Whose Live Anyway?

I was a big fan of the show Whose Line is it Anyway?  Now, for those who do not remember, the show started off on BBC radio, and then moved to the TV.  Clive Anderson was the host of the British TV show, and there were a variety of guests, all of whom were improvisational comedians.  Clive would take suggestions from the audience and then the guests who improvise little scenes based on the suggestions.  The comedians were a mix of British and Americans.

When the British version went off the air, it was brought to the US by Drew Carey, who acted as the host, and again with a variety of guest comedians.

And now…..

Whose Live Anyway?

A travelling show, featuring two of the staples of the TV shows, Ryan Stiles and Greg Proops, and two other performers who, at least they claim, appeared on the show.  They didn't say which one.

However, who is in it is not really all that important, though the familiar faces make it easy to believe that the show will be good.

Was it, you ask?

Yes.

90 minutes of Improv, and good improv.

They did take audience suggestions, and one of the funnier things was the comedians trying to make out what the audience was shouting.  I think it got too much, because towards the end, Greg Proops came right out to the front of the stage and tried getting suggestions from specific audience members in the first few rows.  Greg had his anti-heckler hat on and while not being rude, at one point, after a man yelled something from the back of the audience, he looked up…

"I'm not talking to you Mr. White Male Privilege."

And he followed it up with a hand gesture of a mouth closing.

Probably the funniest bit was the pose-able comedian bit.  They brought up two audience members, and then improvised a scene about two artists at the Pecan Street Festival.  Few outside of Austin are going to know that the Pecan Street Festival is a local arts festival that happens on Sixth Street, which used to be named Pecan Street.  The two ladies had to move the comedians about, since they stood completely still unless their arms were moved…and their legs.  It led to lots of hilarious poses.

They did a piece where they made two audience members provide sound effects.  Jeff B. Davis improvised a song for an audience member whose son called her a demon unicorn.  They also did a bit called "New Choice" that I had never seen before, where two comedians did a scene and at random a third would say "New Choice" and that meant that the actor who said the previous line had to come up with a line with a different choice.  It worked very well.

Before the show, they gave about 20 people in the audience strips of paper and pens and asked them to write down a line of dialogue on the paper.  They then collected the paper, and improvised a skit, while randomly pulling out and reading a line from a strip.  This was hilarious, because in virtually all cases, the lines on the strips had nothing to do with what they had been improvising, which meant that the skit kept making abrupt turns.

Unfortunately, there are only two more dates in this Tour, and they are in Las Vegas next weekend, but if you get a chance, I can highly recommend Whose Live Anyway.