TOURING for more than 10 years, Paul Merton and his five impro chums risk getting tired of performing the show night after night – and of that show becoming tired.

The beauty of improvised comedy though, comes in the fact that is not the same show. The actors may be the same, and the name is the same, but it is always a different comedy that plays out on stage.

From the start of the show at the Grand Opera House, it was clear that the gang of impro chums have a loyal following - and although the action seems entirely spontaneous there is discipline to it – Richard Vranch’s musical accompaniments from opera to Metallica appeared almost from nowhere, and the endless supply of accents and characters was hilarious.

American Mike McShane’s attempt at a Geordie voice, while playing the Angel of the North, was one of the funniest moments of the night, as was Lee Simpson’s fluent made-up German.

The show’s climax was the brand new recently rediscovered never been seen before, Shakespearean play which of course took its title from a shouted suggestion from the audience.

It was, as with the rest of the performance, funny, quick witted and although it followed a well-used format used is scores of impro shows, entirely original.