Trust Us With Your Life: REVIEW

Honestly; it was hilarious.

As a person who loves talk shows and as a person who loves improv (well, watching improv), I must say it was a success. It's great to see Colin back in business on TV, great to see Wayne back to improv, and people like Jonathan Mangum in action..... it was just awesome to see some new TV improv again, especially after Improv-a-Ganza crashed.

I love the fact that they mixed it up - you know, a few games from Whose Line, a few games from Improv-a-Ganza, adding a few factors from a different game to a new game here and there, like changing the styles of it now and then.... a lot of it was like Hollywood Director, except without the actual director part, just the host changing the styles of the scene.

I heard someone saying they didn't much enjoy the premise of the show, about celebrities telling stories, and then our beautiful improvers acting out the story we just heard. And it is a weird sort of set-up, I suppose, but I honestly think it worked, and here's a few reasons why:

• It just about proves that they are, in fact, making it up as they go along. No script. Because who has ever heard of a script for a talk show? (I, of course, never doubted that for a second, but I know there are lots of people who have. And I believe it was Colin Mochrie who said "Who, when watching Whose Line, thought that we knew beforehand what was going to happen?" A few people clap. "Yeah? You people are bastards.")
• It was still funny. That's the point of the show, and it gets across, and that's really the main thing, isn't it? To make you laugh.
• It stays compelling. At least for people who like talk shows, anyways. And really, who doesn't like talk shows? The stories are still interesting and, you know..... amusing. And the scenes based off of them make them downright hilarious.

I really enjoyed the little touches they had, too, like cutting to the celebrity in question whenever something particularly outrageous happened. I love watching reactions, and the reactions of the celebrity are usually priceless. 

That being said, there were one or two things I think they could have done better, and hopefully that'll be improved upon as the series goes on (fingers crossed that it'll go to series!).

First of all, the stories. That was one thing that took away from the talk show part of the show. The host always asks for a particular story that he already knows about them. And that bugged me, it made it seem to me like the show was already set up with what stories he wanted them to act out. Looking at Conan as an example, he doesn't right out ask for the story. He'll say something along the lines of "I heard something about........ [insert story subject here]. Is that true? What was going on?" And I know Trust Us With Your Life isn't a talk show, it's not trying to be a talk show, and I know the interview part or whatever it is shouldn't take TOO much time....... we wouldn't want to take time away from our wonderful improv heroes. But make it more casual for god's sake. Don't force them into telling a story you haven't interested them in telling.

If it were up to me, I would have the performers themselves talking to the guests, taking turns talking to the guests. Sort of like they did on Improv-a-Ganza, where they took turns introducing the scenes and everything. That, for me, would be ideal, but I suppose on a show in this format you do sort of need a host, so I guess there's that.

All in all...... it was good. I liked it and it has definitely become my new Tuesday show. It was pretty great in fact, it made me laugh pretty hard. 

But let's not fool ourselves. It was no Whose Line. Whose Line had just the right collection of everything, it was a masterpiece, and nothing can live up to it. 

But Trust Us With Your Life was in fact, great. I rate it 8.5/10 stars, and to any lingering Whoser wondering, I recommend you watch it, just to see our boys back in action. 8) It's good, it's funny, it's interesting.... it's very well put together. Watch it.

Peace out

MeganH

In Which I Obsess Over the Cure for Depression

ANOTHER obsession, you say? Yes. Yes indeed. It is called Whose Line Is It Anyway.

Now, I would HOPE that most of you would know what this is, but as it was cancelled quite a while ago and has been mostly forgotten (then again, they said Earth was "Mostly harmless") I will explain the concept of the show - hopefully without too much ranting. But hey, if I rant, so what. It's my frackin' blog.

