HYDERABAD: Comedy mavericks, Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie of Whose Line Is It Anyway fame, are back in town as a part of their four-city tour in India called Black Dog Sparkling Water – Easy Evenings. The two comedians came to India back in 2010 and expect to explore different cities this time. “We are more relaxed this time and we want to see the beautiful cities in India. Last time, we hardly had any free time. We both love Indian food and we hope to tickle our taste buds this time with some serious spices,” says Colin Mochrie.
When the duo first set foot in India six years back, stand-up comedy was an alien concept to Indians. Brad Sherwood, who was excited to learn about different comedy groups in the city and around the country, says, “Stand-up comedy in India is surely growing leaps and bounds. Internet has helped the people see different performers around the globe and also the domestic performers who have become popular in the past five-six years.”
“It is a slow build, but people always need to laugh And they need to laugh out hard and loud,” Colin added. Both the comedians are known for their improv comedy. Improvisation, or improv, is a live theatre performance in which the plot, characters and dialogue of a game, scene or story are made up in the instant. Often improvisers will take a suggestion from the audience or get inspired from some other source of inspiration to get started.
Speaking about the first time Colin performed on stage he said, “I was a high school science student until one of my friends asked me to perform on stage. But when I got my first laugh, I decided that this is what I want and all the science dreams were kept aside.”
However, Brad never diverted from his dream of becoming a comedian. “I started performing on the stage as a theatre actor at the age of eight. I always liked to make people laugh and in school when you make people laugh cutting up, I was already doing improv comedy. I found the same in college and since then I have never stopped,” says the American.
When asked Brad about Donald Trump’s campaign to be the next President of the United States of America, the 51-year-old said, “He is a terrible idea for our country. A lot of people are just satisfied with our economy and so if you stand up and point out, a lot of people would follow you down the road even if you are not qualified to be a good president.”
Meanwhile, Colin had a different approach for Donald Trump’s campaign. “As a comedian there will be a lot of material if he was elected as the President. But as a concerned citizen of the world what if the world ends in three weeks after he has been elected?” says the 58-year-old Canadian.
Colin and Brad performed in the city on Tuesday at Shilpakala Vedika in Hitech City and would be heading for their next performance in Mumbai on March 25 which is then followed by a performance in Gurgaon on March 27and finally in Bengaluru on March 29.