What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1072716
JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette W elcome to "Whose Line Is It Anyway," where everything is made up and the points don't matter. First spoken by host Drew Carey, followed by Aisha Tyler, they're the words that have welcomed improv fans for 14 seasons to the show where points are just like Fridays at work — they don't matter. And on Jan. 24, the audience at the Walton Arts Center will get in on that improv action as the touring version of the show, "Whose Live Anyway?", stops for a Fayetteville engagement. The 90-minute show that will involve audience suggestions — and maybe even participation — brings recurring show performers Greg Proops and Jeff Davis, and special tour additions Joel Murray and Dave Foley. "It was weird going to do a show where you don't have to know anything," Foley recalls of joining the touring cast. Foley was called last minute to fill in for regular show performer Ryan Stiles who had fallen ill on the road last spring. The eleventh hour addition — literally. Foley was called at 11 p.m. the night before the show and was on the 6 a.m. flight the next morning — worked out so great, Foley was added to more dates during the tour. "And Ryan is a desolate creature, now," he jokes. The format "Whose Live" is very similar to the TV version audiences have loved for two decades, except there is no judge and no "competitive" part of the touring show. The game-based composition does persist, though, as does the audience input — keeping the performers constantly on their toes. "It's different from what's become popular now, which is the long-form improv," Foley shares. "[We] keep scenes pretty short and try to get as many of them as possible done in a show." Before the invitation to join "Whose Live," Foley reveals he hadn't done much improv in some 30 years. The actor is no stranger to comedy and is easily recognizable from his work on sketch comedy show "The Kids in the Hall" and sitcom "NewsRadio," in addition to myriad voice work and television and film appearances. To say Foley has been completely isolated from the improv comedy world since his time with the Toronto Second City Training Centre just after high school would be inaccurate. Reminiscent of Carey's role on "Whose Line," Foley found himself in the judge's seat on another improv comedy television show "Thank God You're Here" in the early 2000's. With the entirety of his script reading "Dave ad-libs," Foley was both flexing his improv chops and facetiously appraising his peers. "It made me mad with power; made me feel a lust for crushing people's hopes as a judge," he cracks. "But that was a fun show to do. It's fun to have to prove to yourself that you're funny every time. And at the end of the day, you go, 'Oh, I was funny. That was nice. That was lovely.' Because with improv, you never know. Any night, you might not be funny. That's always a good feeling when it works." And so far, it's been working with "Whose Live." The other comedians are all so good at the improvisation, Foley felt he was coming into a very safe place as a performer. That trust and confidence in each other has allowed him to open up and be freer in his thinking, he shares. He doesn't have a fallback technique if he completely blanks on stage — because no one has needed one yet. "I should probably get some of those," Foley says with a laugh. Off stage, Foley will soon be giving recorded improv a try as he forays into the world of podcasting with friend and fellow actor Paul Greenberg on their forthcoming project "Don't Say C**t." The stream-of- consciousness project "promises American audiences 45 minutes where they will not hear that word…except in the title." "It's just a fun way to sit down and be funny with my friend Paul and just talk about whatever occurs to us," he shares. "And then for comedians, it's a nice way to get to be funny that isn't doing stand-up or sketch and where you don't have to answer to anybody. You can just do whatever you want." JANUARY 20-26, 2019 WHAT'S UP! 3 Ad-Lib Laughs Famed improv show comes to WAC FAYETTEVILLE Courtesy photo Comedian and actor Dave Foley joins Joel Murray, Greg Proops and Jeff Davis for "Whose Live Anyway?," where the comedians will invent characters, sketches and witty scenes all based on audience suggestions. FAQ 'Whose Live Anyway?' WHEN — 7 p.m. Jan. 24 WHERE — Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville COST — $30-$65 INFO — 443-5600, waltonartscenter.org