{"id":1676,"date":"2019-06-11T19:36:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T23:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=1676"},"modified":"2019-06-11T19:36:40","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T23:36:40","slug":"colin-mochrie-an-understated-man-who-brings-the-laughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=1676","title":{"rendered":"Colin Mochrie: An understated man who brings the laughs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Chris Jones\/Active Senior’s Digest<\/p>\n

Colin Mochrie has brought laughter to many homes around the world by bringing his improvisational skills to the small screen, and the stage.<\/p>\n

Mochrie, who has starred on hit shows such as Whose Line is it Anyway? and This Hour has 22 Minutes, recently discussed his time as a comedian, specifically focusing on the world of improv, and how it has effected his life, and vice versa.<\/p>\n

Mochrie has been nominated for and won several awards during his career.<\/p>\n

The comedian has been nominated for five Canadian Comedy Awards, winning two of them, and has also won a Gemini Award and a Writers Guild of Canada award for his work on This Hour has 22 Minutes.<\/p>\n

At the 2013 Canadian Comedy Awards, Mochrie was awarded the Canadian Comedy Person of the Year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Aside from doing comedy, Mochrie has appeared in several movies and TV shows throughout his career.<\/p>\n

Some of his film and TV credits include multiple appearances on Murdoch Mysteries, and a main role on Royal Canadian Air Farce.<\/p>\n

He has also written a book titled \u201cNot Quite the Classics,\u201d in which he took classic stories and put his own spin on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really need [a great audience] during an improv show,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey sort of set the tone of what we\u2019re going to do, everything is based on their suggestions, so we need them to sometimes think outside the box and give us suggestions we may not have heard before just to inspire us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mochrie has appeared on both the American and British versions of Whose Line is it Anyway?, and explains in the past the direction of the audiences were quite different.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be that the British audiences were a little more reserved, and their suggestions were all over the place from historical references to geographical ones,\u201d he says. \u201cIn America it tends to be more pop culture-related suggestions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For a recent fundraiser in Oshawa with Durham Improv, Mochrie says the focus is more local humour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mostly just goofy, and goofy\u2019s universal, so everybody seems to enjoy it,\u201d he says with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

Mochrie has been on the scene for some time, as he has been actively performing since he was in his early 20\u2019s.<\/p>\n

He explains during this time he has kept his personal and public lives separate.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have no idea what I do and have met me for the first time, I don\u2019t think they would immediately jump to, \u2018Oh, this guy\u2019s a performer,\u2019\u201d he explains. \u201cI tend to be very quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mochrie explains through the success of Whose Line is it Anyway? he’s had to become more outgoing because of press demands and the number of people he encounters.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in that way, improv has brought me out of my shell,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His style of improv comedy has changed since he began, and some of the credit for that has to go to his daughter, Kinley Mochrie, originally born Luke Mochrie.<\/p>\n

When Mochrie\u2019s daughter came out as transgender, she gave him her permission to announce it on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI received an e-mail from someone who runs an LGBTQ improv theatre in England,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt said, \u2018I saw your post, it\u2019s lovely that you\u2019re supporting your daughter, can I ask you to be more aware when you\u2019re doing…the transphobic and homophobic jokes that you do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He says looking back he realized the person who sent the e-mail was right, especially in regards to his early material on Whose Line is it Anyway?<\/p>\n

He says he asked if he could post the e-mail on Facebook, and every improv company he knew of weighed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all made a vow to actually watch out for that,\u201d he says. \u201cSo often we get positive feedback\u2026sometimes you forget it can have the opposite effect. It can marginalize an entire section of the population just through some dumb joke that you don\u2019t even think about. You just do it and then you\u2019re onto the next thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only his daughter who has influenced Mochrie though, as he says his experiences on Whose Line is it Anyway? allowed him to become more fearless.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Whose Line, you know you have to be on right away. With stage you can take a little time to build your scene, to get into character,\u201d he explains. \u201cWith Whose Line, everything had to be there from the very beginning, so it made you aware of what your partners were giving you because that was pretty much all you had to work with, that and a suggestion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he learned to \u201ctrim all of the fat\u201d and just \u201cget to the funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mochrie, he gets a lot of inspiration from his everyday surroundings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have some very interesting characters in my personal life,\u201d he says. \u201cJust from my wife and daughter, and our group of friends. So I always get a front row view on human behaviour and different kinds of characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an improv comedian, Mochrie says basically everything he encounters is something that can be pulled out during a scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that you sort of come into contact with, you sort of file it away and use it later in your career,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Today, Mochrie can be found touring with Brad Sherwood for their Scared Scriptless tour, and Hyprov, a combination of hypnosis and improv Mochrie is doing with hypnotist Asad Mecci.
\nTo find out more about Mochrie and what he has on the go right now, visit his website at http:\/\/www.colinmochrie.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chris Jones\/Active Senior’s Digest Colin Mochrie has brought laughter to many homes around the world by bringing his improvisational skills to the small screen, […] Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nColin Mochrie: An understated man who brings the laughs - Active Senior's Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=1676\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colin Mochrie: An understated man who brings the laughs - Active Senior's Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Chris Jones\/Active Senior’s Digest Colin Mochrie has brought laughter to many homes around the world by bringing his improvisational skills to the small screen, […] Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=1676\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Active Senior's Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-11T23:36:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/colin-mochrie7-crop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"639\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"active\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/\",\"name\":\"Active Senior's Digest\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=1676#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/colin-mochrie7-crop.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/colin-mochrie7-crop.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":639},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=1676#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/activeseniorsdigest.ca\/wp_activeseniorsdigest\/?p=1676\",\"name\":\"Colin Mochrie: An understated man who brings the laughs - 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