11 MARCH 2026

Hello.

It’s me, Chris Mead - improviser, writer and dog-guardian.

Thanks for reading my newsletter.

This week, I have mostly been recovering (still) from staying up all night improvising and also being owned on the pickleball court by people almost twice my age.

This is my story.

Rule of three

[Comedy] Susan Harrison
Sue is one of the best improvisers in the UK. Her character work is simply unmatched, as is her incredible singing voice (as anyone who has caught her in Showstopper! will know). But mostly, it’s just that she’s really funny. Now her solo show Should I Still Be Doing This? is coming to the Soho Theatre on 24th & 25th April. It’s not strictly an improv show but it has improvised moments and there’s very much an improv ethos running through the whole thing. It’s always brilliant when someone in the community is recognised by a wider comedy audience, so I hope that some of us can get out there to support her. I saw a Work-in-Progress version of the show and it was already brilliant, so you’ll be in for a real treat.

[Music] Listening to a whole album
I’m still genuinely amazed that I can call up almost any song ever recorded and listen to it at a moment’s notice. Likewise, I’ll put my hand up to listening to algorithmically generated playlists, with songs cherry-picked for me, about 90% of the time. But recently I’ve got back into listening to whole albums from start to finish and it’s often an extremely powerful experience. So my recommendation to you this week is - dig out a favourite album, clear some time in your schedule and go on a musical journey as the artist intended. And then reply to this newsletter and let me know what you listened to because I am WIDE OPEN to suggestions.

[Movies] Early-stage Jackie Chan
A couple of weeks ago, I recommended watching 70 year old Jackie Chan do flying kicks in people’s faces. Now, I’m recommending watching 20 year old Jackie Chan do the same thing. I’ve been revisiting some of his earliest work and it’s endlessly joyous to watch him jump, flip and spin about the screen. Often there is very little in the way of plot, but as soon as Jackie starts leaping off the walls, I truly believe the whole enterprise ascends into poetry. If I’m being strict, and keeping him in his 20s, then I’m going to recommend Drunken Master (1978), Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978) and Project A (1983).

Spotlight

Just a quick reminder that we have Dan Seyfried and Ella Galt performing their brilliant improv show Origami Swan at Pretend Night on 20th March. It’s inspired by the play Constellations where we get to see multiple versions of one couple’s love story, journeying through alternative timelines. As a piece of improvised storytelling, it’s astonishing.

You can get tickets to the show here, and there are also multiple opportunities to learn with Dan and Ella that same weekend on the Pretend workshop page.

Radio contact

LICK!