If you know anything about what we like here at TW Towers, you’ll surely be aware that we are long term massive fans of improv of all kinds and are always happy to have an excuse to talk about it.

So, you can imagine that I was pleased to get the opportunity to talk to The League Of Improv’s founder, performer and producer Damian Arnold about their new monthly residency at Underbelly Boulevard.

As you may know, each of the troupe’s shows features an appearance by a special guest, and kicking things off at the new venue is acclaimed stand-up and writer Jake Lambert (pictured).

I spoke to Damian about what to expect from the show, as well as digging a little into how it all came about.

CM: Can you start by telling us a bit about the show? What format does it take?
DA: It’s an improvised comedy show based on Chicago long form improv. We have a special guest comedian each time, and this month we’re excited to have Jake Lambert joining us.  

We’ll introduce Jake, who’ll then ask the audience for a one word suggestion. Jake will perform a short monologue around whatever comes to his mind from the audience suggestion, he’ll then interact with the audience, getting to know some of them, asking what they do, if they’ve been on holiday recently, etc…  

The improvisers are just offstage during this exchange and listening very carefully.  Everything that goes on between Jake and the audience members, and from Jake’s monologue, will form the basis for material for scenes for the improvisers to create.  

So, after a few minutes of Jake having a great time with some fun audience members the improvisers will perform a series of scenes.

These will include funny characters inspired by what they’ve just heard onstage, some great comedic situations and themes, all drawn from what happens between Jake and whoever he chats with during the opening.  

The improvisers will call Jake back onstage three or four more times to repeat what he did at the beginning of the show, but each time he’ll take a new suggestion and have new exchanges with different audience members.  And, of course, every time this happens the improvisers will do some more fun scenes.

CM: Can you tell us a bit more about this month’s special guest?
DA: Jake Lambert is a great and rapidly rising comedian whose online videos have racked up over 500 million views.

He has had three sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, supported the likes of Michael McIntyre and Kerry Godliman on tour, and his own current international tour of ‘The Sunshine Kid’ has been continually extended to meet demand. 

He has also appeared on shows like ‘Live At The Apollo’, ‘Live From The Comedy Store’ and ‘The Apprentice: You’re Fired’. In 2025, he worked with Jack Dee on an episode of ‘World’s Most Dangerous Roads’, driving through mountainous Kyrgyzstan.

Jake also co-hosts his hit podcast ‘Save It For The Podcast’, and he’s written for UK shows like ‘The Ranganation’, ‘Bake Off: An Extra Slice’, ‘Mock the Week’ and more.

CM: What are the best kinds of audience for a show like this?  
DA: Sometimes we get some hilarious audience members and that’s really fun and helps to provide great material for both the special guest and the performers.

We had an elderly lady in a couple of months ago who was firing on all cylinders, she must’ve been well over 80 but she kept asking Brennan Reece to take his shirt off. You can imagine how all that went, we were all cracking up, the audience was in fits, and Brennan could barely hold it together.  

We don’t want people coming in and trying to draw focus, of course: these things are best when they just happen naturally and take us all down a path we’d never imagined. Great fun.

CM: What about the players? Who is involved? Other than your special guests, is it the same line-up every time? 
DA: The improvisers are great, some of them are regulars, and then I have a kind of open door policy to a group of terrific and very experienced improvisers who are all very capable and love to come and do the show for fun.

CM: Can you tell us a bit about how you prepare or practice for a show like this? 
DA: We practice for a show like this by playing games to wake us up, to practice listening to each other, to force us to be spontaneous, stuff like that.

We’ve all been doing this for a long time so we have a bunch of exercises that we know how to do together to make sure that we’re all on the same page mentally, that we’re engaged and listening, and that we’re in the right frame of mind to go out onstage and have a good giggle!

CM: Speaking of which – how do you become a good improviser? Is it an inbuilt talent or do you have to work at it? If so, how do you work at it? 
DA: I think improvising is an inbuilt talent but you can certainly learn how to improve, how to play differently, how to use different forms etc… 

Experience is very important, the more you do this the better you get. Teamwork is key and the most important skill is listening – it sounds easy but actually listening is so, so vital to improvising.  

CM: How did The League Of Improv come about? What made you want to do it? 
DA: I founded The League Of Improv for a very simple reason – I love improvising and I love a good giggle and I love making people laugh and laughing with pals onstage.

Improvising is really just playing. And if you get to play around and make an audience laugh with some very funny performers, what’s more fun than that?  There are so many funny improvisers here so it’s just a blast to be able to do this.

I used to improvise in Chicago, I was there from 2001 to 2010 training and performing at Second City and IO Theatre, a heck of a lot at IO. Chicago is the home of long form improv, basically longer scenes that are character driven.

And I was on the ‘Tonight Show’ several times doing funny stuff, so when I came to London I wanted to carry on the silliness here.

CM: And can we talk a bit more about you now? What do you do when you’re not doing League Of Improv stuff?
DA: I was an actor, I trained at LAMDA for three years and performed onstage and did some TV and film and then, as I said, I went to Chicago to perform and also do improv.

When I was there, to cut a long story short, I produced my first play and that transferred directly to Broadway – which was pretty astonishing – and I’ve been a theatre producer ever since.

CM: Did you always want a career in the arts? What led you to it? 
DA: Yes, I always wanted to be doing this, goodness knows why, no one else in my family does this. I just love it.

CM: What aims and ambitions do you have for the future? 
DA: I’ve got a couple of plays on Broadway at the moment, and in the West End, and I’m going to keep doing all of that and I’m also working on a couple of TV projects that I hope to make happen as soon as possible. 

One’s a comedy and the other is a true war story. I could go on and on about all of this, but I’m sure people have lawns to mow!

‘The League Of Improv’ begins a monthly residency at The Underbelly Boulevard on 18 Jul with special guest comedian Jake Lambert. For more information and to book see the venue website here. 

LINKS: underbellyboulevard.com | theleagueofimprov.com  | instagram.com/leagueofimprov