It could be your line . . . if you’re part of the show

YOU’D BE hard-pressed to find someone, anyone, who doesn’t like the comedy improv show Whose Line is it Anyway?

Often brilliant, frequently outrageous, always side-splittingly funny, the show’s been on the telly seemingly forever, bridging generational gaps and weathering changing comedy trends solely by being so damn funny.

Fast-talking, shock-haired comedian Greg Proops has been there since the start.

His schtick, a smarmy sort of arrogance tempered with a sly innuendo, saw him become one of the most popular of the show’s revolving cast members.

Now he and fellow show regulars Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood are bringing the show to New Zealand.

Will it be much different from the TV version? “Oh yeah, it’ll be a lot different,” Proops says. “It’ll be a lot more fun for one thing because there won’t be a pane of glass you’ll have to watch it through. You’ll be there live.”

Not only will you be there, but there’s also a high chance you’ll find yourself a part of the show.

“There’s way more audience participation,” he says.

“We bring people out of the audience and interact with them.

“We go fast and furious for an hour and a half. It’s a groovy thing.”

On telly, Proops had a humorously antagonistic relationship with whoever was ostensibly in charge and hosting the show. With no host on the lineup, I’m wondering who’s going to be on the receiving end of his barbs? “Well, the audience really,” he laughs.

“No. The host was just a television convention. We don’t really need a host once we get going. We get along quite well by ourselves.”

It’s Proops’ third visit to New Zealand; he’s performed his standup show here as a Comedy Fest headliner a couple of times, and he says he’s excited to return.

“I’ve always had a lot of love in New Zealand. Every time I’ve played down there I’ve sold out every show. It’s one of the few places in the world where I’ve been able to do that,” he says, before slipping into his stage persona.

“It’s nice to have a small island nation I can go to where, finally, I’m given the respect that my genius deserves.”

After almost 30 years on Whose Line, I ask whether he reckons his improv style has changed much over the years.

“When you’re young and stupid you can do anything you want and you don’t really think about it too much and I still try to maintain that childlike quality of not really worrying about it. I try to listen. I listen more.” Then he laughs and says, “I’m less of a jerk, I think, than I was when I was young so that probably helps.”

The global success and endurance of Whose Line makes it something of a phenomenon. After almost three decades the show is as popular as it was when it debuted, as evidenced by the fact that demand is so high that more live shows keep getting added.

Why does he think it’s so popular?

“Because it’s something you can watch with your family,” he says. “People often come up to me and say, ‘I’ve watched you since I was little with Mum and Dad’. There are not many things you can watch with your family. It spans the ages. We get all ages at the show.”

After such a long time with the show, you might think he would be a bit sick of it. Not at all.

“Performing it makes me very happy indeed. People think, ‘Oh, don’t you get nervous?’ But I don’t. I want to get up there. It’s my chance to be safe. It’s the one time I feel safe in the world. I’m nervous talking to my manager, I’m nervous about life in general but not on stage. On stage, I can do whatever I like and I feel really safe.”

Karl Puschmann