Grab your tickets for the upcoming Colin Mochrie (Whose Line is it Anyway?) and Brad Sherwood The Scared Scriptless Tour at The Ridgefield Playhouse next Saturday, Aug 28th after you read our chat with Colin about the show and other stuff like, “How do you always have a witty comeback?!”
Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood: The Scared Scriptless Tour The Ridgefield Playhouse, August 28th
The whole show is made up from audience participation. Honestly, is that ever scary? The show is called Scared Scriptless, so…there has to be a good story of a deer-in-the-headlights moment on stage! Do you always have a response?
That’s a question you should ask Brad because he always looks like he doesn’t know what the heck is going on! You know, it’s our job to do it, so for us, it’s always exciting. There’s nothing like walking on a stage filled with people in the audience who have paid money to see a show that you don’t actually have at that particular point. It’s the closest I get to skydiving without putting my life in danger. And the beauty is if for some reason I can’t think of anything, I’m never alone. I always have someone there with me and I’ll push off to Brad and then support whatever he comes up with. So far it’s worked out!
Who do you think is the funniest person ever?
Oh, good question! There’s so many. It’s such a personal thing. But, John Cleese was someone I always admired and who always made me laugh. I was a big Sid Caesar fan – now I’m going back into the last century. Younger listeners, get ready to Google! Jack Benny, Bob Hope, anyone who made me laugh I would just study and kind of fall in love with. I was a Dick Van Dyke fan, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, going back even farther. There’s just too many.
Name three things you won’t tour without…
My computer, my phone, and these days, Purell.
We just warmed up to talk to you – and you don’t want to see that…but how do you warm-up for a performance?
It’s sort of evolved over the years. When I was first starting out, you’d get together with whoever you’re working with and do little improv games. For a while, Brad and I would play cards back in the day and just relax. Now we play word games on our phones. The warm-up is just getting to a point where I can walk on stage with nothing; with no preconceived ideas, nothing planned, and just a really optimistic faith that it’s all gonna work out.
You were born in Scotland, and I (Bev) was born in Scotland…I wondered if you had any good Scottish jokes?
Oh my God, I feel like I should have jokes (laughs). I mean, my grandfather used to tell me a lot of jokes but they weren’t always appropriate. Sadly, I don’t! I feel horrible that one just didn’t pop into my mind!
So now he has homework! ?
Can you give our readers a sneak preview of the format of the night? Or one of the games you’ll play?
We like to say it’s like a live version of Whose Line [Is It Anyway?] without the tall guy and the black guy. It’s all games that may be familiar to fans of Whose Line, we’ve had to adapt a little because we don’t have a Drew Carey or Aisha Tyler to do the hosts. So we sort of fill in that duty, and again everything is from the audience.
We’ll do fan favorites like Sound Effects. We never really know until we get somewhere. A lot of the time we use the stage and go, “OK, that game won’t work here. We can use this game.” We’re always trying to come up with new games, so hopefully, there will be a new game. There’s nothing better than watching Brad and I struggle through a game we’ve never done before. We always hope it goes well.
What can we find you doing when you’re not working?
Just relaxing at home. My wife hasn’t cooked since 1990. So I get up and then I just figure out what the day’s meals are going to be. My wife has recently developed gluten problems, so it’s opened up this whole new area of cooking for me. I do the shopping, I relax around the house. I tend to be a homebody when I’m actually at home because it’s so rare; except for the last year and a half, which is the longest I’ve been home in over 20 years.
Favorite part about touring with Brad?
Oh…I don’t want to say anything nice about him. It’s been great touring with Brad, being able to do the show. We’ve gone all around the world with it. We’ve gone to India, Australia, New Zealand, Edinburgh, and in almost 20 years we’ve never had a disagreement. We both have the same sort of vision for the show, and respect for the show. We’ve gone on holidays together with our wives. It’s been a really good relationship. In some ways sometimes it’s almost like a sibling relationship because we do tend to make fun of each other quite a bit. But there’s a lot of affection there.
It’s just been a great time. We’ve gotten to see the world, we’ve gotten to go to amazing theatres and meet some great people, so I hope it keeps going!
What’s your least favorite part about touring with Brad, if any?
He is one of those people that if there’s a sign on the wall that says “Do not touch this,” he will go over and touch it. He’s very OCD, I mean it works out for me because he thinks of things I would never think about on a tour. And the smallest thing will throw him off, which for an improviser is weird.
We were doing a scene and then in the middle of the scene, he kind of stopped, picked up a ladybug that he saw on the floor and took it to the edge of the stage so we wouldn’t step on it. I thought, what just happened?
You’re a good partnership!
Interview: Lora + Bev/photos provided by Jonas Public Relations
http://www.colinandbradshow.com
Colin Mochrie – Instagram @colinmochrie7591, Twitter @colinmochrie
Brad Sherwood – Instagram @thebradsherwood, Twitter @TheBradSherwood
Colin is hilarious!
Love this interview. It’s light, bright and engaging. Just what I needed today. Love Colin, too. He’s an international treasure!