Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe out to prove improv is for everyone as new show comes to Northampton

​He’s become one of the most popular figures in British comedy – but Kiell Smith-Bynoe remains a man on a mission.​

He is determined to make improvisational comedy cool. And to that end, he is coming to Northampton on May 1 with his new show, Kool Story Bro.

Millions of people will be familiar with Kiell through his role in the BBC mega-hit Ghosts. He played Mike, who lived with his wife Alison in a dilapidated country house. Alison could see the ghosts of people who had died on the premises over the centuries. Mike could not and was constantly bemused. Its final episode was the most-watched comedy programme of 2023 in the UK.

As well as Ghosts, there was Stath Lets Flats, a Channel 4 sitcom about a shambolic firm of letting agents. Kiell played the perpetually unimpressed Dean. The series won the Bafta award in 2020 for Best Scripted Comedy.

And there has been much else besides, including another ratings success, with Kiell becoming the presenter of BBC Two’s The Great British Sewing Bee last year.

But he has always had a love of improv – and in Kool Story Bro, he and his fellow performers will be taking tales from the audience and spinning them immediately into miniature comic masterpieces, with the help of a mystery guest. In previous shows, these have included Ghosts co-stars Mathew Baynton and Charlotte Ritchie, and the singer and actor Lily Allen. As the show was heading out on tour, Kiell spoke about what theatregoers can expect – and how he hopes to bring new audiences to improv.

Improv sounds quite a challenge for the performers. How do you find it?

I think it's my favourite thing to do. Stepping onto a stage and not knowing what's going to happen is much easier than stepping on some stage and hoping that you remember your lines. It's really about listening - you've just got listen to the stories and get the funniest part, the thing you really can expand on and doing that. I've been improvising since I was 14 years old - it's just such a thrill and so exciting, that buzz you feel of creating something and ideally, not only being good, but also being funny.

You’ve spoken about wanting to ‘make improv cool again’. Do you think it has an image problem?

Definitely. Improv is definitely not the go-to when people want comedy. I think it's been helped a little bit by some improv shows like Showstoppers [based on musicals] and Austentious [based on Jane Austen]. But I'm really trying to push that improv can be for everyone. You don't need have read Jane Austen, or to be a fan of musicals. It can just be people who enjoy comedy. And you can come and watch this show and relate and really have fun and have a good time. Improv has been thought of in the comedy world as a bit nerdy or geeky – it was referred to in an article I did recently as the ‘ugly stepsister of British comedy’. And I think there's an opportunity to make it more mainstream and show people how much fun it can be. That's what I'm trying to do.

How does the show go about doing that?

I think it's just about keeping it modern and being fun and having really interesting special guests, not people that you necessarily think of. Lily Allen isn't known for live comedy, and she came and did an amazing job. Getting them to all be in this space where we're creating something in the moment – I think it's really fun and really excites them.

How have you developed an an improv performer?

I always wanted to be an actor, but the places that I'm trained were very heavily improv based. So I went to Central Youth Theatre from the age of 11 to 18 and I went straight from there to East 15 Drama School which was all improv based. And then I came out of drama school and I joined an improv group and we did live shows. So I've always been I've always been an improviser at the same time as being an actor and wanting to act. I never thought I'd leave drama school and be in comedy - I thought I'd be doing serious plays. But I've always wanted to improvise. I've ticked off something I really wanted to do.

Did you have any sense that Ghosts would be as big as it became?

No. Ghosts had been the same director as series one and two of Stath. They called me in for an audition – I'd read the script and wanted it so much. I really wanted to make character as funny as possible. On the page, it was quite funny but not compared to the ghosts, for example. They were the real comedy element. But I really wanted to try and make the character as funny as possible. So I was looking between the lines and thinking about what I could be doing. There were huge chunks where Mike wouldn't be speaking because Alison was talking to the ghosts. I was looking through those and going, what can I do in between those lines and how can I still be doing something? I brought that to my audition, which they obviously really liked. And then we started off with series one, not knowing how it would go - and five series later it's one of the most loved comedies.

In real life, are you more like Dean from Stath Lets Flats or Mike from Ghosts?

I'm Mike on the surface – and Dean deep down.

Visit royalandderngate.co.uk or call 01604 624811 to book.