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Viv Hardwick interviews Ian McLaughlin about finding improvised success
IT'S taken seven years, but the Newcastle-based comedy troupe The Suggestibles have become one of the in-demand acts on the stand-up circuit. . . even if founder Ian McLaughlin still sees himself as a part-time purveyor of fun.
Asked if he has the ideal name tomake people chuckle, McLaughlin smiles and says: "I was born to make people laugh.
Although, normally I have to point this out to people.
"One of the strengths of our group is that we don't do this full-time. It's not a hobby, more of a passion, perhaps more of an addiction. You do get hooked on improvisation, " he says.
The bedrock of the improvised humour act has been put down by playing the last Friday of every month at the Cumberland Arms, Ouseburn, Newcastle, for years.
"It pretty much fits in our diaries because we're made up of actors and filmmakers and all have day jobs, " says McLaughlin of a show which features his partner Bev Fox, Carl Kennedy, Gary Kitching and Robert Davidson.
He and Fox started doing improvisation when theymoved to London 30...