,304 seats. It is situated in Queen Mary’s Gardens in Regent’s Park, one of London’s The Royal Parks, Royal Parks. The theatre’s annual 18-week season is attended by more than 140,000 people each year. In 2017, the theatre was named London Theatre of the Year in The Stage Awards, and received the Highly Commended Award for London Theatre of the Year in 2021. Many famous people have performed at the theatre. One of the first was in 1936 when Vivien Leigh played Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII, three years before she found fame in Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind. Subsequent ...
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Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse first built in 1599 for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays. Like the original, it is located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Southwark, London. The reconstruction was completed in 1997 and while concentrating on Shakespeare's work also hosts a variety of other theatrical productions. Part of the Globe's complex also hosts the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for smaller, indoor productions, in a setting which also recalls the period. Background The original globe theatre was built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, destroyed by a fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644. The modern Globe Theatre is an academic approximation based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings. It is considered quite realistic, though modern safety requirements mean that it accommodates only 1,400 spectators compared to the original theatre's 3,000. The modern ''Shakespe ...
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Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''Given name#Name at birth, né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is a retired English stand-up comedy, stand-up and Improv comedy teacher, improv comedian, actor, performance poetry, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' from its inception in 1996 until 2015, and also appeared regularly as a guest on several other panel game, panel shows, including ''QI'' and BBC Radio 4's ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. From around 2018, Jupitus retired from performing and studied art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Dundee. Early life Born Phillip Swan in Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport on the Isle of Wight, he took his stepfather Alexander's surname Jupitus (a corruption of the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian name Šeputis) when he was 16. Jupitus attended a comprehensive school before winning a place at the boys' grammar boarding sc ...
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Steve Steen
Steve Steen (born 26 December 1954) is a British television, radio and theatre actor and comedian, known for improvisational comedy works. Early career Whilst a pupil at Clapham College in London, Steen became friends with Jim Sweeney, and they joined Oval House theatre club in 1972, performing improvised comedy. They wrote and performed in a show that parodied much of the other shows being held in London that year. Then they formed their own theatre company and wrote and toured its productions around the United Kingdom through the 1970s. Television In the 1980s Steen and Sweeney moved into television production, appearing together for the first time on TV in the ITV children's show '' CBTV'' in 1981, followed by one of Channel 4's first comedies, ''Little Armadillos''. In 1985 Steen appeared in the Ben Elton comedy '' Happy Families''. Rory Bremner recruited them as resident support performers on his first sketch show for the BBC. In 1987 they starred as the Romantic poe ...
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