Subject: Messageboard Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 00:37:30 +1000 From: Mark Longmuir To: Mark Longmuir Jenna: Phone interview with Colin, btw, it's a bit long..... (14-Jul-1999 02:09:28) Jules: Nice interview, Jenna! Thanks for all the typing! (n/t) (14-Jul-1999 02:16:23) Jessie: Dog? proof yet again the man has good taste ;) (not that I'm biased ... no ... me? ... never ... *G*) Thanks Jenna!! (n/t) (14-Jul-1999 08:28:37) Nick: Thank you for the transcript :-) (n/t) (14-Jul-1999 11:22:40) Wayne: thanks Jenna... Salty Monkey, mmmmm :) btw, could those Kiwis be any more original with their TV stations names? :) (n/t) (14-Jul-1999 17:29:05) Dean: Whaddaya mean? As well as TV1, TV2, TV3 and TV4 we have Prime and Sky, so hows that for originality! (n/t) (15-Jul-1999 14:31:05) -- Mark Longmuir - longmuir@labyrinth.net.au Homepage: http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~longmuir/ Whose Line is it Anyway? - http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/8451 "Stop tap dancing, you fool!" --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Image] [Image] Whose Board is it, Anyway? Phone interview with Colin, btw, it's a bit long..... Wednesday, 14-Jul-1999 02:09:28 202.49.46.2 writes: This is from the New Zealand Herald from, I don't know, a while ago?: Colin Mochrie is sometimes reluctant to take ownership of his more unusual performances on the improvisation comedy television show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? "Every once in a while I watch it," says the Canadian actor, a stalwart of the team of superb ad-libbers on the English original and American version of the show. "There are times I think, 'Who is that and wheer did that come from?'" The master of the art acknowledges spontaneous comedy has it's dangers. All that free association can produce uncomfortable results for a perfectly normal and upright citizen. "I feel I'm a very well-adjusted person. I love my wife and my child and my dog and we have a really good life. And then I see myself having sex with a squirrel or something and I think, 'Who is that?' It's just not right." The next revelation is just as surprising. The man who never seems short of a good impromptu line on the telly says in life he's often at a loss for words. "I'm very uneasy in life. I'm very shy and I don't do well in one-to-one conversations and meeting people. If I could just meet them on the stage I think I'd be more relaxed." This phone chat with Mochrie at home in Toronto is going fine. But the performer who has audiences hooting at his antics comes up with another example of his bashfulness. "I can't, in the middle of a busy street, start walking like a dinosaur." Mochrie, who has been on the show in England since 1990, has just finished taping this years second series of the American version. The English show, hosted by Clive Anderson, screens here on TV3. It first appeared on TV One, switched to TV Two and then was picked up by TV Four. For the record, TV2 now has the American version, hosted by Comedian Drew Carey. Stepping out for the first time in front of a British studio audience was nerve-racking for the Canadian who successfully auditioned for a role when producers were talent-scouting in North America. "I thought this was a totally different audience, they're not going to understand me. Then I realised that big faces and big schtick translate everywhere." How did Mochrie come up with his amazing face-pulling repertoire? "I guess I always had a rubbery face, it just came naturally." Improv has always been his favourite form of work, says the 41 year old, bitten by the acting bug in high school. "There's a real adrenalin rush to it, it's just so much fun. And basically I'm a very lazy person so I love it in that you don't have to learn anything, you don't have to have anything prepared, you just go out and do it." Pre-show, there are nerves. "Just before we go on we're all pacing backstage wondering, 'What are we doing? There's an audience out there and we have to entertain them for two hours." Whose Line Is It Anyway? is taped in two hour sessions over three to six weeks. Not every routine makes it on to the box, although a cracking good session can provide material for up to three half-hour episodes. "I would say that a good 20 per cent of the things we do just don't work." The secret of good improv is not thinking too much about it or trying to plan in advance, he says when asked where he gets his inspiration. "At this point it's become a sort of instinct where I'm just responding to other people on stage. And because I have such a great trust in them all, I just let my mouth open and stuff just comes out." Mochrie says he finds some routines in the show more daunting than others. One is the sound effects section, in which he has to work by himself on a theme while teammate Ryan Stiles provides the soundtrack. "There are times when I have no idea what's he doing, he could be miaowing or he could be a train." But the "Hoedown" - ad-lib singing in any style nominated - is the one he finds most worrying. "If there's any way I can get out of singing, I will. Just to save the audience embarrassment and me." Past tricks have included fainting, faking a heart attack or simply calling out "instrumental." There is a difference between working on the English and the American shows, he says. The American show has a censor on set to pick up "anything suggestive or rude." Mochrie has attracted attention from that quarter. "I once said the title of something was 'Salty Monkey', which means nothing. But the censor was asking everybody, 'What does Salty Monkey mean?', thinking it was some kind of euphemism for God knows what." He enjoys both shows equally, although he and Anderson have a point of affinity. "I think we share a special kinship because we're both balding. So he tends to be easier on me." Anderson "has his sarcastic side but is one of these brilliant, very witty men who's a real sweetheart, too." Mochrie says he could happily do improv every day of his life. "The best part about it is just going with whatever. They'll (his fellow performers) say something and I have no idea where they're going. But they obviously have some idea so I'll just go with them. There's not too many areas where you can do that, be totally accepting of someone." And, presumably, even with the odd unnatural mime act involving small tree-dwelling rodents popping up out of nowhere, be completely accepted in return. Isn't that cool?! GO COLIN! And because I'm feeling nice, and I still feel like typing, here is a little interview with Drew that I found a while ago in our NZ TV Guide: Funnyman Drew Carey is more of a SNAG than he leads people to believe. Fans of The Drew Carey Show will notice he battles with arch-nemesis Mimi(Kathy Kinney) over just about every subject except weight - and with good reason. "It would be too mean for Drew to attack her weight," he tells Playboy magazine. "There are fat jokes directed at my character, and I don't necessarily like them. But they're funny. If I didn't want the fat jokes, I would just lose the weight. In the meantime, I put up with them." Drew says he doesn't feel sexy these days. "I just hate being overweight," he says. "It's unattractive. I hate having a big gut. I don't like being out of shape because I get tired quicker. It's like a weird body, this gut sticking out. I'm always aware of it. A lot of women can get past it, but I don't think women are as hung up on looks as men." THERE!!! And if that doesn't make ya happy, then nothing will. No, j/k :) But I will stop typing before my finger goes to slee............thud! Jenna ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message thread: Jenna: Phone interview with Colin, btw, it's a bit long..... (14-Jul-1999 02:09:28) Jules: Nice interview, Jenna! Thanks for all the typing! (n/t) (14-Jul-1999 02:16:23) Jessie: Dog? proof yet again the man has good taste ;) (not that I'm biased ... no ... me? ... never ... *G*) Thanks Jenna!! (n/t) (14-Jul-1999 08:28:37) Nick: Thank you for the