Interview – MISSIMP

MissImp is Nottingham’s only improv group, performing regularly across the city at numerous venues, and a key part of the recent Nottingham Comedy Festival, the group promise an original and totally unscripted performance. Nottingham LIVE spoke to Nick Tyler, a key figure in the group to find out more:

LIVE: Hi, firstly who are MissImp?

MissImp are Nottingham’s only improvised comedy group. We perform twice a month to the public- on the second Wednesday of the month at The Glee Club and on the last Friday at The Hopkinson Gallery, The Art Organisation. We do mainly ‘short form’ improv which is the kind of quick sketch comedy lots of people are familiar with from Whose Line Is It Anyway? It’s very high energy, suprising and funny. The shows are genuinely unplanned- both games and players are drawn randomly from hats during the show. All of the scene ideas come from the audience and there’s plenty of audience participation.

LIVE: Can you give us a bit of background on the group?

MissImp formed as Mission Improbable way back in 1998 but has evolved a great deal since then with only one original performer remaining. We have accelerated in the last couple of years since we started our shows at TAO Nottingham and we now rotate 12 superb player between the shows. We’re also supported by a large group of players in progress and members who assist, do the tech and so on. In July the guys from The Glee Club came to see our show, loved it and offered us monthly residency at The brand new Nottingham Glee Club. It’s really exciting to be the only local group to get picked up by Glee and as far as we know we’re the only improv group to have a regular night in a major comedy and music venue.

LIVE: Can you tell us what people can expect from a MissImp show?

You can expect the unexpected, just like us! We don’t know what games we’re going to play, whether we’ll be singing, speaking another language, where we’ll be or who we’ll be. That’s all determined on the spot, by the audience, luck of the draw and blind panic. It’s a wonderful mixture of lightning fast comedy, silliness, team work and incredible creativity. You will never see the same show twice or anywhere else. Each one is unique, inspired by the audience, for the audience. We love it and so will you. Since it’s improvised you never know how it’s going to go and the fantastic audience we get cheer us on even when we verge on comic catastrophe.

LIVE: What does it feel like stepping in front of an audience knowing that anything could happen?

It feels amazing. It’s much easier than learning a script, as long as you can think fast enough, and in concert with others, to write the script and make it funny as you go. I’ve never done anything as exciting and I get ferociously hyperactive. I often compere the shows as well so that’s a whole lot more improvised interaction to come up with too.

LIVE: Have you had any moments on stage where you’re mind has just gone completely blank?

I don’t think I’ve ever gone blank on stage. I rarely shut up anyway and improv is the ultimate art of always having an answer. That said, I have been left speechless by something amazing said by another player.

LIVE: You must get a real buzz when you walk off after a successful show?

A great show leaves you filled with incredible energy and it takes ages to wind down. Last week we did our first ever ‘longform’ show, a 50 minute improvised sitcom/soap. It was great, but only half the length of our usual show and the players were still going nuts. I normally finish a show drenched with perspiration.

LIVE: Who are your inspirations in the world of improv comedy?

The world of improv comedy is still very small over here compared with North America, or stand up over here. So Whose Line is the thing we remember enjoying and being inspired by. We read and watch a lot of stuff out of the big improv schools in New York and Chicago like UCB and Improv Olympic. I think we’re finding our own way blending ideas and what works for us.

LIVE: You have just started a residency at the new Glee club in Nottingham, that must be a huge buzz for the band?

The Glee Club residency is a fantastic opportunity for us to up our game even further, to be funnier and faster. There’s quite a lot of competition to get on that stage. Glee is adored by stand up comics and performers as a professional venue run by really dedicated and professional people. While we love playing at the Hopkinson Gallery this is a big step up. We won’t have to put the chairs away at Glee. We hope it will be good publicity for the group and improv comedy everywhere. We’d love to play more often and in other places. We’d also love to train others to enjoy and perform improv- it has a lot to offer. We’re thrilled to be on at Glee.

LIVE: Why should our readers come along to a MissImp show?

Your readers should come to see MissImp in Action at The Glee Club because there is no other show like this in town. It’s funny, unpredictable and unique. There’s nothing quite like watching people play out an idea you suggested and roaring with laughter at your own genius. We can help with that! It’s brilliant fun, come and enjoy it with us.