After a stressful hotel check-in as well as a less than relaxing dinner, I was definitely ready for some good comedy. I didn’t know what to expect. I’d never seen Wayne perform in any venue bigger than the Whose Line studio or the Irvine Improv (both of which are quite small). I wasn’t sure how well an improv show like his would translate in such a huge symphony hall theatre with a couple thousand seats (including balconies). My seat was in the front row toward the left side of the house. They were pretty good seats, although I had a hard time seeing a lot of the action on the other side of the stage. Not to mention I was near some loud speakers. For better or for worse, I was also near the staircase leading from the stage to the audience...but we’ll get to that later.
First came the “and friends” part of the title of the show. The friends this time were Jonathan Magnum (from the Wayne Brady Show) and Bill (whose last name I don’t know. If you’ve ever been to a taping of WBS, he was the “warm up guy” who kept the crowd’s energy up). There were a few instruments in the back part of the stage. All I remember was a piano and percussion. Jonathan asked the audience for a bunch of words, which Bill then wrote down on a big pad of paper. The words were: Can’t do it (yes I know, it’s not one word...don’t yell at me, I didn’t come up with this stuff!), mozzarella (OK now you can yell at me, because I did come up with that one!), cheese head, trombone, gargonzola, lottery, and electroinsephiogram. Then Wayne came out and had to make up a rap on the spot using all of these words. He got a real kick out of the electroinsephiogram, though I believe that was the first time I’ve ever seen Wayne look so stumped. I don’t blame him. He also made fun of the audience for all of the cheese related words. Again, I don’t blame him.
Next Jonathan and Wayne played Film & Theatre Styles. For a plot line, Wayne asked the audience for an unusual or strange gift to give someone as a graduation present. A woman yelled out couch. Wayne couldn’t tell whether she said “cow” or “couch,” so it became a cow couch. The scene was about Jonathan giving Wayne a couch as his graduation gift. A cow couch, to be specific. The styles included a love story, James Bond story, Shakespeare (my suggestion), Japanese, Kung Fu, silent, Spanish, musical, and women in prison.
Wayne went into the audience and brought up a woman for Song Styles. She was a librarian named Lauren (accent on the second syllable). Wayne asked her some questions about her job, such as what the most annoying/difficult part entailed. She said that a lot of the children at the school where she worked were from the Ukraine and she had a hard time pronouncing the names. Particularly the ones with no vowels. Wayne then asked her for her favourite style of music so that he could sing to her using the style of her choice. She told him that she wanted him to do it in a falsetto...a Capella. An odd, but creative request I thought. Wayne, never one to turn down a challenge, did just as she asked. Amazingly well I might add. He started singing at first, and then the piano joined in. He turned around, gave a dirty look, the pianist figured out what was meant by “a Capella” and stopped playing. Let me just say that Wayne has an amazing falsetto voice. He ended the song saying that the new spelling of Wayne would be W-a-q-t-t-y-z-k-l or something along those lines. Very good game.
Much to my delight, Wayne, Jonathan, and Bill played Hearing Impaired. If there’s any game that I’d love to see them bring to Whose Line, that’s the one. The topic was forensic science. As usual, it was a hilarious game. Some of the highlights included the mention of the word “briefs,” spurring Wayne to indicate his underwear (predictable, yes, but still funny), the mention of a person’s organs, which Wayne indicated by playing an organ (the instrument), and the word “liver,” which Wayne implied by excessively drinking and passing out.
Wayne and Jonathan played moving people. They were working on a construction site. All I remember was that the girl who was moving Wayne continuously made him grab his crotch throughout the scene.
Bill joined Wayne and Jonathan in a round of Irish Drinking Song about bus drivers with tight underwear (a combination of two audience suggestions). Similar to the last time I saw IDS at one of Wayne’s shows, they started off talking with Irish accents and calling each other names (i.e. “Black Agnes,” “Doogie Howser,” and “’N Sync guy with pitch problems”-that one was Bill).
