'The story of a stand-up, with some fantastic stand-up in it'

Top Gunchained creator Richard Marsh picks his Perfect Playlist

As a writer of funny plays, it’s exciting to be in Chortle, amongst actual comedians. I’m doing a Top Gun-related show, so part of me feels I should choose Hot Shots! for this list, but it’s already impossibly hard to narrow it down to just six. Here goes:

Damon Runyon

He wrote a bunch of short stories set around Broadway during the Depression. My grandad loved them, and would read them to us as kids. I didn’t fully understand them then, but I loved the language and the people, the glamour and the desperation. I knew they were funny, I just wasn’t sure why.

It was only much later I found out these stories were the basis for Guys & Dolls, which I also love.

Here one of Runyon’s best stories, The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown, is brought to life by Jamie Parker:

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

 This show is such a delight. The story of a stand-up, with some fantastic stand-up in it. Midge Maisel is an absolutely brilliant creation. Also her parents and in-laws are possibly the greatest parent characters in the history of parent characters:

Anis Mojgani

When I first started using poetry in my plays, I didn’t know there was such a thing as live or performance poetry. When some more experienced poets opened my eyes a bit, I hungrily started watching everything I could.

Shake The Dust – and honestly, everything I’ve heard of Anis Mojgani’s – is exceptional. He’s also a great visual artist:

Operation Mincemeat

Some of my most joyful moments in a theatre have involved musicals. Both watching them, and sometimes being involved in making them. To me, as a non-singing, rhyming person, watching a composer take words and feelings and magic a song out of them is absolutely thrilling.

Operation Mincemeat was written by its cast, which makes it even more extraordinary. It’s hilarious, it’s very theatrical, the cast multi-role with incredible skill and then Hester sings Dear Bill and you cry:

We Are Lady Parts

I was on board with Amina’s story from the terrible opening family date onwards. The cast are outstanding, the music is fantastic, Nida Manzoor is incredibly talented. I can’t wait to see what she does next. New Dr Who showrunner?

The Listies

The first comedy I got into thanks to my children. We saw the Listies at the fringe thanks to Comedy Club 4 Kids, who recommended the gloriously-titled Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark. The whole family loved that show and we’ve been regular listeners and re-listeners to their podcast ever since.

They’re back at the Dringe this year with their show 110% Ready, which we booked well ahead of time. Although the Listies are entirely suitable for kids, they’re also hilarious for adults, as this sketch shows: