Monkey Toast: The Improvised Chat Show

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The landscape of comedy is a well ploughed field, but Monkey Toast has succeeded in introducing a new form to the Fringe: the improv-view. Blending chat show style interviews with improvised scenes based on what has just been discussed, a conveyor belt of comedy’s fastest rising stars take to the floor each night in a bid to create spur of the moment comic chemistry.

Hosted by genial Canadian comic David Shore, Sunday night saw Loretta Maine and Nish Kumar in the spotlight discussing a range of topics from parents to prime ministers (Kumar can chronologically list every British PM from the mid 1950s to present). It was then up to the six improv actors, including Cariad Lloyd, and The Beta Males’ Richard Soames, to devise wacky skits pertaining to the discussions between Shore and his guests.

This is where the piece begins to unravel, as a number of the anecdotes upon which the improv are based are not intriguing enough to power entire scenes. Two of the skits raise decent laughs, but in an hour long show, this feels somewhat paltry. Though the premise of Monkey Toast is novel, most humour arises in the timing and telling of jokes, and thus watching people interpret the witty asides of others seems to dilute the scope for laughs. The show is certainly enjoyable, yet one can’t help but feel there is a reason why improv and standup usually occupy separate comedic realms.