Review: Improv Taranaki serves up a feast of laughs in latest show

With the range of talented improv comedians serving up the sketches, Improv Salad is a show that will leave you laughing long after the final act.

When is a salad more than a boring side dish? When it’s served up by the team behind Improv Salad - Taranaki’s freshest, and funniest, improvised comedy show.

The comedians who make up Improv Taranaki’s Improv Salad show are undoubtedly some of the best in Taranaki, and when they work together, taking prompts from the audience, they feed off each other’s talent and ingenuity, creating some truly hysterical moments throughout the evening.

Every show is different, as explained by Phill Spear, who set up the group last year along with fellow comedians Jessica Charlotte, Franzi Maciej, Hannah Taylor, Toni Marie and Adam Harris.

“We provide the salad ingredients, and you - the audience tonight - will provide the salad dressing,” Spear explains at the start of Saturday night’s show.

That dressing comes by way of audience suggestions for a range of things from famous lines in movies to things you’d say at a wedding. Once the suggestions are taken, the comedy magic begins, as the actors take those suggestions and turn them into sketches and skits that leave the audience gasping for breath between laughs at times.

Each of the skits grows out of an improv comedy game, and watching the comedians play the game, incorporating lines and concepts provided by the audience, is more fun than should be legal on a Saturday night out in Taranaki.

From ironing as an extreme sport, a married couple at a Club Med location drinking tequila while decanting artefacts, to individuals holding forth on armadillo racing, every scene has the audience in stitches.

If there was to be a criticism, it would be regarding sound. When the laughs in the room are that constant and loud, a mic system might help ensure every joke is heard. At times, those of us in the back rows, were left behind the rest of the room as the laughs rolled out, leaving us unsure of the actual words spoken.

That said, thanks to the actors themselves being as good at physical comedy as they are with the verbal side, there was plenty to laugh at even when sound was an issue - as they threw themselves around, on, and even at times off, the stage with abandon throughout.

Each of the comedians brings their own distinct style or type of humour to the show, and just like a salad would be boring if it was all cucumber and no tomato, so the magic of Improv Salad is in that mix of ingredients. It’s the same with the games / skits themselves - if one doesn’t tickle your funny bone, don’t panic as chances are the next game served up that night will have you laughing to the point of tears.

While each show is unique, with never quite the same mix of scenes, ideas or laughs served up, Improv Taranaki has an excellent menu of offerings lined up for 2024, with more Improv Salad shows scheduled, a series of improv comedy classes for those keen to have a go themselves and even an hour-long improv taster session for 8 -12 year olds later this month.

Judging by the audience at Saturday night’s Improv Salad show, while you might not know you are going to get at any specific show content-wise, you would be wise to book tickets fast as there were few empty seats to be found on the night.

The details:

What: Improv Taranaki presents Improv Salad

When: Follow them on www.facebook.com/improvtaranaki for details of the next show.