Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles return for a 12-episode season.
The improvisational performers ofWhose Line Is It Anyway?are testing whether comic timing can stand the test of time.
Nine years after their comedy series finished its run on ABC, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles are back with a new version on CW (Tuesday, 8 ET/PT) and a new host, The Talk's Aisha Tyler, who takes the seat once held by Drew Carey.
If they had any trepidation about rustiness — not to mention fears about remembering whose line it was, anyway — it went away quickly.
"When we were shooting, we were joking around saying it felt like everyone stepped out for lunch and came right back," says Brady, 41, who hosts Let's Make a Deal. "And I think that's the coolest compliment that you could pay each other."
The trio, stalwarts of the 1998-2004 network series (which later moved to ABC Family), will often be joined by a fourth improv comedian in a rotating spot that includes Gary Anthony Williams, Keegan Michael Key and Heather Ann Campbell. Glee's Kevin McHale and The Walking Dead's Lauren Cohan are among guest performers inthe 12-episode season.
Based on improv games crafted by the show's producers, along with suggestions solicited from the audience, the performers act out scenes on the spot, with no advance notice of the scenario. Many of the earlier series' games return, along with some new ones, including a sideways game where performers act out a scene while lying on the floor with a camera shooting from above.
Since the series ended, the performers have generally gone their separate ways, but they often hear from Whose Line fans.
"We've toured different groups, and everywhere we go, people kept asking, 'When isWhose Line coming back?' " Stiles, 54, says. "It just stuck in my mind that someday, somebody will bring it back, because people enjoy the show."
The family-friendly fan base includes younger viewers who have watched older sketches on YouTube, the performers say.
"It's interesting to be on the network where I could be the grandfather of every character on every other show," Mochrie, 55, says of CW's younger demographic.
He says those viewers may be looking for something different in comedy, and the unpredictable, rapid-fire Whose Line format provides entertainment for a broad audience.
"I find it hard watching sitcoms these days, because I find a lot of times, they fall into a formula. There's almost a mathematical equation where you can come up with the punch lines to the jokes before them," Mochrie says. "With our show, because we don't know what the punch lines are or the setups, there's this constant surprise, and I think that was one of the endearing qualities about it."
Stiles says he feels as though the members of the studio audience are rooting for the improv performers, who are working a comedic high wire, and as they shout suggestions, they become invested in the show.
"When you walk on the stage as a stand-up, there's kind of a 'Make me laugh' attitude there, because they know you've been working on your stuff. But when you walk on as an improviser, they really want it to work. It's a much warmer feeling," he says.
Despite a history that stretches back to the 1980s and Whose Line's British predecessor, the format is a good fit for the shorter attention spans of the digital era, Brady says.
"The Whose Line games are, in essence, mini-sketches, and they are the exact length of one of these videos that these kids would upload, so I think we really caught on with college-age kids and with teenagers."
The performers enjoyed working with Care, but say Tyler has done quite well.
"I thought she fit in seamlessly. She gave as good as she got," Mochrie says. "We spent a couple of the tapings being quite nice to her but, by the end, made fun of her mercilessly. She took it and gave it right back. I think she did a really good job."
Tyler, 42, a stand-up comic herself who is a fan of the earlier version, says the show's appeal stems from the style of comedy and the mastery of those performing it.
"The appeal is watching people who are mentally and comedically sharp — not just being funny, but being intensely, stereoscopically funny very quickly," she says. "It's one thing to make a joke off the cuff. It's another thing to watch Colin and Ryan do an entire newscast off the top of their heads or watch Wayne make up a song where he was not just doing a vocal impression of Nicki Minaj but doing her physical mannerisms, dancing and making up lyrics that rhymed and were funny and on topic. Very few people can do it well."
A.M. Hempler
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PS: The "Secret Formula" That Took Me From Being Over $40,000 in Debt, to Traveling Around The World and Making a 6-Figure Income From My Computer
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