“Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza” Cast Talks About the New Show

Drew Carey and his improv all starts return to the small screen on GSN’s Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza, debuting April 11th at 8:00PM ET.  If you read us in any frequency then you know all about it.  Improv-A-Ganza is a continuation of Whose Line is it Anyway?, where Drew and some of the world’s best comedians play improv games with each other and the Las Vegas audience.  It’s incredibly funny and any fan of Whose Line will love it.  We recently got the chance to sit down and talk with cast members Kathy Kinney, Jonathan Mangum, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, and Ryan Stiles in a conference call about the new series.

What makes it different than Whose Line?  Ryan thinks it’s the location, saying,  “I think there’s kind of a different energy to it because it’s shot in Vegas. It’s just a natural energy. Once you get up on stage —you wouldn’t really know where you are but I think the whole excitement level’s just gone up.”  Colin Mochrie continued discussing how Vegas makes the show different. “It’s more like a taping of what our Vegas shows were. Where everyone takes time. Everybody has a chance to introduce the scene, set up the characters. So there’s no host that way.”

“Also, unlike Whose Line, Ryan and I would always work together, you know, Brad and Wayne would always do the songs. So it’s really mixed up that way. We got a chance to work with everybody. I got to do a couple of singing games, which I—Whose Line I think was contracted not to have me sing.”

Whose Line has been on the air continually in America for over ten years.  Colin believes the nature of improv is what keeps the show so popular to this day.  Colin said, “It’s just—it makes it timeless. It’s like watching the old Carol Burnett show and seeing Tim Conway and … Korman breakup and no matter how often you see the scene you still laugh when you see it because you realize that they had so much fun performing it and it just becomes contagious.”

“Working with these guys I think is the first obstacle you have to kind of overcome. Improv is—you go against everything you do in real life. You have to listen to people. You have to accept their ideas and build on it, so that really is the most difficult thing. It sounds simple to just listen on stage but really that is the beginning of good improv,” Colin added.

“All you really have are the people you’re working with and you know they can say something as a throwaway line, but it could all of a sudden take the … in a whole new direction and make it comedy gold. So it’s just getting to the era—that place where you’re really comfortable on stage and you trust the people that you’re with. That’s all making sure you have a group of people you trust.”

Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza debuts April 11th at 8:00PM ET on GSN.  As I’ve repeatedly asked: will it work on GSN?  Who knows.  Comedy shows have notoriously gone over poorly at the network, and this really isn’t a game show.  But regardless it’s incredibly funny and if you’re a comedy fan it’s going to be hard not to enjoy the games they play.  Fans of Whose Line, like us, are in for a great time.