Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Jim Henson Idea Man
Back to the Rock Season 2
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends BookNew article from the paper today...
When was Greg Brady on Who's Line?
Comic duo rely on audience to keep improv clicking
OK, you'll need a friend for this. Here's the situation: A journalist interviews an improv comic. You, on the left, you're the journalist. Go!
... All right, stop! That's just not working for me. Everybody with a computer and an itch may be a journalist. But improvisational comedy is a skill that requires training and practice. Plus, it helps if you're really funny.
Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, two of the stars of the hit ABC-TV series "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" which ran from 1998-2004, have continued making it up as they go along with their successful improvisation stage show, quite unimaginatively titled "An Evening with Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood".
"Whose Line Is It Anyway?" was the American version of the British show of the same title which ran from 1998-98 and had several of the same stars, including Mochrie, who joined Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady, and host Drew Carey for the American version; and Sherwood, who appeared in 55 of the 127 American episodes (he shared the revolving fourth-comic spot with Greg Proops, Charles Esten, and various guests).
It's a Monday, and Sherwood is at his Los Angeles home. He's got this interview, then he's off to audition for a hosting gig for a new game show (he was host of "The Dating Games" in 1996-97).
Weekend performances of "An Evening With Nabisco Snack Fairy and Out-of-Work Game Show Host" have kept Sherwood and Mochrie touring together for the last four years.
The rules of improv comedy require performers to simultaneously support and betray their partners ("just like marriage" say all you amateur improvisers out there).
It's up to each participant to keep the improv ball rolling so the game doesn't fizzle out. But the real objective is to say something so funny, outrageous or off-the-wall that the other guy can't think up a comeback. He/she dissolves into laughter; you look like a comic genius.
"I always make the analogy that improv-ing with some is like building sand castles and trying to have a snowball fight at the same time," Sherwood says. "You are working to create something. While at the same time you're trying to trip each other up. It's like sword fighting with pies."
Acting classes use improv games to teach actors to stay in character and think on their feet. Such games were the basis of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" For instance, there's the Alphabet Game, where the participants carry on a conversation by trading sentences that each begin with a subsequent letter of the alphabet ("Anyone home?" "Behind the plant." "Can you come out?" "Do you dare me?")
Audience participation is a must in improv shows, ranging from asking for suggestions ("Give us an unusual occupation.") to pulling some poor shlub on stage to involve him in a game, such as creating rap about his life (check out the infamous Sherwood-Mochrie rap with Karl Rove on YouTube).
In improv, the things that don't work can get this biggest laughs.
"When it's going great, that's super," Sherwood says. "When it's not, you make fun of what isn't working and turn that into something funny."
Improv works best with a live audience, Sherwood says. He says TV audiences always suspected the improv games were pre-rehespammerd (they weren't, says the co-presenter of "An Evening With the Guys Who Hastened Karl Rove's Departure by Making Him Rap").
Live audiences can see that the improv-ers are working without a safety net.
"There is a magical element to creating stuff right up on the spot," Sherwood says.
OK, you'll need a friend for this. Here's the situation: A journalist interviews an improv comic. You, on the left, you're the journalist. Go!
... All right, stop! That's just not working for me. Everybody with a computer and an itch may be a journalist. But improvisational comedy is a skill that requires training and practice. Plus, it helps if you're really funny.
Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, two of the stars of the hit ABC-TV series "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" which ran from 1998-2004, have continued making it up as they go along with their successful improvisation stage show, quite unimaginatively titled "An Evening with Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood".
"Whose Line Is It Anyway?" was the American version of the British show of the same title which ran from 1998-98 and had several of the same stars, including Mochrie, who joined Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady, and host Drew Carey for the American version; and Sherwood, who appeared in 55 of the 127 American episodes (he shared the revolving fourth-comic spot with Greg Proops, Charles Esten, and various guests).
It's a Monday, and Sherwood is at his Los Angeles home. He's got this interview, then he's off to audition for a hosting gig for a new game show (he was host of "The Dating Games" in 1996-97).
Weekend performances of "An Evening With Nabisco Snack Fairy and Out-of-Work Game Show Host" have kept Sherwood and Mochrie touring together for the last four years.
The rules of improv comedy require performers to simultaneously support and betray their partners ("just like marriage" say all you amateur improvisers out there).
It's up to each participant to keep the improv ball rolling so the game doesn't fizzle out. But the real objective is to say something so funny, outrageous or off-the-wall that the other guy can't think up a comeback. He/she dissolves into laughter; you look like a comic genius.
"I always make the analogy that improv-ing with some is like building sand castles and trying to have a snowball fight at the same time," Sherwood says. "You are working to create something. While at the same time you're trying to trip each other up. It's like sword fighting with pies."
Acting classes use improv games to teach actors to stay in character and think on their feet. Such games were the basis of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" For instance, there's the Alphabet Game, where the participants carry on a conversation by trading sentences that each begin with a subsequent letter of the alphabet ("Anyone home?" "Behind the plant." "Can you come out?" "Do you dare me?")
Audience participation is a must in improv shows, ranging from asking for suggestions ("Give us an unusual occupation.") to pulling some poor shlub on stage to involve him in a game, such as creating rap about his life (check out the infamous Sherwood-Mochrie rap with Karl Rove on YouTube).
In improv, the things that don't work can get this biggest laughs.
"When it's going great, that's super," Sherwood says. "When it's not, you make fun of what isn't working and turn that into something funny."
Improv works best with a live audience, Sherwood says. He says TV audiences always suspected the improv games were pre-rehespammerd (they weren't, says the co-presenter of "An Evening With the Guys Who Hastened Karl Rove's Departure by Making Him Rap").
Live audiences can see that the improv-ers are working without a safety net.
"There is a magical element to creating stuff right up on the spot," Sherwood says.
When was Greg Brady on Who's Line?
