Dining Club Cards Make Great Christmas Gifts! DECEMBER Dining Club Cards Make Great Christmas Gifts! 3-9, 2015 FACEBOOK.COM/WHATZUPFORTWAYNE WWW.WHATZUP.COM WWW.WHATZUP.COM FACEBOOK.COM/WHATZUPFORTWAYNE Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood Page Two Also Inside Holiday Pops Gene Marcus Piano Competition Straight No Chaser Art & Entertainment Calendars Music, Movie & Theater Reviews ------------Feature • Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood --------- Comedy Without a Net By Steve Penhollow audience,” Sherwood said. “It’s as if we are locking arms with them and saying, ‘Let’s go on a journey! Improv comics Brad Sherwood and Colin Moch- We’re going to make this funny together!’ rie try to swap out the games they play in their live “It’s not like a stand-up routine where you cross shows as often as possible to avoid getting bored. your arms and say, ‘I hope this guy’s funny,’” he But there’s one bit they’ll probably never be able said. to retire. Asked if improv is the “trust fall” or “Outward It involves the duo exploring a relatively mundane Bound” of comedy, Sherwood said, “I think that’s a premise while walking, blindfolded and barefooted, very good description. We do depend on each other around a stage that has been covered with more than that way. We’re like two comedic martial artists. We 100 armed mousetraps, Sherwood said in a phone in- have to be prepared for anything.” terview. In a sense, “I think S h e r w o o d it’s a total said, bring- regression to ing audience childhood,” members up he said, refer- on stage is ring to the au- not so much dience’s vis- about increas- ceral reaction ing the humor to the sketch. (at least not “The entire directly) as it audience is is about in- squealing and creasing the howling. I challenges. think we’re “A really tapping into good improv that part of comic isn’t the brain that just someone appreciates who works the Three well with Stooges.” other improv Sher- comics,” he wood, Moch- said. “It’s rie and the mousetraps will take COLIN MOCHRIE & someone who works well with the Honeywell Center stage in BRAD SHERWOOD people who aren’t improv com- Wabash on Friday, Dec. 11. ics and who have no stage pres- For more than two decades 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11 ence.” Sherwood and Mochrie have Honeywell Center A Sherwood/Mochrie ex- been on-again, off-again cast 275 W. Market St., Wabash travaganza might be one of the members on the on-again, off- Tix: $19-$75 thru box office, few opportunities the adults in again TV series, Whose Line Is the audience will get to partici- It Anyway? 260-563-1102 pate in “something so interac- The first TV edition of tive and immediate,” Sherwood Whose Line Is It Anyway? debuted in 1988 on Channel said. Four in Great Britain. A second American incarnation As immensely entertaining as good improv is, the of the show has been running on the CW since 2013 form still gets a bum rap sometimes. and has been renewed through 2016. Comedy duo Tim & Eric expended a couple of The series and its offshoots have made stars of sketches on their Adult Swim show mocking some- Sherwood, Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady, Greg thing that looked suspiciously like Whose Line Is It Proops and Chip Esten. Anyway? When Sherwood and Mochrie decided to team up And networks fear improv shows, Sherwood said, 13 years ago for a live show or two, they had no idea despite how cheap they are to produce. TICKETS it would lead to a tour lasting until 2015 and beyond. “Whether they understand it or not, they can’t put “It has never stopped,” he said. “It has never of- a harness on it and be in complete control,” he said. START AT ficially stopped. Yes, the tour does slow down a bit in “There’s no script they can change. It’s just someone the summer, but we go out every spring and fall. walking into a room saying, ‘I’ve got five clever peo- “I believe it’s the longest running two-man im- ple who are going to say whatever comes off the tops $29 prov show on the planet, which I admit is a narrow of their heads. Write me out a check.’” category,” Sherwood said. When a patron’s first experience with live improv The reason these two men teamed up instead of is a bad one, he may have a reaction that is unique to two of the others has to do with their “similar comic the situation, Sherwood said. sensibilities,” Sherwood said, and the fact that they “If it puts a bad taste in his mouth, he may decide “get along really well.” never to go to another improv show,” he said. “Where- What makes a Sherwood/Mochrie show different as, with a bad stand-up routine, you never hear anyone from most other fare available at venues of the Hon- say they’ll never pay to see another comic.” eywell Center’s size is the extent of the audience par- Improv lives and dies by that first experience, ticipation. Sherwood said. Audience members are asked to set up premises Luckily, he said, thanks to Whose Line Is It Any- and join some skits. way? there are generations of children who are grow- “We have such a different relationship with the ing up with an appreciation for improv comedy. 