Title: Colin & Brad: Two Man Group
Cast: Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood
Running Time: 67 minutes
Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood whom both starred in the original UK series and the US Emmy winning Who’s Line Is It Anyway” have filmed their touring improv stage show COLIN & BRAD: TWO MAN GROUP.
I had always enjoyed the original British version of Who’s Line Is It Anyway? until Disney got their hooks on it and gave us Wayne Brady. The American version was no longer edgy improv, it became a sugar coated, censored human puppet show for geriatrics and drama geeks.
I believe what made Colin & Brad so appealing with viewers is the audience participation. The older crowd loves to get involved. Maybe it’s the chance to be a star and fulfill some long forgotten dream, maybe bragging rights or just because it looks like fun. The thing is when you get non-actors involved in something that depends on timing in order to get the jokes across, you get a lot of dead air and long awkward silences; however Colin & Brad handled it well. There were some plants in the audience that seemed less than spontaneous; even though the stars swear that the show is all unrehearsed, I wasn’t convinced that was entirely truthful
There were some audience favorites from Who’s Line Is It Anyway?: “If You Know What I Mean,” “Finished Sentences,” “Letter Substitution” and “Questions Only,” however I felt they were dragged out longer than they should have; at one point I had to check how much time was left on the DVD when a bit went on too long. One clever bit was “Sideways,” where Colin and Brad improv’d a scene while laying down on a ground set. Their Jeopardy-like game show gave me a good laugh with the answer to “Octopus.” However the finale “Blindfold Mousetrap Opera,” actually had me laughing throughout the entire bit; though it was probably the schadenfreude.
The DVD extra “Do’s and Don’ts of Improv” is very informative for the aforementioned drama geeks, and could be useful as a theatre class tutorial.
If you’re a fan of live theatre, see it live. The DVD probably does not do the show justice. I personally would not pay to see this show, because audience participation is just frustrating to watch. Though I was expecting more freedom from censorship, the duo stayed fairly clean. There were some double entendres, but definitely something you could watch with your über-religious grandparents and they wouldn’t get offended
If you have an hour to kill, and you like improv comedy, it’s worth the download.
Laugh factor: 3 out of 5
Boredom factor: 1 out of 5
Total Rating: 3 out of 5
Review by: JM Willis
Thanks for the review. I assure you there were no plants in the audience. Whatever you liked or disliked about our show, the fact that you thought that there were “pre-chosen” audience members, at least means that you believed it was ‘too good to be real’. I just wanted to set the record straight on that one point, as your cynicism was stated as if it was ‘fact’, which it is not. Best wishes, Brad Sherwood.