Paul Merton's Impro Chums

Improvisational comedy is an inherently risky genre. But when it works, it's not only funny, it's impressively funny. But when it fails, it can be excruciatingly embarrassing. Fortunately, Paul Merton and his plucky band of Impro Chums never, ever fail.

Although Paul Merton headlines the show, he is by no means the predominant performer: Mike McShane, Lee Simpson, Richard Vranch and Suki Webster are Merton's highly talented co-stars, and it is the strength of the whole team bound together that creates something wacky and wonderful from the audience's often-questionable suggestions; it certainly takes imagination to make the rather naff "crazy vacuum cleaner" prompt work.

The real highlights of this consistently brilliant show are its musical numbers; listening to opera suddenly transform into Vaudeville left this reviewer in stitches. The feast of perfect comic timing, sparkling one-liners, and the performers' sheer expertise in their field is why Impro Chums is a firm Fringe favourite.

Whether being serenaded by a sock spinning in a washing machine or a Shakespearean take on the process of queuing for Fringe tickets, Impro Chums' surreal charm and natural wit will leave you with a reinvigorated respect for this art form.