It will be a stand-up throw-down tonight, as the TakeOut Comedy Club has thrown down the gauntlet to the American Community Theatre. For its first ImprOlympics, a team of local comics will slug it out against ACT actors in an improvisational battle to decide which is the funnier group. Lest you think the TakeOut comedians (pictured clockwise from top left: Chris Coleman, David Cheung, Sean Coleman and Vince Matthew Chung) will have the upper hand, ACT says some of its thespians are well versed in the humorous ad lib too.

'Initially we approached [TakeOut's] Jami Gong to use his space to rehearse,' ACT 'coach' Micha Sparrow said. 'Then the idea of a theatre sports competition evolved. It was something I talked about with another member, Steve Smeed. He did some live comedy coaching in Canada and we thought this would be a good idea to introduce to Hong Kong.'

The two teams will be thrown into various situations to test their wit and verve. One thing Sparrow resisted was to be drawn into trash-talk against the stand-up guys. 'I've seen them all and they're funny. We'll let the audience decide. But we do have the only woman on the teams. Her name is Ambyr Dunn and she's fearless, which is a great quality. You have to take what's given.'