Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, veterans of the wildly popular television show Whose Line is it Anyway? will appear May 18 at Niswonger Performing Arts Center.
Brad Sherwood says he and Colin Mochrie have some idea what is going to happen when they take the stage for their popular comedy improv show, although what “some idea” means might be somewhat vague.
“We are literally flying by the seat of our pants” during their live performances, he told SML. “The best way to describe it is, we hand the keys to the audience” and see where the inspiration takes them.
Sherwood may be best known for his 13 seasons on the cult-classic and Emmy-nominated television show ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’—“the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.”
Sherwood and Mochrie—who appeared on every episode of the Drew Carey-hosted version of “Whose Line is It? …” from its debut in August 1998 to its finale in 2006—will bring their live show to Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Greeneville, Tennessee, on Saturday, May 18.
What he’s paid to do
Sherwood was born in Chicago and grew up in Santa Fe. He said he was the class clown as a child—“I like making people laugh”—and he earned a BFA in acting from Wright State University before spending years beating the pavement for jobs in Los Angeles.
People of a certain age might recall seeing him in a recurring role on the hit show L.A. Law in the early ‘90s, when he portrayed a nanny for two of the key characters. That gig lasted for six episodes in 1991 and 1992.
Sherwood was introduced to improv after being encouraged to attend a comedy class in Los Angeles, and fell in love with that “seat of the pants” feeling that is at the heart of all great improvisation.
“Oh, you’re getting paid to do what you did for your whole life,” is what his grandparents would say in response to his improv career, he said.
Get In On the act
Asked how audiences react when watching him and Mochrie live rather than through the intimate closeness of the television screen, Sherwood said it works well. “In most theaters which are designed to have plays, they can still see facial expressions.”
For some die-hard improv fans it may be a once-in-a-lifetime event. “It’s the same as listening to your favorite album and then going to see the band live,” he said. You’re familiar with it; you’re ready to be entertained; and you are ready in case something special happens.
“It’s all in a style that they absolutely love” if the audience is filled with fans of Whose Line is It?, he said. And if you aren’t a fan—well, why are you there?
“The people who are going to come see us are Whose Line fans,” he admitted.
But what occurs onstage at Niswonger isn’t exactly Whose Line, he said. “We try to just make the show, content wise, different. We know we can get laughs in any way possible,” but it pays to mix things up, including bringing audience members on stage to take part.
That works best, he said, if the volunteer is “committed to doing something good” as part of the team. “We never force anyone on stage.”
And yes, “sometimes they are drunk, for sure. Sometimes that can be sublime, or a hindrance.”
“We write our set list down when we get to the theater. We look at the venue, see the place. We do a sound check and a light check. I always want to come in and see what the theater looks like,” Sherwood said.
Is the show OK for kids?
“Our show is rated barely PG,” he said.