HAVE you heard the one about the radiation physicist, the Oxford don, the improvisational comedian, the actor, the pianist, the voice-over man, the television presenter, the panel-game regular, the scriptwriter, the corporate-film maker and the cartoonist? Amazingly, they can all be found in one entertainer: take a bow, the talented Mr Vranch . . . that's Richard Vranch, coming soon to a club near you.
A man of considerable, unsuspected depth, even to those familiar with him through British television's Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Vranch is part of a five-man team bringing a version of that rib-endangering, improvisational comedy show to Hong Kong. He insists, however, that the travelling show is much more of an experience, for participants and audiences, than its TV cousin.
'Watching improvised comedy on TV is like watching two people s*******,' said Vranch from London. 'You get the idea, but you're not part of it. Improv. comedy is essentially a live event, and if you're there in the audience you can contribute. It's a two-way thing, the audience is part of the show.
'There are five blokes taking suggestions from the crowd, and immediately going off into 'routines', some of which can last half an hour. It's totally spontaneous,' he said. 'Unlike in stand-up comedy, the teamwork can take you places you'd never get to alone . . . unless you were using excessive drugs. And Stephen Frost, Steve Steen, Jim Sweeney and Andy Smart are phenomenal - they must have a total of 100 years' experience.
'Each show is unique; you could come back the following night and see that we really were making it up. There's also that kind of excitement you get watching a circus tightrope walker: you don't want them to fail, but you know they might. If something goes horribly wrong on TV, you can always cut it. TV doesn't like to frighten people.' Such comedy in the raw has other advantages over television too. 'You can be more topical,' said Vranch, 'and you can be rude about people like Jeffrey Archer and Andrew Lloyd Webber because you know they're not going to sue. This is less sanitised; and although it's not usually filthy, it can be, depending on what the audience wants. There's no chairman, no buzzer, no points - none of that structure television needs.' The live show's rapid-fire nature is the perfect outlet for the highly creative, energetic Vranch. And he has more of a starring role than on camera: in the Channel 4 show, he wasn't usually seen until the credits were about to roll, when the host blurted, 'And-on-the-piano-Richard-Vranch-and-this-is-me-Clive-Anderson-saying-goodnight. Goodnight.' 'On stage, I come out from behind the piano and join in on some of the action,' said Vranch. 'The feedback has always been good too: people have asked, 'Why the hell didn't you do that on TV?' But TV needed someone to play the piano - and I suppose the weather person doesn't read the news.' But wasn't it a long (and unlikely) route from academe to his niche in comedy clubs? 'I did a PhD in radiation physics at Cambridge University, and later lectured at Oxford. So I can never lose the boat race!' said Vranch. 'But I was a don for only nine months; as a student I'd had time to write and perform. I didn't as an academic, so one of them had to go, and it didn't take many seconds to decide which one. Going into show business is always a risk - but the physics was 20 years ago, and I couldn't fall back on it now.' The risk has paid huge dividends. From joining London's Comedy Store Players in 1986, Vranch has enjoyed a career as writer, actor and presenter, and sometimes all at once, on The Paul Merton Show, The Rory Bremner Show, The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball and even Jackanory. He presented a Channel 4 popular science show called Beat That Einstein, and BBC Radio 4 programmes for the Open University. He has even made Italian television commercials for ice-cream, written corporate films for chemist chain Boots, presented one-man show Mexico! at last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, toured the Middle East with the British Council's English Teaching Theatre, and, with Lucy Allen, contributed cartoons to satirical magazine Punch. And that's about half of his CV.
But after all that, improvisational comedy - and travel - remain his greatest passions. 'This is the perfect job for me,' said Vranch. 'I'd choose improv any day, and doing this I can combine the two. And if I couldn't do the comedy, I'd probably be a sailor.' Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Punchline Comedy Club (in English). Apr 11-15, 9pm. The Viceroy, Wan Chai. $280. Tel: 2805 2804 or 2317 6666