Improv Comedy
Pinch Punch
I first discovered improv comedy in 2017 when I joined Very Serious People (VSP), a group specialising in long-form narrative improvisation. VSP eventually went our separate ways, but I had the improv bug! With some old faces and some new ones, I co-founded Pinch Punch Improv, and we've been going strong since 2019.
Our flagship show is Locomotive for Murder: The Improvised Whodunnit – a fully improvised Agatha Christie-style whodunnit. From audience suggestions and stories, we create four suspects heading aboard a train, but not everyone will survive the journey. Who dies? Well, that's for the audience to decide. But as for who did the crime, only one person knows – the murderer themselves! This means the cast and the audience are trying to work it out together!
With now sixteen cast members, I'm not in every show, but I am head of marketing, design, and finance for the company, so I'm always involved! On stage, you'll find me putting on an outrageous costume and silly voice as a suspect or as the dashingly suave detective, Hugh Dunnit.
I know what you're thinking? Improv sounds terrifying. But, it's actually a lot of fun! Most of our audiences have never seen improv before – they assume it's like panto, and we'll drag them on stage, but it's nothing like that. It's a right rollocking good time, and they always leave with a smile on their face (especially if they caught the murderer in the end!).
Not to brag, but we've been very successful too! Sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, over twelve 5-star reviews and counting, national tours in the UK's biggest venues, and we were Off West End Award Finalists in 2024!
So come along and see us the next time the Locomotive is near you! And say hi after the show – I don't bite!
