To reinforce the points about audience size, the Santa Rosa venue seats at
least 1200, and the Sacramento venue seats 900, at least the way they were
configured. I know Whose Live was very close to sold out, and Colin and Brad
were at least 75 percent sold. I haven't been to a show taping, but I would
guess both crowds were larger than the studio audience by at least a factor of
4.
This didn't stop people from the upper rows (which is where I sat) from yelling
stuff out.
Best,David
On Monday, February 19, 2024 at 10:30:44 AM PST, M-D November
<[email protected]> wrote:
Minor point of clarification: the Greg/Ryan/Jeff/Joel tour is "Whose LIVE
Anyway?". They use the TV's show's name extensively in advertising, but not in
the actual title of the show.
I haven't seen the Brad/Colin tour, but I saw Whose Live a couple of years back
at the Keswick in Glenside (Philly). I believe it was their first or second
stop coming out of COVID hiatus, and frankly Ryan looked AWFUL, but I was
inclined to give them some slack because a) I like all of them (or, at least,
Ryan, Greg & Jeff - I don't really know Joel at all) and b) see above re:
COVID. I'll echo David's comments above, but I'll add that I think improv
suffers in a big house like the ones these tours typically play.
Improv is, at its heart, an intimate experience, and doing improv in a barn
just doesn't; work. Normally I'm the first person to start shouting
suggestions when prompted, but I didn't even bother at WLA because I was a good
20+ rows back from the stage; the combination of the distance, my mask, and the
fact that theatrical acoustics do not work that way meant that there wasn't a
chance in hell that anything I suggested would make it to the stage. Anyone
pulled for participation in a game (and any crowd work being done) would be
confined to the first few rows of the house. While the evening was still very
funny, the loss of the potential for audience participation was a bit
deflating.
I'm not here to suggest that improv should be hidden away in basement comedy
clubs and college black box theaters, but from my experiences (both as a fan
and as a performer), smaller venues work better for improv because smaller
venues facilitate a better connection between audience & performers. Thank you
for coming to my Ted Talk.On Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 2:33:19 AM UTC-5
David Bruggeman wrote:
Last night I went to see the Whose Line is it Anyway? live show in Santa Rosa,
followed by Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood's improv tour tonight in Sacramento.
Besides the performers (the current Whose Line tour lineup is Ryan Stiles*,
Greg Proops, Jeff Davis and Joel Murray), there are probably three major
differences between the shows.
Laura Hall provided live piano accompaniment for the Whose Line show, while
Colin and Brad performed to tracks. I suppose improv purists might be bothered
by having the same instrumental tracks for each show, but I'd counter that the
live music tends to follow pretty standards forms when it's used, even on the
show.
Brad and Colin would do some longer games, and more of their games either
weren't on the TV show, or weren't in heavy rotation on the show.
Most of the time Colin and Brad got suggestions from the audience before saying
what the game was, while the Whose Line gang usually called out the game first.
*Ryan was not there in Santa Rosa (and he probably misses/missed their other
shows this weekend), but they got Drew Carey to sub in. Understandably, he was
a bit rusty and repetitive, to the point of using the same Dobie Gillis
reference twice. (For those less charitable among us, you could note that Drew
usually hosted the TV show, and rarely performed.)
The main drawback with these shows is the audience. You can expect a lot of
(dumb, repetitive, boring, nonresponsive) suggestion shouting.
If you had to choose between the two shows, I'd go with whichever one has more
of your favorite performers. If that's not a factor, Brad and Colin's show
will be different enough that you won't think it's just like a TV episode.
Either way, it's a fine way to spend an evening.
Best,David
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