Photo courtesy of GSN
We love
hearing the names of the stars that have inspired contemporary performers. So
it was a blast during a recent conference call interview to listen to the stars
of the new series Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza talk about the comedians that
influence them.
Ryan Stiles
kicked it off citing, “Sid Caesar and Carol Burnett and Jonathan Winters. I
mean all of the people that we grew up with… Kids don’t know who they are these
days.”
Greg Proops
gave a shout out to, “SCTV show with Rick Moranis and Catherine O’Hara, John
Candy…. When I was in college… I thought they were the funniest sketch group
ever.”
Kathy
Kinney agreed, “Yeah, I did to. Canadians.” Colin Mochrie mirrored the opinion,
“Yeah, Canadians are funny.” He added, “I was a big fan of the old guys like
Jack Benny and Jonathan Winters and Bob Hope.”
Stiles
jokingly included, “Dick Sergeant, Kirk Douglas.”
Jonathan
Mangum chimed in, “Dave Letterman… and Monty Python of course, and Bob Newhart…
Those are probably the top three for me.
Kinney
summed up her list, saying, “Bob Newhart, and for me all the woman — Lucille
Ball, Carol Burnett and the woman who played my grandmother, Phyllis Diller…
Still sends me a Christmas card every year. That’s family.”
Sharing
taste in comedic history is just one of the factors that binds the
Improv-A-Ganza team. Everyone on the show is also highly skilled at the craft.
Mocharie explained, “Everybody has a solid improv background so there’s the
trust.”
As a
result, they’ve become a funny fighting unit. As Mocharie described it,
“Everybody has the skills and the knowhow, and then just after working with
each other for so many years it’s almost like we’re like an Army platoon.
Everybody’s watching everybody else’s back, so we’re out there to make sure
everybody’s having fun, and we do.”
Check out
the gang in the comedy trenches on Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza weeknights at 8
p.m. and 11 p.m. EST/7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Central on GSN.
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