Stephen Frost is one of those funny chaps you’ve seen on the improvisational comedy TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (the UK version hosted by Clive Anderson, not that US one hosted by the imposter, Drew Carey). Aside from being very tall, Frost is also very British, very cheerful, and a very fast speaker. He frequently cuts questions short and is more than up for a laugh. Such is the mind of a man who makes a living from instant comedy. We got him on the phone from England ahead of his trip to Hong Kong with the Whose Line crew.

 

That’s very kind of you. Long-time veteran. Now most people say old git. [Laughs]

 

But that’s the thing about improv – because it is fresh and different every time, it still makes us laugh. We don’t get tired – I remember doing stand-up and thinking, ‘I can’t do this material again, I’ve got to do something different’. With this, you can’t even think about what you’re going to do until you go on stage, and I think that’s what gives it its longevity.

 

Oh yeah, it’s much better. I’ve been watching repeats of Whose Line Is It Anyway? on TV – you know, when I had more hair and fancier shirts – but that’s five cameras, make sure you stand in the right place, two of you, it only had to last 30 seconds or 90 seconds or 60 seconds. It was very pared down and economic. This way we can go on for much longer, longer scenes, people can come and join in the scenes. So, basically, total freedom.

 

Well, I was only in the UK version, so obviously I will go for the UK. But I have to tell you, I do go to New York a lot, and we have done gigs in New York, and people come to us and say, ‘We much prefer the British’. Also, it was even more clinical, the American one. It was more people doing their thing – they’d get someone in who had a strong point, whereas we really did just mess around and make things up.

 

Extreme confidence, and knowledge of when to bite your tongue, because ripe language can be bantered across the stage at times. And when you’ve got to make something up or something surprises you, you’ve got to be careful – especially on TV – not to do the expletives… But on stage, you can say what you like and get a laugh. It’s two different techniques, and luckily I’m capable in both of them. If a Hong Kong TV station wants to do a Hong Kong version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? starring Stephen Frost, I’m your man.

 

[Laughs] M’goi? Xie xie? And, er, oh, I’ve got something else there. [Struggles to come up with anything] Yeah, never mind.

 

[Laughs] Well, I want to please everybody, you see.

 

You have got to have a great general knowledge, and also, the team that’s [coming to Hong Kong] – which is me, Andy Smart, Steve Steen, Richard Vranch and Ian Coppinger – not only are we all different in height, which is very funny, but we all have our own strengths, and knowledge of useless things is ideal, it’s essential. We’re mostly involved in theatre or work at night in clubs, which means we spend our time at home during the day, watching day-time TV, soaps, old black-and-white films, commercials, anything. So when we start talking, we’ve got reference points. Andy Smart has an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything. You ask him any question, he knows the answer. Richard Vranch is a trained nuclear physicist – he actually knows how to make a bomb.

 

No, I’m not – he knows how everything works, and also he’s a musician. I know every black-and-white film that was ever made, who directed it, who was in it, and the lines from it. Ian Coppinger is a very funny short man. And Steve Steen is a sage. He’s the Buddha of the unit. So you’re absolutely right: we do actually know a lot of stuff, which is no good to you unless you’re in a pub quiz or on stage doing improv.

 

Oh, you don’t want to get into a game of that with us. You don’t want to get in a game with us. That’s what we do when we’re not on stage.