Interview: Brad Sherwood
You may wonder about improvisational comedy, as seen on the popular TV show “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” It might seem like an amazing art to you, or you might suspect that it is just various combinations of stock characters and material.
Brad Sherwood wants to prove to you that there is nothing fake about it. Sherwood is a regular on the popular “Whose Line?” where four comedians join host Drew Carey in instantly inventing sketches and songs from a few guidelines.
On Friday, January 31, Sherwood will be bringing what he calls a live version of “Whose Line” to Moravian College. He uses this description as a point of reference, to let people know that this will not be the usual standup comedy show. Here, you will be able to observe the creative process without any possibility of editing or retakes.
In a phone interview, he says, “Watching live improv is better. You get to see what it is based on. You can see your suggestions put to use. It is like a combination of a comedy and a magic act. People wonder, ‘How did he do that?’”
Sherwood and his partner Dave Bushnell will present a more interactive show than the one shown on TV. Many audience members will be called on stage. Sherwood does not find the uncertainty of working with unknown participants to be a problem. “It’s interesting for the audience to see how we deal with someone who may not be ideal,” he says.
His worst problems have occurred when he brought people up in a comedy club and then realized, “These people are REALLY drunk”.
Sherwood says that the original performances on the television show nearly always work out well. “Sometimes things get a little too risqué,” he says. “Then we can put it on a compilation show that runs later in prime time, maybe ten instead of eight o’clock,” he says.
There are two versions of “Whose Line?” currently being shown. Reruns of the British show, which ran from 1988 to 1998, is on Comedy Central. The currently running American version, often called by fans “Drew’s Line” after the host, began the same year that the British show ended.
Although Carey replaced British host Clive Anderson, most of the cast from the British show moved to the American one. Sherwood appeared regularly on both versions, which he said were similar. On the American version, there are three regular participants and a “fourth chair” that usually uses one of three different comics. Sherwood is one of the three.
He recalls, “The format was exactly the same on both, and the set was nearly identical. In Britain, the audience was a little more reserved. They like verbal, witty humor, while the American audiences like physical and big character things.”
The thirty-eight year old Sherwood was born in Chicago and grew up in Santa Fe. He began acting at the age of eight and continued throughout high school and college, graduating with a degree in acting from Wright State University in Ohio.
After moving to Los Angeles, he became involved in a West Coast workshop of the famed Second City improvisation group. He toured with the Second City Alumni troupe, where he was an understudy for Ryan Stiles. After Stiles joined the cast of the British “Whose Line”, he suggested that Sherwood audition.
An internet search on the phrase “Brad Sherwood” will bring you to a few sites that refer to the comedian with terms like “stud muffin”.
“I think it is funny,” he says. “I don’t agree, although my girlfriend might.” He points out that all the cast members of “Whose’s Line” have similar adulatory web sites dedicated to them.
Sherwood dismisses any fears that he will ever “freeze” on stage. “I’ve been doing it for long enough,” he says. “You just have to throw something out. Your mind goes into another zone.”
Brad Sherwood, Friday, January 31, 8 p.m., Moravian College North Campus, Johnston Hall, West Elizabeth Avenue, Bethlehem, $12 general admission, tickets at the bookstore in the Haupert Union Building, W. Locust and Monocacy Streets, or at 610-861-1499.
--Dave Howell, 1/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)
Brad Sherwood wants to prove to you that there is nothing fake about it. Sherwood is a regular on the popular “Whose Line?” where four comedians join host Drew Carey in instantly inventing sketches and songs from a few guidelines.
On Friday, January 31, Sherwood will be bringing what he calls a live version of “Whose Line” to Moravian College. He uses this description as a point of reference, to let people know that this will not be the usual standup comedy show. Here, you will be able to observe the creative process without any possibility of editing or retakes.
In a phone interview, he says, “Watching live improv is better. You get to see what it is based on. You can see your suggestions put to use. It is like a combination of a comedy and a magic act. People wonder, ‘How did he do that?’”
Sherwood and his partner Dave Bushnell will present a more interactive show than the one shown on TV. Many audience members will be called on stage. Sherwood does not find the uncertainty of working with unknown participants to be a problem. “It’s interesting for the audience to see how we deal with someone who may not be ideal,” he says.
His worst problems have occurred when he brought people up in a comedy club and then realized, “These people are REALLY drunk”.
Sherwood says that the original performances on the television show nearly always work out well. “Sometimes things get a little too risqué,” he says. “Then we can put it on a compilation show that runs later in prime time, maybe ten instead of eight o’clock,” he says.
There are two versions of “Whose Line?” currently being shown. Reruns of the British show, which ran from 1988 to 1998, is on Comedy Central. The currently running American version, often called by fans “Drew’s Line” after the host, began the same year that the British show ended.
Although Carey replaced British host Clive Anderson, most of the cast from the British show moved to the American one. Sherwood appeared regularly on both versions, which he said were similar. On the American version, there are three regular participants and a “fourth chair” that usually uses one of three different comics. Sherwood is one of the three.
He recalls, “The format was exactly the same on both, and the set was nearly identical. In Britain, the audience was a little more reserved. They like verbal, witty humor, while the American audiences like physical and big character things.”
The thirty-eight year old Sherwood was born in Chicago and grew up in Santa Fe. He began acting at the age of eight and continued throughout high school and college, graduating with a degree in acting from Wright State University in Ohio.
After moving to Los Angeles, he became involved in a West Coast workshop of the famed Second City improvisation group. He toured with the Second City Alumni troupe, where he was an understudy for Ryan Stiles. After Stiles joined the cast of the British “Whose Line”, he suggested that Sherwood audition.
An internet search on the phrase “Brad Sherwood” will bring you to a few sites that refer to the comedian with terms like “stud muffin”.
“I think it is funny,” he says. “I don’t agree, although my girlfriend might.” He points out that all the cast members of “Whose’s Line” have similar adulatory web sites dedicated to them.
Sherwood dismisses any fears that he will ever “freeze” on stage. “I’ve been doing it for long enough,” he says. “You just have to throw something out. Your mind goes into another zone.”
Brad Sherwood, Friday, January 31, 8 p.m., Moravian College North Campus, Johnston Hall, West Elizabeth Avenue, Bethlehem, $12 general admission, tickets at the bookstore in the Haupert Union Building, W. Locust and Monocacy Streets, or at 610-861-1499.
--Dave Howell, 1/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)