BEFORE the first Great Yorkshire Fringe opened, founder Martin Witts said one of its joys would be the chance to see the stars at closer quarters than usual.

Sure enough, rather than their regular York stomping ground of the Grand Opera House, Paul Merton and his Impro Chums decamped for the summer to the 400-seat White Rose Rotunda spiegeltent, enabling an almost forensic inspection of a Merton shirt so loud it would not be permitted in a built-up area after 11pm.

Merton entered alone to explain the concept of these in-the-moment shows that have become a Sunday staple at the Comedy Store. He and his quick-witted chums would improvise sketches and parlour games from audience suggestions, bouncing words off each other like dodgem cars and venturing on flights of fancy that take them further than Icarus before they burn out.

York Press:

Impro Chums Paul Merton, left, Mike McShane, Richard Vranch, Suki Webster and Lee Simpson. Picture: Kippa Matthews

Merton is the ring master, invariably with the best-timed interjections and sharpest reflexes, deceptively casual in his manner. Lee Simpson is a master of vocal and physical characterisation; Richard Vranch switches nimbly from cheeky interventions to the keyboard for myriad musical accompaniments; Suki Webster is the most unpredictable, full of teasing too, more assertive than in the past. Mike McShane is the American loose cannon, with the big voice, the bold statements, the rapier lunge.

Even after so many shows, the chums can still surprise themselves, trip each other up, their enjoyment so evident, especially in mickey-taking mode when impersonating plain-speaking Yorkshire miners.

Charles Hutchinson