The San Luis Obispo Tribune
April 05, 2007
I always would get a little uncomfortable whenever I watched 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'
As I watched the comedians trying to come up with an improvised comedy skit, I'd try to imagine what I'd do if given the same prompts. And, of course, I always pictured myself failing miserably.
There's a reason I'm in newspapers and not comedy.
But for the cast of 'Whose Line,' comedy without a script comes easy.
'We've just done it so long with each other,' said Ryan Stiles, who was with the show when it started in Britain. 'We're not really getting nervous onstage.'
After a 15-year run in both the U.S. and Britain, the last new episode of the program finally aired in 2006. But live shows continue to tour with some of the same cast members.
'A Night of Improv,' coming to the Performing Arts Center April 13, will also feature comics Greg Proops and Chip Esten (both familiar to 'Whose Line' viewers), and Jeff Davis.
Stiles, a veteran of the Second City troupe, was working on the English 'Whose Line' when he joined the cast of 'The Drew Carey Show' in 1995. Three years later, he and Carey would bring 'Whose Line' to the U.S.
Like the TV show, the live act features several games in which the comics receive prompts to act upon.
'Unlike the TV show, where a lot of suggestions came down from the producers, we take everything from the crowd,' Stiles said.
Once the comics have a prompt, they have to then say or do something funny. The results are often hilarious.
We recently spoke to Stiles about the show, his fear of flying and Liberace. He spoke by phone from his home in Washington state.
I was surprised to see how long you had done 'Whose Line is it Anyway?'
Yeah, we started in Britain in '89. We did it 10 years in Britain and three or four here.
Did you actually live over there at the time?
No, I went over like three times a year. I didn't like flying so that wasn't really cool for me.
Obviously when you came here it was a much bigger deal.
Still tough to sell, though. Because you go to a network and they say, 'Well, where's the script?'
'There is no script.'
'Who's on it?'
'Nobody.'
So do you just have a fear of flying?
Yeah, I just don't do it if I don't have to. I bought an RV just for traveling around the West Coast. I'd rather take three days to get somewhere than two hours to get somewhere. It's just worth it to me.
People always say your odds of dying in a car crash are much greater. But there are no fender benders in planes.
Exactly. People survive car crashes. Plus when we get in the bus, we all play poker. Sometimes we pull up to a hotel and still don't get out of the bus because we're in the middle of a game.
Since you're not doing a whole lot of gigs, what do you do otherwise?
I'm taking time off. I want to see my kids grow. I went 10 years without seeing them at all. And I opened a theater up here in Bellingham, so I can get up onstage any time I want.
I told these guys that were doing improv up here, 'If I build a theater, you guys have to run it because I don't want to have anything else to do with it, except dropping in and doing shows.'
I don't care if I do TV or film anymore, but I need a place to get onstage.
What a charmed life.
It's fantastic. It's like Ricky Ricardo: 'I'm going down to the club!'
Did you actually live in Liberace's home?
I did at one time, yeah. I had all the counters raised up because he was a short little man.
Did you hear any weird piano noises at night?
Our dogs wouldn't go upstairs. We had three empty rooms up there, and we never went up there.
Was the ghost of Liberace hiding up there?
Yeah -- in the closet.
Ba-dum-bum.
And he's never gonna come out, so deal with it.
I was watching some of the ('Whose Line') clips on YouTube the other day and saw Robin Williams. Who were some of your favorite guests to work with?
Richard Simmons was one of the funniest ones. I very seldom laugh at the show because I'm so into it. But I laugh at this clip every time I see it. It's hilarious. It probably got one of the longest laughs I've ever heard on television without any interruption.
He doesn't strike me as an improv comedian sort of guy.
He's not speaking during it at all; he's a prop. He's a jet ski, he's a piece of bamboo that we tie together with Wayne (Brady) to make a raft.
He's not wearing the super-short shorts, is he?
Of course he is. And a tank top. You'd never see him in jeans and a sweatshirt -- he's Richard Simmons.
I guess you wouldn't even recognize him if he was wearing a raincoat.
Exactly. Unless he was in the new Village People.
It seems like a lot of girls are into you on the Internet. Did you realize you are a sex symbol from the show?
No, I didn't. You have to realize -- which is kind of creepy -- if you get, like, a 22-year-old girl that comes up and says she likes the show, she started watching it when she was 6.
We've kind of turned into the Tim Conways of the era. When I was 10 I used to love watching Tim Conway, and now I've kind of become him. I'm this older, kind of funny guy that the young kids like.
He had those Dorf videos.
Well, not the bad stuff. But you know what I'm saying.
You don't hear that much from Tim Conway anymore.
He did an episode of 'Drew.' We were playing the Improv (a club in Los Angeles) on Thursdays, and we asked him if he wanted to come down and do improv with us, and he said, 'Yeah, sure. But I have to leave early because I'm going to be driving Harvey.'
We thought he was kidding. But he got there and did a couple of scenes, and then him and Harvey headed out. Harvey has Alzheimer's so Tim kind of takes care of him.
What a cool night.
I worked with Carol Burnett, too. So I've done improv with some of my heroes. Jonathan Winters and Sid Caesar did the show.
We had a former employee here who met Jonathan Winters in Santa Barbara at a grocery store parking lot. She said, 'Hey! It's Jonathan Winters.' and Jonathan Winters went into an improv skit right there.
You can't get Jonathan as Jonathan. He's always going to be a character. He does bits constantly.
You must get a lot of people coming up to you in public, wanting you to be funny.
Not really. It's not like a standup comedian, where they ask you to do a joke. They ask for autographs and stuff like that so it's cool. And I live in a little town here where everybody knows me so I just kind of fit in.
What was it like then for you doing the 'Drew Carey Show'?
That was fun because Drew was always open to you adding stuff. From the time we got a script to the time we shot, it was completely different, just because we added stuff in run-throughs and rehearsals. I do quite a few 'Two and a Half Men' (episodes) and they stick right to the script. You don't change anything on that show.
At one time (Drew) was pretty huge. And he never wanted a trailer bigger than anybody else's trailer. He never wanted any perks that anybody else didn't have. He was always asking how you were, always asking about the crew. If the crew had a sick kid or something, he'd take care of that. He was one of the most generous men in the world.
When was the last time you heard from him?
Every Super Bowl we play Vegas. We've played the MGM there for the last eight years. So the Super Bowl is the last time I saw him.
He's got his press credentials, and he takes pictures of the U.S. Soccer team.
He takes pretty good shots, too.
He does. I'll get a call from him every once in a while -- 'Hey, do you want to go to Trinidad?'
'Sure, let me talk to the kids and see if they mind me going. I'd love the flight.'
