MODESTO -- Wayne Brady would be fine if he never heard the words "antidisestablish- mentarianism" or "supercalifragilistic- expialidocious" again.
No matter where the "Whose Line is it Anyway?" comedy improv show veteran performs, whether South Africa, Australia, Amsterdam or the United States, audience members throw out those words when he does a bit where he asks them to come up with a difficult word that he can use in a rap he makes up on the spot.
Brady, who performs Saturday at the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, said it goes to show that humans really are the same and have similar thought patterns. But he has the most fun as an entertainer when people come up with something new.
"I say, 'Let's think outside the box,' " he said in a recent phone interview. "The thing I love about improv is you've got to use your head."
The Gallo Center booked Brady in response to audience requests after a sold-out January 2011 show featuring Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, his colleagues from "Whose Line is it Anyway?"
Like their performance, Brady's Modesto show will be improvised from top to bottom. He will bring audience members on stage and do a lot of fast, physical comedy. He'll answer any question audience members have and he'll make up a lot of songs on the spot.
Raised in Orlando, Fla., Brady, 40, began in show business as a musical theater performer. He never intended to make a career out of comedy improv, but when he got the opportunity to join the British version of "Whose Line" in 1998, he grabbed it. He moved later that year to the American version hosted by Drew Carey and stayed eight seasons.
"It's not like I'm just an improviser," Brady said. "As an actor, it's something I stumbled into and went, 'OK, this is good.' I'm good at it. If you would have asked me years ago if I thought improv would have gotten me anywhere, I would have laughed at you."
"Whose Line" was a huge success for him, bringing him an Emmy Award in 2003. But it isn't the only thing he did. He hosted his own variety show, "The Wayne Brady Show," in 2001 and a daytime talk show of the same name from 2002-04, winning two Emmy Awards for outstanding talk-show host.
Over the years, Brady has hosted the TVshows "Don't Forget the Lyrics," "Let's Make a Deal" and "Celebrity Duets." He has guest-starred on numerous programs, including "The Dave Chappelle Show," "30 Rock," "How I Met Your Mother," "Dirt" and "Everybody Hates Chris."
He also has a recording career and has toured with R&B singer Brian McKnight (who also will play the Gallo Center, with a show set for September). He has released two studio albums — 2008's "A Long Time Coming," which got him a Grammy nomination for best traditional R&B vocal performance for the track "A Change is Gonna Come," and the 2011 children's album "Radio Wayne."
Brady did the latter album for Disney Records because he has a 9-year-old daughter, Maile, and wanted to give her an alternative to current pop music. He was inspired by "Schoolhouse Rock," the 1970s-80s animated series that paired catchy pop music with educational lyrics.
"The stuff I love is the old-school party hip-hop instead of songs that glorify everything that I think is stereotypical that others may think about my culture," he said. "I don't identify with it in my own life and I don't want my daughter listening to it. I want to make sure she takes in the good."
Brady gets frustrated that some people know him only as a comedian. His career has included performances with symphony orchestras and concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
"I don't run around with a clown nose on telling knock-knock jokes," he said. "I was working a long time before ('Whose Line'). When I'm doing my thing, it's always about doing everything I do because you don't want to be pigeonholed in one thing."
WHAT: Wayne Brady
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Rogers Theater, Gallo Center for the Arts, 1000 I St., Modesto
TICKETS: $39-$89
CALL: (209) 338-2100
ONLINE: www.galloarts.org
RSS
E-Mail
Print
Order reprints
