I was sitting in bed early Friday morning, in my pajamas, eating Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats and drinking quickly cooling coffee. As I was routinely checking my e-mail, there sat a new message from Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood’s public relations (PR) guy. It said they were available until 5 p.m. and asked if I wanted to speak with them.
I nearly spat out my cereal and spent the next 10 minutes frantically calling my best friend to help compile a list of questions. Then, I sent the PR guy an e-mail saying, “Yes, I would love to speak with them today.”
I couldn’t help but feel like another Mustang Daily reporter, Sarah Parr, when she got the interview with Bill Cosby.
Granted, very few people knew who the comedians were unless I said “the bald Canadian guy from Whose Line?” and really no one could think of Brad Sherwood.
For me, I grew up watching the show and was a big fan. I felt the pressing need to dress nicely for the phone interview and then realized I was being silly. I waited, the butterflies in my stomach suddenly feeling like they were made of lead. I think the only way I got through it was because I kept telling myself they weren’t Brad and Colin. Plus, it helped that their phone voices weren’t the same as their TV voices.
Brad Sherwood started off the conversation asking if I could call him back because calling from his Vegas hotel room was ridiculously expensive. It struck me as odd, but I complied, guessing that Sherwood didn’t make nearly as much money as I thought he did. He sounded tired but was very forthcoming with the show and his opinions about it. He was really too tired to be very funny over the phone, but he was nice and courteous.
For instance, when I asked if he liked playing for smaller audiences, he replied “You mean tiny people?”
Sherwood also talked about his college experience, which I couldn’t fit into the article. He did a sketch and improv show in college, similar to Cal Poly’s Smile ‘N’ Nod. He has a lot of fond memories from college, because that’s when he started drinking beer.
“I’m not sure if kids do that nowadays,” Sherwood said. “But it was all the rage in college.”
When asked about taboo subjects, Sherwood said they don’t really do politics like other comedians. The world has become so “polarized” that it gets harder to do it, and the President Bush era was the end of being able to make fun of presidents.
“Politically, we lost our sense of humor as a country,” he said.
We said our goodbyes, and after hanging up, I had to run around the house with a suppressed scream of glee.
Then Colin Mochrie called.
He called from his cell phone, judging by the restricted number, and seemed tired as well. He was also very nice and spoke at length with me about the show, his comedy background, his social networking skills and his cooking. He wasn’t as pointedly funny as Sherwood was, but his subtle humor did not go unnoticed and definitely made the interview easier.
Some of the things he said that didn’t make it to the article were about his personal life. He attended Vancouver’s theater school, Studio 58 at Langara College, and really doesn’t remember much of his college years. What he does remember is at the end of his first year, he was told by his director during a review that he was “really good at low brow comedy.” Mochrie took it as a compliment.
When I asked about preshow rituals, he echoed Sherwood’s answer that they play cards every night, but he phrased it as he beats Brad at cards every night.
I then asked Mochrie if he had ever been to San Luis Obispo. He said no, but then I timidly pointed out that I saw him with the Whose Line crew a few years ago in the exact same theater. Mochrie was a bit embarrassed — I felt a little bad about that.
I also asked about his cooking, since I had already read a few articles on him. He informed me his wife hasn’t cooked since 1990, and cooking is a relaxing outlet for him.
“I have a lot of great pasta recipes,” Mochrie said.
I also asked him about his Twitter, since their website prominently displays his Twitter feed. He said he only uses it as a promotional tool, and if he’s bored, he’ll put stupid jokes or weird observations.
“I’m really not that interesting, and I really don’t think people will care what I’m having for lunch that day,” he said.
He did Tweet after their show on Saturday though: “San Luis Obispo, you rocked.”