Mochrie brings improv to life

> BY GUY MACPHERSON

Afew weeks ago, comedianimproviser Colin Mochrie tweeted, “Had a dream that I literally died on-stage and no one noticed because they were too busy yes anding .... ”

It’s a funny little quip that implies maybe the principal building block of improv goes a little overboard with its need for performers to immediately accept wherever a fellow performer takes a scene. (“Yes, and…” means an improviser should agree with what another participant has stated and then expand on it.)

But it was just a quip. No slag intended. In fact, Mochrie, one of the most famous improvisers in the world thanks to his years on the seemingly never-ending Whose Line Is It Anyway?, has taken things to a new level.

“It’s something, actually, Deb [his wife, actress-comedian Debra Mcgrath] and I have been trying to put into our lives, where we’ll say yes to things that maybe make us a little leery, something that may worry us,” he says on the phone from his home in Toronto.

To that end, when World Vision approached the couple to do some commercials about sponsorships for children in the Congo, their probable onetime no turned into a yes, with a gulp.

“In previous years, it may have been something we may have been a little afraid or leery of because we’d heard some horrible stories about the Congo,” he says. “And we thought, ‘No, let’s do it.’ We were in the jungle in these villages that were beyond poor, just meeting these great people who had nothing but there was still a joy to them. Deb had all the kids doing the Hokey-pokey by the river. It was truly one of the best experiences of our lives.”

On-stage, Mochrie may also feel like saying no on occasion, but doesn’t give in to the urge.

“There are some times, but you shouldn’t,” he says. “It’s the hardest