Wayne Brady (right) with Whose Line Is It Anyway? cohort Jonathan Mangum. Photo from the Caesars Windsor Facebook page.
When you’re hearing Mike Tyson answer questions in an interview and a performance breaks out to a song called Canuck As F*ck the next minute, there’s only one logical explanation for the whole thing – an evening of improv with Wayne Brady.
The very funny and extremely talented comedian rolled into Windsor for an evening of Canadian-inspired improv with his Whose Line Is It Anyway? cohort Jonathan Mangum at Caesars Windsor on Thursday night. It wasn’t his first visit to Windsor – he was here in 2016 and also in 2013.
The entire show was drafted on the spot with answers and moments inspired by members of the audience, while Brady and Mangum rolled with it no matter what the answers might bring. It was a live and intimate version of the famous improv television show customized for Windsor on the Caesars stage. It takes skill and a quick wit to pull off intelligent and off-the-wall comedy on the spot night after night, but from this performance it looks like the star of stage and screen is still loving every minute of it. Mangum is also no slouch to improv and comedy, he is the consummate straight man and charming in his own right.
However, it was refreshing hearing the host of Let’s Make A Deal talk about sex and use a couple swear words – it made him more human.
We saw the show open with a goofy rap featuring odd words selected by the audience. Jonathan did his best to slip Wayne up by gathering words like medulla oblongata and kaleidoscope, but it was a hyphenated, phonetically-spelt mess that caused the comic a moment to pause and figure out what was written down for him to rhyme.
An improvised skit featuring four randomly-selected members of the audience brought out tears as the duo had them act out objects like elephants, planes, radios and other random objects. One of the audience members on the stage was a retired drama teacher who added a bit of flair to the skit and had Brady stop at the end to thank the teacher for all he has given to his students.
“My life was saved by a drama teacher, so I thank you for everything you do for your students,” Brady told the man as he saluted him with a round of applause.
Another skit featured two audience members doing their best to keep up with the duo by creating sound effects based on the action of the story they were telling. He also answered questions from the audience when he revealed he has never smoked drugs and he got off of the stool and hugged a member of the crowd who joking claimed he was Brady’s long-lost brother. The two bald men, who did look eerily similar from behind, embraced in the middle of the Colosseum floor to cheers and laughter.
Things got a bit weird and sexually charged when Brady pretended to be an intelligent dog who did his best to anger his owner by talking about the owner’s wife.
In another moment, Brady invited a lawyer on stage to answer questions about her profession as he translated the answers into Whose Line Is It Anyway? sign language, which provided an extremely humourous interpretation of common words.
Brady closed the show with a series of songs with titles chosen by audience members, peaking with the afore mentioned Canuck As F*ck, which mentioned Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump in the lyrics. The songs, and the show, closed with a sexually-driven song about loving a mother-in-law to the music of Prince’s Purple Rain.
Interestingly, Brady’s latest Windsor stop didn’t end with the show. During his question and answer session, someone asked the star if he liked vanilla or chocolate ice cream on his apple pie. He replied in his usually comedic way, but added that he really loved having ice cream and pie at the Windsor Johnny Rockets restaurant and said he was going to stop by after the show. The performer actually did walk by Johnny Rockets later that night. He was also found hanging out with Big Louie and the Band during their evening performance at Cosmos Lounge.
While Brady’s improv show is completely different from a typical stand-up show like we’d get from every other comedian, the interaction with the audience and the instant customization made it a hit for the nearly 5,000 fans who were there. There were plenty wet faces from the tears of laughter and if he keeps winning fans at this rate, his next visit might have to be a two-nighter.
For more photos from the show, visit the Caesars Windsor Facebook page.
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