LONDON LIVES CAROL SARLER Whose idea was it anyway?

t's said to be one of the those suggestions. " 'In most common recur- the toilet!' That comes ring nightmares; the up so often, and if we ask I one where you find for a household object, a yourself on a stage, large number of men will under the spotlight, the say 'Wife!' " The other audience is already irritation is people's re- seated . .. and you realise fusal to believe that the you've never even seen improvisation is ge- the script, let alone nuine. Reviews will say learned it. To those of us the scenes are prepared, who have dreamed this and audience members dream it is truly incred- will concoct the most ible that two apparently elaborate explanations of sane men could spend the methods of cheating. nigh on two decades do- "I just give up," says ing precisely that. In real Sweeney. "How do you life. On purpose. prove something is im- Jim Sweeney and provised? Though if it is Steve Steen have been prepared, we're extreme- working on the ball and ly bad writers." off the cuff since 1973 — Believers and doubt- long before most of the ers can make up their current heroes of the COMIC TOUCH Sweeney (front) and Steen make improvisation count own minds this after- genre could spell impro- noon, in what promises visation, let alone do it. And while The idea was to invite other actors to be the most extraordinary impro comedy 'impro' is fast becoming big and comedians CO join them in a live show ever seen in London — put on for business (London boasts six or seven and completely improvised show — the most generous of reasons. live shows a week, and Channel 4's regardless of whether or not those Jim Sweeney's autistic young Whose Line Is It Anyway? just walked guests had ever done it before. The daughter has spent some of her off with a BAFTA), this double-act is risks were many: that the guest would happiest hours with a small north still widely acknowledged as being flail and fail, dominate, freeze-dry or London charity called the Children's just about the best there is . . . simply Not Be Funny. "There is a House Trust. The children can do ex- an acknowledgement that will be safety net," says Steve Steen. "We have actly what they want as long as they made powerfully public today at the an agreement with them beforehand don't harm themselves or others; peo- Shaftesbury Theatre. that we won't put them on the spot — if ple listen but they don't judge; The West End was not much in the they call for a doctor then we'll come." nothing is ever good or bad. "She minds of Sweeney and Steen when John Sessions tried his hand early comes back from each visit with her they met at a Clapham school 23 years on, others such as Josie Lawrence, eyes bright and shining," says her ago. Sweeney's mother had insisted he Tony Slattery and Richard Vranch — father. "And that's a good enough attend a Catholic school, "so I could all regulars on Whose Line? — started reason to cough up a couple of quid." specialise in things like guilt"; he out with Sweeny and Steen and now • . or, even, a couple of hours. The failed "with aplomb" to gain any of his hang around BAFTA ceremonies. Trust needs funds to continue with its three A-levels; Steen gave up in the Jim Sweeney is frank: "We can both work, and there's not an improvisor in fifth form and went to work for the get terribly bitter and twisted over town who would refuse to give time to Post Office. The main thing the boys several pints. We'd come up with two help a cause close to Jim Sweeney. learned at school was that their playing television formats, but they weren't as He'd doubtless hate to admit it, but around actually made people laugh. sharp. The success of Whose Line? is a the impressive line-up for the show is, For no better reason than desperation two-way thing; on the one hand it's as much as anything, a tribute to the for the company of young women, raised everybody's awareness of impro work that he and Steen have done, so they went along to the Oval House but on the other hand everybody well and for so long. It includes Mike Arts Centre and stumbled on an im- thinks it's all like that, all three-minute McShane, Tony Slattery, Sandi Toks- provisation class. sharp, funny gags." vig, Paul Merton, Richard Vranch, They discovered that they could be The duo's own preferred style, Lee Simpson, Neil Mullarkey, Arthur told by a complete stranger that they working alone or with guests, is for Smith, Stephen Frost and Mark are, say, John the Baptist and Lucretia longer scenes — "with a chance to de- Arden ... and, of course, the audi- Borgia meeting in a lift at Harrods, velop characters and plots" — and they ence. With or without toilets in tow. and then become precisely that. It was work entirely from audience sugges- The Kaliber Improthon, Shaftesbury a skill that was eventually to inspire a tions, not set games with set rules. Theatre, W1; today at 5pm (071-379 generation of other performers. Two things irritate: one is the level of 5399). Tickers from k 1 0 to L22.50