IMPROV DEATH MATCH at the Aces and Eights

★★★★

“The comradery both on and off stage is so wholesome that despite there officially being a winner at the end of the night, it doesn’t really make much odds”

Death Match by name perhaps, but this is one of the nicest comedy nights I’ve ever witnessed.

“You’re not to worry, we won’t pick on anyone”, our compere reassures us as he encourages folk to the front row. This is pretty much the atmosphere throughout the hour-long: no audience participation excepting, of course, the traditional shouting out of subjects for the troupe to improvise, and a general sense that we’re all just lovely people having a lovely time.

The evening consists of gently jostling improv games in which the two teams- red and blue- take turns to win the crowd over, after which we’re to shout ‘red’ or ‘blue’ to determine a winner. These include a ‘Just a minute’ style storytelling, a classic tap-in scene game, and several on-the-spot song performances that are impressively catchy- “Five Green Fingers (and a thumb)” is a genuine banger, and I believe the red team was robbed of their victory on that one.

Improv is always necessarily a fairly safe space, given that it requires the performers to be so completely uninhibited and ready to look like idiots at any given moment. But this feels particularly well meaning.

Without microphones the performers are required to project over the Friday night crowd, making it feel more like a Christmas family gathering than a hardy competition: Everyone yelling out stupid suggestions, shushing each other when someone’s on stage, and the improvisers themselves often shouting encouragement to their opposing team, “That was really good, that”. The comradery both on and off stage is so wholesome that despite there officially being a winner at the end of the night, it doesn’t really make much odds.

After seven years on the go, this is, so we’re told, the longest running Camden Fringe show, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t enjoy an eighth.

Improv Death Match

★★★★

Aces and Eights

IMPROV DEATH MATCH at the Aces and Eights

★★★★

“The comradery both on and off stage is so wholesome that despite there officially being a winner at the end of the night, it doesn’t really make much odds”