Brighton Fringe comedy review

Almost all improvisers ask the audience to determine the subjects of their sketches. Do The Thing go one step further and leave the number of musicals they’ll ad lib to the crowd – and fate – which explains the vagueness of the title. 

Every one of the ten tennis balls punters can lob into a laundry basket determines the parameters of the show, and tonight’s uncoordinated mob could manage only two. The expected frantic pace thus becomes a different challenge, to create a brace of long-form narratives. 

Tim Meredith and Simon Plotkin are not super-slick operators in the mould of Showstoppers! There’s no mistaking their cheerily haphazard creations as fully-formed West End hits with memorable numbers and neatly wrapped-up plots.

But what they lack in polish they more than make up for a spirit of fun and nose for a daft joke. They lean into the knockabout nature of the improv and the ridiculousness of the avenues they end up going down, committing to whatever surreal thought gets them out of a bind.

With titles also generated by the audience, tonight's two stories revolve around a campervan driven into a well and humanity forced to put on an entertaining show to avoid the full wrath of the god of war.

In the former, they conjure up a married couple, political intrigue between two rival mayoral candidates and a Beast Baby, triggered by a mewling infant in the tent. In the second, Plotkin evokes a cheerfully dim alter-ego who both dooms humanity and saves it through the power of custard pies the face.

Both performers are clearly on the same wavelength, rolling effortlessly with the punches they – and the malfunctioning mics – throw out. Even if that means an extended gag about the awful Cats movie, their persistence with the ill-advised idea becoming part of the bigger joke.

But this is not one of those improv shows where the struggle for coherence or the next line is the gag. Meredith and Plotkin throw out plenty of strong comic ideas as well as committing to the weaker ones, bouncing off each other’s diversions so they seem like they were all part of the plan, even while acknowledging whatever preposterous train of thought they've ended up following. Indeed, they seem to dare each other to go with the oddness. And all to a rhyme structure too – at least some of the time.

Meanwhile, Ian Scott provides atmosphere with guitar backing. That he’s unobtrusive is a compliment: his ad-libbed riffs feel like they were always supposed to be part of these spontaneous scenes.

The trio all wear their talents lightly, and seem to be having a whale of time playing with the insantanous ideas. It’s an infectious feeling. 

Review date: 8 May 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett