Improv fuels show for 'Whose Line' duo

February 6, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

To improvise or not to improvise, that has never been a question for comedian Colin Mochrie.

For the past quarter of a century, the Canadian funnyman has been entertaining audiences with his quick wit and rapid-fire jokes as a member of television show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” which has enjoyed different lives and many incarnations over the years.

Speaking about the latter, Mochrie, who returns to the Mahoning Valley with comedian Brad Sherwood for a Saturday show at Packard Music Hall in Warren, believes it’s the tweeners and teenagers that are responsible for keeping “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” on the air. The show currently can be seen on The CW.

“We found when we were doing our tour, our audiences were getting younger and it was because of YouTube, they were catching up on the show,” said Mochrie, calling from Los Angeles, where he’s currently taping the next season of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

“We’d been off the air for quite a while so I think it’s because of that the show came back. So thank God for the Internet. It still blows my mind that I’m actually making a living at something that wasn’t an occupation when I was growing up. I’ve been very fortunate.”

Mochrie said he was attending college in Canada pursuing theater when he became interested in this unique concept of improvisational comedy. He put together his own improv comedy group before eventually honing his skills as a member of Toronto’s famous Second City comedy troupe.

This led to auditioning for a new British television show called “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” which at the time was just getting started. Eventually he became a cast member and never looked back. As far as his style on stage, it’s no surprise to hear Mochrie’s improv comedy hero is the great Jonathan Winters.

“He’s the only person I can think of who was sort of doing it in the early years,” Mochrie said. “He was someone I was fascinated by. This guy who would just say whatever came to him and would make it really funny. He was a big influence, certainly.”

Fans taking in the upcoming improv-fueled Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood show can expect plenty of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” hi-jinks.

“I love doing ‘Whose Line’ but what’s great about the stage show is we have a chance to let the scenes go on for a while,” Mochrie said. “So we can take a little more time milking the comedy cow dry, whereas on television everything has to be fast.

“Our stage show goes 15 to 20 minutes with scenes. I like that freedom.”

The duo will be playing plenty of new games with the audience. These include making up rap lyrics on the fly, as well as having 10 special audience members on stage finish their sentences.

Invariably, those lucky audience members chosen to join the funnymen on stage could be of the younger variety, which speaks to the family-friendliness of the show.

“I’d say our show is PG,” Mochrie said. “It’s never any more risque than the TV show is. We try to stay away from swearing because a lot of families come to the show. Really, it’s one of those shows that has an incredibly wide demographic.”

He added, “We are very aware of our audiences, so we don’t want to put them off with bad language.”