It’s rookie improv night at the Maidment’s Musgrove Studio: the final night tonight (May 1^st) and it’s sold out! Rightly so, as the graduates of the Art of Improvisation workshop series deliver an energetic, slapdash hour of fun.

The Improv Bandits’ protégés are lead into textbook improv comedy games by the charismatic and highly likeable MC Steven Lyons, who is a seasoned Improv Bandit. With Lyons’ unobtrusive direction, the rookies are tied up in ropes and told to swim.

The randomly grouped newbies attempt to unravel the scenes with sheer madcap wit. This sometimes results in the painful want for a one-liner, but more often than not, we get a brave – if slightly worrying – self-effacing dog impersonation, excretion fetish or Ironing Man Championship smack down. 

The grouping of comics is key, as often a strong comic is thrown brick after brick, which results in the elimination of the group – as Lyons takes the audience’s applause as a measure of success. Even when coupled with weaker comedians, a few bandits stand out:

Amy Williamson’s powers of alchemy never fail her and it was a real shame her group was eliminated early on. Robyn Donnelly is hilarious as an Eastern European fetishist and saves the day in a few dubious scenes. Steve Lloyd’s comic timing, delivery and quick wit warranted the Jester prize last night, and he was within a hair’s breadth of it before he pulled out a sneaky pen knife on the ropes and was caught out.

Although tickets for tonight are sold out, it’s worth keeping an eye of some of these young comedians. Lyon makes a great MC, and I’ll certainly be looking out for the next Improv Bandit performance. 

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