Kings of rib-tickling improv, the Whose Line Is It Anyway? crew are back to headline Punchline Comedy’s latest show. We asked China veterans Andy Smart, Stephen Frost, Steven Steen and Ian Coppinger to dish on their experiences in the Mainland and how the crowd can be better.
Welcome back to China. Have you noticed a change in the country’s comedy crowds?
IC: I first performed here about seven years ago and I’ve noticed that the audiences are definitely getting better looking.
What’s been your funniest experience in China?
SS: Watching Andy eat heavily spiced food is always funny. His ‘red, sweaty faced Englishman’ is funnier than any joke I’ve heard. If you want a laugh, go watch him chomp into a chilli.
Have you ever been stumped during a show?
IC: We all love to talk so it’s never happened that all four of us are stumped. If this does happen please call for an ambulance.
What type of suggestions do you prefer a crowd give?
SF: Simpler is better. Once in Amsterdam someone shouted out existentialism. Barrel of laughs, there.
AS: We like the ones we have never had before. So, not brothel, massage parlour, abattoir, morgue. Something like the winners enclosure at Ascot, college graduation, a seahorse farm, inside the wooden horse of Troy, on the Silk Road...
IC: The more original the better. Once in Dublin, we actually had to do a human pyramid. Thankfully, we were able to do it. We got a standing ovation.
SS: I still have nightmares...
Following your China shows, what are your plans?
AS: We are off to Baku in Azerbaijan in October, then Altitude Festival in Austria in January. October is also the 30th birthday of the Comedy Store Players. 2015 is nearly over.
Have there been any news stories that have inspired your comedy?
SS: The year has been a tough one in terms of inspiration for laughs. The Labour Party challenge in the general election was laughable, but for the wrong reasons. Donald Trump’s hair is worth a point and laugh, always. As a Fulham supporter, I’ve usually had quite a few laughs per annum.
IC: The biggest news story is that you consider 2015 to be nearly over. I think that you need a new calendar. Is there anything you would like to add?
SF: We love coming to China. Shanghai rocks, Beijing swings, Hong Kong wobbles a bit.
// Sep 15, 8.30pm, RMB290. The Local. Tickets.
// Sep 16, 8.30pm, RMB290. The Garage, Shunyi. Tickets.
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