With almost 30 years in the business, improvisational comedian Colin Mochrie has gotten his act down cold -- cold enough that he prefers zero preparation at all before a show.
Mochrie is one half of comedic duo featured in the OnCenter's Sept. 25 show, "Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood: Two Man Group." The two are best know for their appearances in the Emmy-nominated "Whose Line Is It Anyway?," which ran from 1998 to 2007 and was picked back again by The CW last summer.
Thursday's show will bring this improv comedy television series to the stage. Or, to use Mochrie's words, "It's a live version without the tall guy and black guy." Tickets for the family-friendly performance are available online are through the OnCenter's Solvay Bank Box Office by calling 315-435-2121.
Here's what Mochrie had to say about improv, "Whose Line," and his upcoming OnCenter appearance:
If you go back to your involvement in the British version of "Whose Line," you've been doing improv since the 1980s. What is it about improv that makes you keep coming back?
I guess part of it is it's always new. Even if we always play the same games, every audience gives us a different show with their suggestions. It's not like we're a band and we just do our greatest hits each time we do a show. Every show, every game is totally different. So it keeps it fresh, it keeps it exciting because we still have no idea what we're going to do that particular night. And it keeps us on our toes.
Is that why you prefer improv to any other type of comedy?
Yeah. And also I'm lazy. With improv, you don't have to plan anything. You just make it up as you go along. Standup you have to write. It's just too much work.
Does working with the same people for so long make it easier or harder to keep things funny and fresh?
It makes it easier in a lot of ways. A big part of improv is being able to trust the people that you're working with. And with the guys from "Whose Line," with Brad, I've known them for years and I feel really comfortable on stage with them. Even if I'm not sure what direction they're going in, I trust them enough to follow along to see what happens. So it really does help.
When you're up on stage, where do you get you ideas? Is this a completely spur-of-the-moment thing? Or are there some tropes that always work to get an audience reaction?
No, we've actually found that our show works the best if we can get out on stage with absolutely nothing. So basically we go out on stage and for two hours we're in survival mode, trying to make whatever we get out of the audience into something that's funny and fun for everyone. We find that's worked the best for us over the 11 years. We've actually got it down to not doing any work at all before the show. We just show up and do it.
Especially given that The CW rebooted "Whose Line" last year, have you noticed any changes in the audience for improv comedy over the years?
With our particular show, our audiences have actually been getting younger over the years. And I have to thank YouTube for that. Kids who weren't around for the first show caught up with it on YouTube, and that got the interest going.
And since we began "Whose Line" to now, audiences are a little more savvy. When we started, people didn't really know what improv was. It was still a fairly new art form. Now, there's improv groups performing at comedy clubs all around the country.
Do you think "Whose Line" contributed to this?
Yeah, it certainly helped. When Drew (Carey) put the show on the air, it became quite a little success story. It got people excited about improv. My thing will always be, "Whose Line" was sort of an introduction to improv. It's not the end all and be all. There's many types of improv out there -- long form, different themes of improv. I think "Whose Line" was a great stepping stone into the next level of improv. I think got people talking about it. It sort of gave improv a face. I'm actually quite proud of that aspect of "Whose Line."
When you think about the original U.S. show with Drew Carey and compare it to The CW's reboot, do any major differences stand out?
It's all the same production people and most of the same crew, so the actual filming and performing of the show is basically the same. The CW is also sort of using it as a showcase for its performers and other shows. So that's been a bigger change. There's always a fourth improviser with us, and sometimes I think it gets shortchanged by having a guest do so many games. We're certainly not adverse to guests coming on and performing, but sometimes I think they overplay it a little. I'm hoping they sort of let than that lessen over the next season. But we'll see.
And how about the show that's coming to Syracuse -- is there anything you can do with that you can't on the show?
The great thing about our show is, when you're on television, everything has to be in three to four minute bits. Everything has to be really fast, and really jokey and schticky. And in the show with Brad, we have more time. We have scenes that go 10, 15 minutes, so we can really milk the comedy cow and make sure we get the most that we can.
Aside from that, it's basically just a longer version of "Whose Line." It's still family-friendly -- a lot of families come see the show. We do the world's most dangerous improv game, where we're blindfolded and barefoot, walking on a hundred live mousetraps. Which is just as stupid as it sounds. Audiences love it. We've tried to get rid of it, but no, the audience wants to see us hurt ourselves.
Have you ever seriously hurt yourself on that?
There has been blood drawn a couple of times. But it's usually Brad's, so I'm fine with it.