13 MAY 2026

We HAVE to stop meeting like this.

Hi, it’s me, Chris Mead - improviser, teacher and human answer to the question - what do you do with a BA in Theatre Studies?

I’m having a lovely week, thank you for asking. I’m buoyant with the possibilities improv affords. I’m counting my blessings and smelling the flowers.

Today went from grey skies to glorious sun to hail to rain to sunshine again.

And to top it all off you can catch The Pretend Company at the FA’s Big Scene Improv festival on Thursday, the Pretend Night Jam on Friday and Anděl’s masterclass workshop on Sunday.

Our improv cup overfloweth.

Rule of three

[TV] Rooster
This has my vote for funniest thing on TV at the moment. And also my vote for most lovely thing. From the people that brought you Ted Lasso, it’s another fish-out-of-water deal - this time with Steve Carell’s genre novelist guest-lecturing at a snooty college. It’s the ensemble that really shines though, they are ALL outstanding and you can’t help but love them more with each successive episode.

[Movement] The Foot Collective
Did you know there are 33 joints in your foot? Nope, me neither. But now I’ve started doing a foot restoration programme with The Foot Collective, I’m much more aware of them. Because they hurt. I’m flexing parts of myself I was previously unaware existed. And it’s a good thing. It’s a fascinating and oftentimes eye-opening 12-week course that attempts to rehabilitate your feet (the literal foundation of your body) back from where modern footwear have left them - bent out of shape and inflexible (your arches are being MOLLYCODDLED apparently). Anyway, it’s great and they periodically run an offer where you get all your money back if you complete the course. Friends, I WILL BE ONE OF THOSE MONEY BACK GUYS, THIS I SWEAR TO YOU NOW.

[Actor] Daniel Radcliffe
Story time. I didn’t care for Daniel Radcliffe during his tenure as she-who-must-not-be-named’s boy wizard. And looking back, I wasn’t really being fair. He was a tiny child and he was on screen with every famous British actor of the last thirty years. Anyway, since leaving that astroTERFed enclosure for greener pastures, I’ve loved his eclectic role choices. He basically parlayed the money and fame from being the world’s most famous child actor into getting the weirdest and best projects made. My (non-chronological) picks are:

Swiss Army Man (farty dead body)
Merrily We Roll Along (super charismatic Sondheim self-insert)
What If (delightful rom-com lead)
Guns Akimbo (man with guns stapled to his hands)
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Weird Al Yankovic)

Spotlight

Wanted to shine the spotlight on some pals this week:

Gael Doorneweerd-Perry has opened applications to his wildly popular year-long masterclass for 2026/27. In my humble opinion, this is the best use of your improv dollar that you can possibly buy. I’d run across broken glass for the man.

Stephen Lee is running his Eat the Eyeball workshop as part of Blanche’s London Improv Festival next week. I’m so lucky that Stephen has become such a close collaborator and friend over these past few months. He is such an exciting, vital voice in the current improv scene. Everyone I know who has taken this workshop can’t say enough good things about how smart and helpful the content is.

Radio contact

We found a smaller version of Radio. She is called Lilly.