Forward-Reverse: Generally, I’m not a big fan of this game. It gets old pretty quickly and often falls flat. However, this one was…well, it was interesting. The scene involved surfing and saving the world from fighter ants (or was it fire ants? Anyway...). Wayne and Jonathan were playing and Bill was calling out Forward/Reverse/etc. Jonathan was the evil character who was trying to take over the world (with the ants, naturally). They were plotting against each other, and Wayne suddenly announced his plan: “I know! I’ll capture his girlfriend and take her hostage!” I’d already made it through Moving People and Song Styles, so I figured I was pretty much home free to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show without leaving my seat. WRONG! He came out into the audience, hoisted me over his shoulder, and started running up the aisle. I took a moment to commend myself for making the decision to wear pants rather than a skirt. Otherwise, we would have had another Melissa incident! Bill yelled “Pause,” so Wayne just stood with me over his shoulder for a while in the middle of the audience. Eventually, either Wayne or Bill said something about a lawsuit, and he put me down. Then Jonathan and Wayne started battling in the aisle, as I just stood there watching, not quite knowing what to do. Wayne defeated Jonathan, turned to me and said, “Who’s your boyfriend now?” Well what was I supposed to do? You don’t turn down opportunities like that! “You are!” I said. “Yay!” he cheered, and threw his arms around me. Bill paused this special moment. A little while later, he said “Forward.” “No,” said Wayne, “I’m not letting go, I’m staying right here.” Then Bill called to switch places because Jonathan needed some loving too. I was just about to go over and hug Jonathan, when Wayne decided to interpret Bill’s call differently. Instead of Jonathan switching places with Wayne and leaving me hugging Jonathan, Wayne decided to put Jonathan in my place, and went over and gave him a hug, as, once again, I just stood there. It was a very touching moment, so Jonathan and Wayne started dancing in front of the stage and singing “Children of the World.” The orchestra even joined in. Then Bill called to do the scene backwards to the beginning. They did it, I ended up back in my seat, and Wayne ended the game by thanking the “human prop,” indicating to me. Moral of the story: Don’t wear a skirt if you sit in the front row at Wayne’s show.
“Whose Line:” This wasn’t a great game. Most of the lines were pretty stupid. Rather than writing funny lines, the audience members wrote down little fragments that made no sense at all. All I know is that the first line was “You betrayed me,” and it ended with Jonathan and Wayne breaking into “Children of the World” again.
Greatest Hits: Jonathan sold the CD, Wayne sang the songs. It was a bit of an altered version. This time, they went to the audience and asked for different song styles. The audience had written down random fictional song titles before the show, which Jonathan held in his hand. Then Jonathan chose from those song styles and picked a title from those written by the audience. I’m afraid I found myself desperately yearning for Ryan and Colin, but it was still a funny game. Here are the styles and titles that I remember: Country- “I’ve got your special beef patties,” Opera- “Get the Zamboni,” Gangsta Rap- “My friend petroleum jelly,” Salsa- “Yeah, it was the milkman” (I can’t remember if I was the one who suggested that one or not. I either requested salsa or opera- just to make Wayne suffer), Gospel- “It tasted like chicken” (for this one, Wayne sang about his mistake in ordering escargot), Heavy Metal- “Momma, I need some money”, and Reggae- “I’ve driven it 15,000 miles and it’s time for it to be serviced.”
Wayne ended the show with a tribute to his favourite singers. He brought out two of his dancers for this one. He imitated Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke (“You Send Me”), Louis Armstrong (“What a Wonderful World”), James Brown (“I Feel Good”), Sammy Davis Jr., and Michael Jackson. For that one, he made up new lyrics to the song “I’ll Be There,” this time about how much he missed his melanin. The new title was “I’ll Be Black” (I think).
Throughout the entire show, there was a running gag about the lights. Every time Wayne did a motion to cut the lights, they never went out. He would do the motion several times and turn it into an exercise video. Then, in the middle of a scene, the lights would go out. Wayne was making fun of the people in the lighting booth all night long. It was well deserved and absolutely hilarious.