ON STAGE
What: Whose Live Anyway with Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff Davis and Joel Murray
Where: Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St.
When: Thursday Feb. 28, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $49.75-$59.75 from rmts.bc.ca, by phone at 250-386-6121, or in person at the Royal McPherson box office
Only a few dozen tickets of the 1,400 on sale remain for the latest edition of Whose Live Anyway, the Olympic-level improvisational comedy showcase on deck tonight at the Royal Theatre.
That doesn’t surprise one of the tour’s core contributors, comedian Greg Proops, who said Whose Live Anyway is on track to do well over 100 dates worldwide in 2019, due to popular demand. Whose Live Anyway hasn’t stopped in Victoria since 2012, which means a sell-out show is all but guaranteed.
“We built our reputation so long ago, you’d have to be a nine-year-old to not know that we’ve been around for bloody ever,” Proops, 59, said from his home in Hollywood. “I really can’t shake these guys. But it’s the gift that keep on giving.”
The tour is based on Whose Line is it Anyway?, the Emmy Award-winning improvisational comedy and theatre sports show that uses audience instruction to direct a series of games. The fun — be it on-stage or on-air — is seeing the hosts grapple with increasingly outrageous suggestions from the crowd, while trying to maintain some sense of professionalism. The overall appeal is the collective glee displayed by each member, but the secret of the show’s success, according to Proops, is the guidance of the audience.
“It’s impossible, when you’re in a band, to inject your personal opinion every two seconds. It would be a little bit invasive. However, times being what they are, everyone is aware. We go some places and they are not very imaginative. But in Fort Collins, Colorado, the other night, we got the suggestion of ‘NFL owner/prostitute,’ because it was the day the story about [New England Patriots owner] Robert Kraft broke. We took it, and we did it, and we hit all the points. It was natural and organic, because they asked us to do it. If we had just started in on NFL owners being the people that they are, that wouldn’t have been the way to approach it.”
Proops and Ryan Stiles, the two longest-serving members, have been touring with the current production of Whose Live Anyway for 19 years, but they find no shortage of inspiration. The group has recently expanded (on select dates) to include sketch comedy veteran Dave Foley, from Kids in the Hall, while former members Chip Esten and Drew Carey have also returned in a limited capacity.
None of the new additions will be in attendance tonight, however. Stiles and Proops will be joined for their Victoria date by 15-year Whose Live Anyway veteran Jeff Davis and Joel Murray, who joined five years ago.
Veteran or newcomer, the contributions are the same, according to Proops. “It’s trial by fire. The first night [Dave Foley] played with us. I don’t know even if he even played in half the games. He just showed up and I said: OK, this is how this works,’ and we pushed him from scene to scene. But after the first two or three nights, he got comfortable to hit the ball harder, and two nights ago he was great.”
Even those who leave the Whose Live/Whose Line family are kept in rotation. Former tour members Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood tour independently under the banner An Evening With Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, which Proops joined for some dates in 2018. A revival of the original TV show, with host Aisha Tyler replacing Carey, has been on the air since 2013 with Mochrie, Stiles and Wayne Brady as hosts and Proops, Sherwood, Esten and Davis as recurring participants.
The cast changes, but the format does not. “Everyone in the audience wants a break from their world, and we are goofy and silly and we do slapstick and sing funny songs,” Proops said. “But it is contingent on what the audience gives us.”
The brand is well-established, but Proops believes it could expand further. Whose Live Anyway is not limited to English-only audiences. “I think you can take it anywhere,” Proops said. “I think we could do it in Scandinavia, which is what we’re pushing for in the next couple of years. We want to take a version over to Stockholm, Norway, Copenhagen, Helsinki, that whole route. I’ve played a bunch of those places, and everybody knows me from Whose Line.”
It only takes a few minutes to get up to speed on each city’s sense of humour, Proops said. “You can learn that on the way over. All you have to do is read the paper or watch the news and study up a little bit. It’s just a matter of being aware and paying attention.”
Proops is never not doing comedy. He has a podcast, The Smartest Man in the World, which he produces weekly, and he maintains a regular stand-up tour pace.
Proops put out a comedy album (The Resistance) in 2018, and is part of the live touring production of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. “I try to stay in form,” he said. “I would rather do this than anything else. I worked in a law office and it was horrible. I’ve had lots of jobs, because I’m old. And this is the best job I could ever have.”
