The COMEDY STORE PLAYERS improv group turned 10 years old on October 29th 1995. All six players performed that night, that is Neil Mullarkey, Paul Merton, Richard Vranch, Josie Lawrence (taking a break from Kate in The Taming Of The Shrew at the Royal Shakespeare Co at Stratford), Lee Simpson and Jim Sweeney.
This mix of games, narrative and some free improv has been running every Sunday since 1985 and also on Wednesdays since 1989. All the Players have been featured since 1988 on the TV improv show 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' (though sadly Richard doesn't get to do the games themselves on the TV version!) We have a good team of guests, including Greg Proops, Steve Frost, Caroline Quentin, Tony Slattery, Tony Hawks and Andy Smart, who play if there are spaces.
The Players were founded by Neil, Dave Cohen, Kit Hollerbach (USA) and Mike Myers (Canada), who left in 1986 destined for Second City, Saturday Night Live and Wayne's World.
The Players still do the show because the team is still fun to work in, a house style having grown up over the years. Paul and Josie have had numerous TV series, Jim, Neil and Richard have presented their own TV series, and Lee is now a DJ on London's Heart 106.2 FM, as well as cropping up in British movies. Paul did a sketch show with Lee and Richard at the London Palladium last year etc etc