<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Paul Merton has suggested that he feels like an outsider in the comedy world because he primarily works through improvisation. The Have I Got News For You panellist begins a two-month national theatre tour titled Paul Merton&amp;#039;s Impro Chums at the Basingstoke Anvil on April 23. Merton told The Times of the attitude towards his style: &amp;quot;&amp;#039;Oh! Improvisation!&amp;#039; they say. They dismiss it because it can be naff in the wrong hands but also because you don&amp;#039;t have to do any work. &amp;quot;Perhaps the only golden rule is that whatever you do it has got to be entertaining to the audience.&amp;quot; Regarding the poor reception to his TV improv show Thank God You&amp;#039;re Here, he added: &amp;quot;To the higher-ups at ITV, it made sense to have someone in the programme who couldn&amp;#039;t do it but was well known. &amp;quot;So we had a couple of people - soap-opera stars, young actresses - who really shouldn&amp;#039;t have been in it. You really need to have experience and confidence. And a couple of them didn&amp;#039;t, and it wasn&amp;#039;t their fault.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a214068/paul-merton-people-dismiss-improv/>