The concept of the show is that it is all improv. None of the show is scripted. They do a bunch of improv games based off suggestions from the audience or cards that the producer/director/writer guy gives the host (Drew Carey). And as improv is as a rule, hysterical, it's brilliant. Since the show is formatted as a game show, the host gives one or two or all of the performers some meaningless points at the end of each game (the points don't matter) and then randomly chooses a "winner" at the end of the show. Although I wouldn't say randomly. I don't think it's quite coincidence that Colin and Ryan barely EVER win - as far as I can tell, Colin only wins when they're playing Props at the end, and even then he usually won't win. As for Ryan.... I'm almost certain he only won once and sat out of a hoedown. And, considering how many bloopers there are of Ryan at the desk, I'm not surprised he only won once.

Now usually my obsessions are at least one of two things: 1) weird, random, hard to understand and totally obscure, 2) Way out of date. The exception to these rules being the Simpsons.

And Whose Line is sort of an exception. It also sort of totally conforms to these rules, depending on how you look at it.

1) weird, random, hard to understand, totally obscure -- it is weird. It is very random. Hard to understand though? Not really. It's improv. You don't really need to understand any of it, because half the time, they don't know what the hell they're saying. Obscure? I suppose. Now it is, anyhow. But is the humour obscure? Hardly. And that's what the show's all about, you know. The humour.

2) I suppose it's a little out of date now, seeing as it went from 1998-2005 or thereabouts. But not out of date in the sense that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was out of date. The jokes are still relevant. The humour's still relevant. You can barely tell that it was made so many years ago, just watching the show.

Now that's totally just me being defensive about liking the show, but why DO I like the show?

Because it makes me laugh. And when I'm in one of my lonely, sorry-for-myself depressive state of minds, that's very hard to do. "It's just a feel-good show" as Ryan Stiles once described it. When you see the performers burst out laughing right there on stage, it can be accurately called contagious.

The people they have on this show are GREAT. FANTASTIC. Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles - they are true masters of improv. Wayne Brady - he is the absolute master of improvising SONGS. And all their guest stars - Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Chip Esten (ahhh, Chip), Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis - are all great in their own right. And of course, the host, Drew Carey - the show just wouldn't be complete without his laughter and ribbing. No it would not.

Colin Mochrie

Ryan Stiles

Wayne Brady

Greg Proops

Brad Sherwood

Chip Esten

Kathy Greenwood

Jeff Davis

Drew Carey

I really am ranting now, for sure, but I've got no one else to rant to and sometimes a girl's just gotta rant. Alright? Good, cause I ain't gonna stop.

The thing is, half the humour isn't even in the scenes (although the scenes are ridiculously funny) - half the humour is just in the friendships the people have with each other. And it's OBVIOUS they are friends. Colin and Ryan had been doing improv with each other for who knows how long before Whose Line, and they have the best non-gay bromance in the history of the world. They can make fun of each other all the time (which is hilarious) and be fine because that's just what good friends they are.

Ryan: "Do you look like you've been hit by a bus three times?"

Colin: "You started."

Because Ryan is "a big stick with a big nose".

And Ryan worked with Drew Carey on the Drew Carey Show, so they're friends. Just the friendships are what make the show what it is. Colin putting up with all the bald jokes and the canadian jokes, Ryan putting up with being the "tall freak", the "big stick with a big nose", having to put up with everyone making fun of his terrible shoes. Drew putting up with the fat jokes, and "not doing a damn thing". There's so much laughter and fun on this show it's kind of impossible not to laugh.

Colin after Drew said an unexpected bald joke.

Colin after Drew got booed for saying a bald joke. And that's how Drew learned "don't make fun of the popular funny guy."

There will be plenty of other Whose Line related rants, I can assure you. But speaking of Whose Line as a whole, I've pretty much summed it up. If you don't already know what Whose Line is, check it out. You will laugh, I can guarantee that. If you don't, then you have no sense of humour. Kay, I can't say that. But seriously. If you don't then I will be very very very very very very very very surprised. 

That's all for now. Have fun getting the past few minutes of your life back.  Now, let's find some Whose Line I haven't seen.................