Legendary comic coming to Bristol
Legendary TV comics Colin Mochrie (far left) and Brad Sherwood pose with Zach and Emily Cooley of Wytheville after their March 29 show at Paramount Bristol.
Legendary improvisational comedians Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, co-stars of the popular television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, will return to Bristol Friday, September 18, when they bring their From Whose Line Is It Anyway? tour to the stage of the Paramount Theatre.
Following a sold-out performance at the Paramount on March 29, 2024, the hilarious duo will return to the birthplace of country music for another undoubtedly full-house performance.
“It was lovely in Bristol,” Mochrie said during a Sept. 8 phone interview. “Our last performance in Bristol was our first time there, and we loved hitting new territory, which is very good for us.”
One of the highlights of the 2024 Bristol performance for Mochrie was a musical salute to the city.
“We like to shake things up,” Mochrie said. “I like to make the show harder on myself, and the musical portion is a great way to do that.”
Mochrie and Sherwood have known each other for nearly four decades. For more than half of that time, they have toured together, entertaining audiences around the world with their spontaneous brand of comedy.
The longevity of their partnership, Mochrie said, comes largely from the trust they have developed over the years.
“Brad and I have a great trust in each other,” he said. “We have a trust where we can follow each other if we don’t know where the other is going comedically.”
After spending much of his life on the road and performing on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the 68-year-old Canadian comedian was forced to take a step back this year after suffering a detached retina on New Year’s Day. That was followed by knee-replacement surgery just nine weeks before his Sept. 8 interview.
Despite those setbacks, however, Mochrie said he never seriously considered retirement.
“My wife, daughter and I have a great time hanging out together when we are at home,” he said. “Certainly, being at home for those weeks made me consider the possibility of slowing down.”
But the lure of performing — and the laughter of an audience — remains difficult to resist.
Mochrie has been addicted to that laughter since high school, when a friend dared him to perform in a school play.
And after nearly 40 years of working alongside Sherwood, he jokingly suggested that retirement could create a problem for his longtime partner.
“If I retired, what would Brad do?” Mochrie quipped. “He’s absolutely useless without me.”
The Sept. 18 Bristol performance will be only the second stop on a brand-new tour since Mochrie returned to the road following his hiatus for his eye and knee surgeries.
“It’s been so long since we’ve done the show, actually,” he admitted. “I look forward to getting back out there and getting a feel for what these new shows will offer.”
As fans of Whose Line Is It Anyway? might expect, the Bristol audience can look forward to some of the program’s popular games, including “Sound Effects” and “Moving Bodies.”
Mochrie acknowledged, however, that he will have to assess his physical condition before tackling some of the more demanding routines so soon after his knee replacement.
“Before every show,” he explained, “Brad and I decide how we’re feeling, and if we don’t think we’re physically up to a certain game, we can quickly swap it out for another one.”
That ability to change the performance on the fly is one of the hallmarks of the duo’s live show. Because the entire program is created as it unfolds, Mochrie and Sherwood aren’t bound to the kind of rigid set list that most performers must follow on tour.
Over the years, Sherwood has also developed a reputation for creating live comedy that occasionally comes at the expense of his own physical well-being. The pair once performed a scene while blindfolded and walking barefoot across a stage covered with mouse traps.
Now, Mochrie said, age has brought at least a little wisdom to their approach.
“Now that Brad is getting older,” Mochrie said, “he’s understanding that doing routines that hurt us might not be the most beneficial thing to do in the long run.”
Pain or otherwise, there is little doubt that Mochrie and Sherwood will bring plenty of laughter back to Bristol, just as they did two years ago.
Tickets for the Sept. 18 performance are still available through the Paramount Theatre at paramountbristol.org. Prices range from $51.04 to $113.50.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the show beginning at 7:30 p.m.
