Totally Looped

Viewers of television comedy shows such as Mock the Week might be familiar with a section where one of the comedians narrates over a film clip, dubbing over the voices of the actors in an amusing improvised parody. Well this is the premise of the new comedy stage show, Totally Looped.

First popularised in America, it sees up to five comedians on stage voicing over film clips that are projected onto a big screen in front of the audience. The audience is required to help with the improvisation by shouting out ideas for a script, genres to parody and so forth.

I went to see the tour at The Assembly Hall Theatre in Royal Tunbridge Wells, on which occasion we had Marcus Brigstocke, Sanjeev Bhaskar, and three other comedians I’d never heard of; Joe Liss, Pippa Evans and Natalie Haverstock.

Marcus warmed up the crowd with a bit of stand up, and then introduced the rest of the cast. The performers do not get to see any of the clips beforehand, and unfortunately this showed, as there were quite a few badly timed quips and the odd moment when nobody quite knew who should be speaking for a particular onscreen character, resulting in a confused silence. But bearing in mind how difficult this is to pull off, whilst still trying to be humorous, I think the cast did a sterling job.

If the producers allowed the cast members to get a bit more familiar with the clips they were going to be shown, it would result in a much more coherent and flowing show. And it wouldn’t detract from the improvisation, as the crowd are responsible for giving the performers ideas, so this part would still be an unknown. I think going about it this way would greatly improve the performance, taking a leaf out of television shows that pretend to be improvised when really there is quite a large degree of pre-planning.

Still, this is an interesting concept, and it felt a bit like sitting in the audience of a television comedy show, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For me, Marcus Brigstocke and Sanjeev Bhaskar were the funniest of the performers, seemingly at home with quick witted remarks and spur of the moment improvisation.

In all, it was a fun show that is definitely worth a look in.

Totally Looped is currently touring at venues across Britain. Visit their website for more details.