SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 22, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — At one point during our phone interview, I asked improvisational comedian Colin Mochrie who would play him in a movie about this life.
“George Clooney would probably be my first choice,” he quickly responded, before adding: “Bill Murray….” And there are definitely similarities; Mr. Murray, like Mr. Mochrie, has devoted his career to deadpan comedy with a side order of droll.
Gephardt Daily had the privilege of speaking with Mochrie, the Scottish-born Canadian actor, writer and comedian best known for his appearances on both the U.S. and British versions of “Whose Line is it Anyway?”
Mochrie honed his comedic skills with Toronto’s Second City theater, then spent seven years as a regular on the British version of “Whose Line,” and remained a cast member until the show ended in 1998. He then appeared on the U.S. version of the show, in every episode from 1998 to its final show in 2006. In 2013, the CW revived “Whose Line” and Mochrie also was part of that show.
He has also appeared in dozens of films and TV series as well as theater shows, and has written for and performed at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. In 2007, he hosted the Canadian version of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”
Since 2002, Mochrie and fellow “Whose Line” co-star Brad Sherwood have intermittently toured the U.S. in a show that was initially called “An Evening With Colin and Brad.” As of 2018, it plays in larger venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London and Sydney Opera House and is called the “Scared Scriptless Tour.” The two improvise new material every night from audience suggestions and participation. They will be bringing the show to the Eccles Theater in downtown Salt Lake City on June 9.
Mochrie, speaking to me from his home in Toronto, told me more about the “Scared Scriptless” tour.
“We like to have sort of like a live version of ‘Whose Line’ without the dead weight, I’m talking about Wayne [Brady] and Ryan [Stiles,]” Mochrie joked. “So it’s games that will be familiar to fans of ‘Whose Line,’ then there’s games we’ve had to adapt because it’s just two of us, we don’t have the host. It’s even more interactive than the TV show. We have audience members on stage with us doing things. It’s just a couple of hours of goofy fun.”
Mochrie added that he’s glad so many people connected with “Whose Line.” “We count our blessings, it has given us a career, allowed us to do a job that didn’t exist when we’re growing up,” he said. “So yeah, ‘Whose Line’ is very important to me.”
Mochrie said he rarely if ever gets nervous before shows.
“I mean, there’s a little, I don’t even, I guess it’s like anticipation, excitement when you realize you’re walking out onto a stage in front of an audience who paid good money to see a show that you don’t actually have at that particular point,” he said. “So there’s that sort of ‘Oh, Oh, I’m sure this will work out, and it usually does.”
As well as the show with Sherwood, Mochrie is also the co-creator of “Hyprov: Improv Under Hypnosis.” The 100-minute live show, which begins a residency in Las Vegas June 15 and also tours, sees a hypnotist welcome a group of volunteers to the stage, who are then hypnotized. The most receptive “Hyprovisors” then create an instant improv troupe along with Mochrie and a rotating cast of other professionals, and perform the rest of the show hypnotized. The show was initially performed at Second City in Toronto in 2016, before the cast embarked on a 50-city tour in 2019; it also played Off-Broadway in 2022. The show will be at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City from Nov. 24 to 26 this year.
“We’ve been doing that for a couple of years,” Mochrie said. “I’m working with a hypnotist, Asad Mecci, he asks for 20 volunteers. He hypnotizes them, gets down to the best four or five, then I form an improv troupe and do an improv show,” Mochrie said. “What could go wrong?” He added: “They become pure improvisers. They just immediately react to everything I say. And a lot of times they say things that I don’t think like real improvisers would say. It’s truly comedy of the moment or the stream of consciousness for them.”
Mochrie said there’s many moments that stand out from this show.
“There’s so many; there was one where we do a superhero scene where I’m looking for a sidekick,” he said. “And one of the applicants was Sharky Boy, who used to be a villain, and I said, ‘Oh, you know you were one of the most vicious villains the world has ever known. Why did you decide to become a good guy?’ And he said, ‘I got kids.’ I thought, wow, OK.”
I also asked Mochrie if he thinks there’s a certain type of person that it’s easier to hypnotize.
“Yeah, I guess more people… the kind of person who gets really involved when they’re watching like a tearjerker, or a horror movie where they get really involved in the story,” he said. “Those people who tend to be hypnotized easier. They just have that mindset where it’s easy for them to get into that sort of space.”
On the other hand, he said, in his opinion there’s not a personality type that is better suited to improv.
“I don’t think so,” Mochrie said. “I mean, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to improvise with different people all around the world, and they run the gamut from people who are very introverted offstage to very extroverted people. Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be a particular characteristic except I guess a willingness just to make a fool of yourself.”
Mochrie also spoke about the things other than work that bring him joy.
“Just spending time with my wife and daughter. When the pandemic happened, that was, I think the first time in like 20 years where I was home for a long time, and I was very happy to find out that my wife and I still get along,” he said. “And I do all the cooking at home. So I always, when I get home, that’s kind of my day figuring out what I’m making for dinner. My wife has some dietary issues, so it’s a great challenge, so those kind of things….”
I also asked Mochrie if he’s been to Salt Lake before. He said he and Sherwood were last here eight or nine years ago.
“We usually just get in, do the show and then leave and it’s usually sort of couched between other shows,” he said. “So we rarely get to see the place that we’re working in. But I was fortunate enough to, I was, I did a movie in Utah, in Provo, so I got a chance to go to Salt Lake City to sort of be a tourist a little bit, which was nice.” He added of the movie: “It’s called ‘Villains.’ About the sidekicks to a villain. He gets killed and so now they’re looking for work. A lot of fun.” Mochrie was in Provo for about a month, then the pandemic hit just before filming was completed so there was a two-year hiatus then they finished the project.
He also spoke about what else is on his bucket list to do or achieve.
“Well, I’ve always had the secret desire and I don’t think it’ll ever happen,” he said. “But I always wanted to do an action movie, because I always felt you know, most action heroes, you know, they’re going to make it and save the day. But I think if I was the action hero, you wouldn’t be quite sure, you’d be constantly worried about me, whether my knees were gonna give out… So, think that would be fun.”
For more information about Mochrie and Sherwood’s show “Scared Scriptless” at the Eccles Theater June 9, click here, and for more information about their “Hyprov” show, and its Utah run, click here.
