It’s some undertaking, standing on stage without a plan or a script with the intention of making people laugh. Such a task, most people would rather die. (Two years ago Psychology Today found 74% of Americans would rather die than public speak. Add a sprinkling of comedic pressure, and you’ve got yourself a Grim Reaper.)
But for husband and wife of 16 years Paul Merton, 67, and Suki Webster, 60, it’s all in a day’s work.
‘People often say are we scared, but it doesn’t exist until we’re doing it. You can’t worry about it,’ says Suki alongside her husband, chatting from their London home.
The pair married in 2009, having worked together for 20 years together in their acclaimed improv group, Impro Chums.
Most people haven’t done improv, I point out, wondering what it’s taught them over the years.
‘You say it’s a muscle that doesn’t get flexed,’ says Paul, correcting me: ‘I think we do, but we don’t recognise it as improv.
‘Anything that isn’t rehearsed is improvised. A football match is improvised, save the corners and penalties.’
But while attempting a joke to friends that doesn’t land is mildly upsetting, for many people the idea of that happening in front of 500 people is night sweat-worthy.
Nevertheless, Paul and Suki have managed to persuade the likes of David Tennant, David Mitchell and Julian Clary to join them in their weekly Comedy Store improv show. And they’ve never done it before. Gulp.
I saw the show last night, and Julian – who is a comedy pro himself – was a dry delight among the more musical theatre-esque polished improv we’ve come to expect from the genre.
Undoubtedly, Suki and Paul are talented in confident quick wit and masterful stage presence, but the addition of a celebrity debuting their improv career certainly adds a layer of intrigue. For Suki and Paul, this adds a little extra nerves, too.
‘This time around I don’t think it will be big nerves,’ says Suki, conceding: ‘But David Tennant has never done it before and we want to look after him and make sure he has a fabulous night.
‘So the responsibility of that will give us a bit of extra heft.’
Paul adds: ‘David Mitchell has never done it before. I managed to persuade him via a lengthy email.
‘He does improv in conversation, but he doesn’t recognise it,’ he explains.
‘I said, “I know you’re apprehensive, but not only is there no parachute but there’s also no plane. We will be with you all the way.”‘
For Paul, improv is easier than Have I Got News For You – the long-running BBC comedy quiz show he’s hosted with Ian Hislop since 1990.
‘On Have I Got News For You I’m given a question on a subject I have no interest in or immediate comedic response to,’ he says.
‘[With improv] you get immediate feedback, which is the great thing about comedy.’
As their show takes audience suggestions as a launchpad for improvised scenes, the temptation to heckle is handily satiated.
‘We don’t really get heckled, because we’re asking the audience for various suggestions,’ Paul says.
However, they do filter…
‘There’s a bit where we get written suggestions and people write really not good stuff on paper which we don’t read out. We reserve the right to edit, if it’s really bad taste. Once in a while you might get something odd,’ Paul says.
Suki explains: ‘Not long after Madeleine McCann some of those appeared. It’s that type of thing you really do not want to bring into a comedy show. It’s been a long time but occasionally you get, “Two gays go into a pub…” It’s just tasteless stuff, and you think, no.’
Paul clarifies: ‘But I mean, it is very rare.’
While audience relationships change from moment to moment, how on earth do Suki and Paul, in such close professional and private proximity that they are, still enjoy their 16-year marriage..? What is their secret?
Knee-jerk, Paul answers: ‘Living longer. Not having a suicide pact on your honeymoon.’ Classic comedian answer. Seriously though?
After her chuckle peters out, Suki says: ‘People used to ask us, do we spend time at home trying to make each other laugh? And we used to sort of say, “No, not really.”
‘And now we’re just honest and go, “Yeah. We just spend most of our days when we’re together having time off just behaving like absolute children and making each other laugh.”‘
More thoughtfully this time, Paul adds: ‘I think if you spoke to relationship experts – with any kind of relationship, not just a marriage – they’d say if you have a shared sense of humor that does bond you more than anything else.’
Paul Merton and Suki Webster’s Improv Show is on at The Comedy Store in London every Wednesday at 7.30pm. Tickets are here.
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