Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe 'developing 100 percent improvised' comedy show for TV
Kiell Smith-Bynoe is set to record a pilot for his hit live show Kool Story Bro, which is touring across the UK.
Kiell Smith-Bynoe is developing his "100 percent improvised" comedy show for television.
The Ghosts actor, who has taken his hit format to the Edinburgh Fringe and across the UK over the last few years, is set to record a special episode of Kool Story Bro at Deptford's Albany Theatre on September 30.
Production company Expectation, who has worked on the likes of Alma's Not Normal and The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan, is calling for stories to inspire the upcoming live show.
The special recording won't be broadcast, but is being treated as a TV pilot with goals for a full commission.
Anyone wanting to contribute a story can email koolstory@expectationtv.com.
The listing for the event on the venue's page says: "Kiell Smith-Bynoe (star of Ghosts, Taskmaster and Stath Lets Flats) is bringing his smash hit improv comedy show to the Albany for a one off recorded special."
The audience have bene promised "a surprise celebrity guest" and "a cast of some of the UK's best improvisors", with the audience's stories "inspiring the comedy".
Kool Story Bro involves audience members sharing real stories from their own lives, which are then turned into a longer narrative by improv stars and a famous face.
Over the years, the likes of Saturday Night Live UK's Emma Sidi have featured in the core team, along with Robert Gilbert, Lola-Rose Maxwell and more.
Mo Gilligan, Frankie Boyle, Rose Matafeo and Guz Khan have appeared as special guests, as well as Kiell's Ghosts castmates Mathew Baynton and Charlotte Ritchie.
After the one-off recording, Kiell will take Kool Story Bro back on tour across the UK, starting with a show at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds on October 6.
He previously described the show to The British Blacklist as: "Completely 100 per cent improvised. There's nothing pre-planned or prepared.
"We come out onto the stage with nothing, and then we make it all up on the spot with the help of the audience. You don't see a lot of people doing that. When I speak to other stand-up comedians about it, they are terrified."
Kiell noted that sometimes it can be "quite difficult to book guests" because of the control the audience has on such a long-form piece of comedy.
He added: "It also makes it quite difficult to book guests because people think they have to improvise, but the guests literally talk to the audience, and we improvise based on that.
"I have seen and done short-form improv with audience interaction, but not in this way. It's a huge risk that's paid off."
Kiell played Mike Cooper in Ghosts from 2019 to 2023, and he is set to reprise his role in new feature film Ghosts: The Possession of Button House.
He's also set to appear in upcoming movie Wicker in an as yet unconfirmed role alongside Olivia Colman,
His toher TV credits include Friday Night Dinner, Enterprice, Death in Paradise, Would I Lie To You?, Richard Osman's House of Games and Taskmaster.
