Speaking off the cuff, if you love clever offbeat comedy, you will want to mark your calendar for a star-studded improv show coming soon to The Villages community of Middleton in Sumter County.
Colin Mochrie, one of showbiz’s most admired improv impresarios, has partnered with frequent collaborator Brad Sherwood for the mischievously titled improv tour “Asking for Trouble.” Their Villages shows on March 22-23 were rescheduled from January, when Mochrie had emergency eye surgery.
It’s not the duo’s first appearance in The Villages. They’ve been indoctrinated in the retirement communities’ tall tales of swingers and disproven STD rumors and have included some Loofa jokes in their routine, which Mochrie pointed out with a demure laugh when he spoke to the Daily Commercial last week. He pointed out a lack of inhibition.
“Yeah, that’s the great thing about older audiences,” Mochrie said. “They’re at the point where, ‘We don’t care anymore. We’re gonna be who we are and just have fun.’ “
Mochrie and Sherwood’s collaboration goes back to the TV improv comedy series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” which, some might remember, started as a British series in the late ’80s.
A ‘Mochrie’ of a life
Mochrie isn’t a brash comedian. He’s more Bob Newhart than Bobcat Goldthwait. He’s soft-spoken, a little deadpan, amiable and low-key, and yet, unafraid to get loony on-stage.
Born in 1957 in Scotland, Mochrie emigrated with his family to Canada when he was a child, so there’s a little Old World mixed in with his New World sensibilities.
He participated in theater sports in college, joined The Second City Toronto in 1986, after his tenure with the Vancouver TheatreSports League. In the past decade, he’s also performed with The Groundlings and has made a variety of TV appearances.
He met his wife, Debra McGrath, 36 years ago, when she hired him to tour with Second City Touring Company.
The couple has performed on and off together over the years, and, recently, he says they have been working on a new Canadian movie. They play a senior couple who, according to Mochrie, “have made a deal with the devil.”
‘Longtime pals’
Mochrie and longtime Canadian pal Ryan Stiles, along with Greg Proops, performed with living legends Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie on the U.K.’s “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
Stiles and Mochrie performed in England for eight years until the U.K. series concluded in 1999 and then in the U.S. version. “We grew up together,” Mochrie said. “I’ve known him for 50 years.”
ABC’s “Whose Line” aired from 1998 to 2007, when “Price Is Right” star Drew Carey joined the troupe.
After a six-year hiatus, CW picked up “Whose Line” in 2013, and the program continued through 2022. The show featured Mochrie, Stiles, Wayne Brady and Aisha Tyler, and an assortment of guest stars, including Sherwood.
Some trivia: He and Stiles provided voiceovers in “Ted Lasso” as sports commentators of a Canada vs. Mexico soccer match.
Mochrie and Stiles each have their own projects nowadays. Stiles stars in Netflix’s “Leanne” and has been praised for his turn as ex-husband Bill Murphy, and is now touring with Greg Proops, another frequent “Whose Line” player, among others. Their live show, “Whose Live Anyway?” hits Gainesville this week.
We asked if there could be an impromptu team-up across counties.
“We’re certainly aware of each other’s tours,” Mochrie explained. “We never thought of hooking up to play in the same areas because it just hasn’t worked out that way. So, we probably won’t, but, you know what, in the world of improv, you never know.”
‘Asking for Trouble’ in Central Florida
Mochrie’s tour with Sherwood stops at The Tracy Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 22-23, in Sumterville.
The dynamic improv duo will come up with new material each night they’re at The Tracy, using words and phrases suggested from the audience to make up funny, on-the-spot comedy skits; no script required.
There’s an important but cheeky disclaimer about the show:
“An Evening with Colin and Brad is a totally improvised show,” the promo says. “Although they do attempt to keep the show family-friendly, Colin and Brad can’t be responsible for audience suggestions. Therefore, we recommend you make your own judgment call based on your own child’s sensitivities to bald men.”
Anxieties around slick-scalped gentlemen aside, the guys are upbeat and do their best to steer away from controversial topics such as politics and religion.
“We’re not taking any political suggestions whatsoever because it really splits the audience in half,” Mochrie said. “It ambushes people who are just coming for a good time.”
What would Mochrie like us to learn about improv?
“I would love everyone just to take improv classes because there they would learn how to listen,” he said.
“Sometimes, at Second City, we would go into scenes where somebody sort of endows you with a part you are not really into. But you’d find a way to do it. … The directors would often say, ‘Take the opposite view to see how you feel,’ just to see if there’s something you can come up with that maybe you can sort of identify.”
Improv can indeed take performers out of their comfort zones, and Mochrie says that he still gets butterflies, but he enjoys it more when it gets challenging.
He and Sherwood encourage suggestions that are specific, not generic, to keep from falling on old jokes and tricks.
Whatever comes out of it, Mochrie says he’s having a good time above all else:
“I’m with my friend, we’re having fun, and the audience is having fun. So, the jitters really go away quickly.”
The Tracy Performing Arts Center is located at 2210 Dr. Randy McDaniel Way, Middleton. Call 352-753-6600 or email tickets@thetracy.com
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Improv great Colin Mochrie is ‘Asking for Trouble’ in The Villages
Reporting by Julie Garisto, Leesburg Daily Commercial / Daily Commercial
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