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.whatzup.com ------------------------------------------------------------December 3, 2015 whatzup Sweetwater Academy’s Volume 20, Number 18 BeatleLabBand es, it’s December already, which by our reckoning means that the holiday sea- son – having started on or about October 31 – is about half over. Whatever Christmas shopping you plan to do can now be considered almost last-minute, Yand your opportunity to enjoy a good number of northeast Indiana’s cherished holiday traditions (Night of Lights, Festival of Trees, etc.) are already gone. But don’t despair. All you’ve got to do is peruse the pages of this, your favorite Fort Wayne area arts and entertainment publication (not to mention the only free one) and you’ll find plenty of ways to elevate your Christmas cheer levels. But you will want to kick things into gear. It’ll be 2016 before you know it, and if you don’t get a move on, you’ll miss your opportunity to buy boatloads of whatzup Dining Club cards to pass out to friends, co-workers, family members and people you barely know for a paltry $10 apiece. After the 12th of this month the price goes up, so find the form on page 6 of this issue or go online to whatzup.com and order today. You’re also running out of time to go to the website and cast your votes for the perform- ers and venues you feel are deserving to be on the Best of 2015 whatzup Readers Poll ballot. A lot of these folks work hard to keep you highly entertained, well fed and per- haps slightly inebriated. Give something back to them by helping them towards a 2016 Whammy Award. Holiday Inn Dinner Buffet Last but not least, our December 17 issue will be our last of 2015 and our annual New Year’s Eve issue. We won’t publish again until January 7. Venues and musicians will Friday, December 4 want to get their calendar info into us as soon as possible, especially their New Year’s 7-8:30pm Prime Rib Dinner & Cash Bar Eve stuff. 8:45-9:45pm Musical Entertainment Looks like we’re out of space, so all that’s left to say is this: Go out, have some fun, spread (Beatles hits from 1963-64) a little Christmas cheer around and tell one and all it’s courtesy of whatzup. $24.99/person | Reservations Required inside the issue Holiday Inn at IPFW • features FLIX ................................................ 16 and the Coliseum Trumbo 260.428.3800 SCREEN TIME ...............................16 4111 Paul Shaffer Drive, Fort Wayne COLIN MOCHRIE & BRAD SHERWOOD ..2 Another Big Comeback for Rocky Comedy Without a Net FARE WARNING ............................ 17 HOLIDAY POPS ...........................................4 Christmas at the Conservatory Pulling the Magic Together CURTAIN CALL ............................... 18 GENE MARCUS PIANO COMPETITION ...7 Exit Laughing Preparing Prodigies Santa & the Reindeer DIRECTOR’S NOTES ...................... 19 The Santaland Diaries Saturdays, December 5, 12, 19 12-4 pm • columns & reviews THE GREEN ROOM ........................ 19 SPINS ...............................................8 • calendars ´$1RUWK:RRGV&KULVWPDVµ Mutemath, Mark McGuire H[KLELWDQG BACKTRACKS ..................................8 LIVE MUSIC & COMEDY ...................9 *DUGHQLQ/LJKWV Thomas Dolby, The Flat Earth (1984) MUSIC/ON THE ROAD ...................14 WKUX-DQ OUT & ABOUT ...................................9 C2G Christmas a Holiday Tradition ROAD TRIPZ ..................................15 PICKS ............................................ 12 THINGS TO DO ..............................17 Gift Shop Straight No Chaser STAGE & DANCE ...........................18 6HDVRQDO3ODQWVG7R\V ROAD NOTEZ ................................. 14 ART & ARTIFACTS .........................19 +ROLGD\$FFHVVRULHV %RRNVG*DUGHQ2UQDPHQWV 8QLTXH*LIWV CuteCute ByBy NatureNature IRUHYHU\RQHRQ\RXUOLVW Conservatory admission is not JewelryJewelry required to shop. 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