James Rampton on comedy

As even a cursory glance at the guest-list on Whose Line Is It Anyway? will tell you, American comedians (Mike McShane, Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie) are very much over here. In fact, you sometimes wonder if there can be any improvisational performers left Stateside. Perhaps the best of the bunch is Greg Proops (right), who has carved out for himself a considerable career in Britain as a stand-up. Describing himself as anything from Elvis Costello to Buddy Holly to one of the Proclaimers, this slim man with the thick-rimmed spectacles has the sort of relaxed, off-the-cuff style you'd expect from such an accomplished practitioner on Whose Line?. He riffs at length on a given subject - anything from fish and chips to the Punic Wars - rather than rattling off pre- prepared gags at a rate of knots. He is, by the by, one of the world's most capable stand-ups when it comes to putting down hecklers. He majors on the absurdities of the British. "It's your apologetic nature that's so weird," he told me last year, "that over-developed sense of embarrassment." But his own countrymen do not by any means get off scot-free. He once had a great laugh at the ridiculous notion of Keanu Reeves playing Buddha in Bertolucci's film, Little Buddha.

Greg Proops comperes an all-American bill featuring Will Durst and Deb & Mike at the Red Rose Cabaret, Plimsoll Arms, London N4 (0181-675 3819) tonight and tomorrow, 9pm