16 SEPTEMBER 2026

Hello.

It’s your friend/ acquaintance, Chris Mead here.

I’m writing this hot off a super enjoyable show hosted by the brilliant Table 5 at the Coin Laundry in Farringdon. The Pretend Company got a chance to collaborate with a pair of deep-fried gold improv legends - Roy Janik and Kaci Beeler from PGraph.

The show was a simple narrative about a character going on an errand (an early PGraph format called The Traveller) and it was stuffed full of improv veterans. And yet, it was the messiest, funniest, most joyful show I’ve been a part of for so long. I had tears streaming down my face. I broke multiple times in every scene. We were dangerously near hysterics, but we were swept along by a tide of generous giggles and belly laughs from an audience taking their support role to us performers seriously.

We all need shows like this. They feel like improv enemas - all the bullshit gets swept away and you’re left with a bunch of strangers in a room laughing at everything and nothing.

(Is that how enemas work? I’ve never had one.)

Rule of three

[Film] Human Traffic
I hadn’t seen this since I saw it in the cinema on release (1999). It’s a love letter to the club kids of the nineties (not a scene I was personally involved with but I was SURROUNDED by people who were). It’s messy, slightly cringe, energetic, disjointed, joyful and so specifically calibrated in its details. It made me nostalgic for a thing I never had.

[Book] The Crow Road
Let me tell you about The Crow Road. I first bought a copy in the mid-nineties when I was 14 - I read the first hundred pages, thought it was brilliant and then lost the book. About a decade later, I bought another copy - got about 120 pages in to that one and lost it again. I didn’t dare to buy another copy. A few days ago I bought an eBook edition (which was a potential expensive move if I lost my Kindle) and read it in a mad dash of enthusiasm. It’s beautifully written - it tells a multi-generational story of an overachieving Scottish family in and around Argyll and Bute. And because of the weird way I personally read it - it has this beautiful magic where I remember reading the bits where the characters are kids and empathising as a kid myself and then reading passages where they are in their 20s and onwards to middle age … and I remember the person I was reading it at all those times too. All across the timeline a Chris Mead opens a Crow Road and finds something that reflects his current experiences.

[Dance] Jumpin’ Jive
What is the greatest dance sequence ever committed to film? Well, it’s subjective obviously, but Fred Astaire (who was famously quite good at dancing) thought it was Jumpin’ Jive by the Nicolas Brothers from the film, Stormy Weather. Having watched it, I can only think Wow! and also Ouch!

Spotlight

It’s Pretend Night at the Omnibus this Saturday (not our usual Friday) 19th September.

We’re back with a bang and the following incredible guest acts.

The Bloopers
Musical improv scamps creating tuneful biopics of fringe historical figures. I know it’s a weird thing to say but the thing that really struck me when I saw their show was how great their singing voices were. This isn’t just a good natured attempt at musicality, they really have game. See them before they go supernova.

Dead End
Another outing for my limbo-set monoscene where the characters might ultimately be bound for heaven or hell. This time with a dream cast including Charlie Sharpe, Charlie Surgeon, Kim Kiernan and Bahar Ghodsian.

Life Sonata
This is The Pretend Company’s new format and we’re on a bit of a roll at the moment so I would really recommend you come and see us whilst we’re still firing on all theatrical cylinders.

All this improv for £10. Come spend a beautiful evening at a beautiful theatre with us.

Longform thoughts

Dear reader, I used to manage a Longform thought most weeks but lately it’s been the one aspect of the newsletter that seems to pretty consistently slip through my fingers. I’ve realised this is because I’ve somehow made myself believe that every article I bring you needs to be long and in-depth. But who wrote that rule? No one.

So this is my pledge to you, I am going to write a Longform thought every week for the next year. Some of them will indeed be long and full of insight (haha), some will be a single thought or just half an idea. Regardless, I will get something down every week.

The other thing is, I get more replies to the newsletter when I offer something to think about. And now that I’ve deleted my Facebook account completely and am in the process of shuttering my Instagram, this is the only community interaction I get. I’m also going to re-open comments on the online version of this page and offer goodies from my amazing Grand Pretend Prize Drawer full of knickknacks and wonders to a random commenter each week.

And MOST IMPORTANTLY I’m not going to judge myself too harshly.

For instance, I have decided this week that this very explanation is my Longform thought for the week.

Because good improv is rarely about content - it’s about momentum, energy, movement. It’s about offering an idea, any idea, that keeps the energy flowing. It’s not the decision you make, it’s the fact that you made a decision at all.

BOOM! Longform thought done.

And now for this week’s competition question - what would you like me to write about? Answers in the comments section. Radio Harold Mead is my new postmaster and will pick a random commenter each week to win some toot.

It’s pretty great toot though, to be fair.

Radio Contact

Radio likes heart-shaped biscuits.