From setting 250 mousetraps to protecting comedians Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from falling into the front row of the audience, I definitely got my hands dirty last weekend.
Last Saturday, “An Evening with Colin and Brad” came to the Pabst Theatre, 144 E. Wells St., and the show was filmed in front of a live audience for the duo’s first-ever DVD special.
Mochrie and Sherwood, stars of the hit improvisational comedy television show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” have been touring the country together since 2002. Deciding that 2010 would be the year to create a DVD of their work, they chose Milwaukee to be their home venue because we’re awesome … and really loud.
Jay Chapman, a freelance producer, director, and Marquette alumnus, was hired by New York City production company Mills Entertainment to produce the show. Chapman was kind enough to hire me as one of his production assistants throughout this long but hella fun process.
And let me tell you, this show involved a lot more action than what the audience and television cameras saw.
More went into the show than Mochrie and Sherwood droppin’ a few funnies. In fact, it took close to 30 hours of work to prepare and create the set and props, as well as straighten out any legal complications that could result from audience interaction.
The madness started instantly at 8 a.m. on Friday morning. I busted through the Pabst Theatre’s backstage door, Kramer-style, and Chapman informed me that today would be dedicated to figuring out how to make Mochrie and Sherwood’s new and untested ideas become reality — without getting sued.
One of these ideas involved spending many hours creating a liquid that looks like red wine but doesn’t stain. Blue dish soap and red food dye. Problem solved.
Note to self: get your Ph.D. in the color wheel before your next production gig.
We also decided to hang giant posters of the legal releases at the entrance and on the stage. These were announced to the crowd before the show started to prevent any lawsuits from a heartless audience member.
Note to self: A law degree wouldn’t hurt either.
I also figured out how to electrically wire a digital countdown clock, haggled with Kinko’s about its printing prices, and pointed out to Mochrie that the carpet design at the Pabst repeatedly spelled “poop.”
It was all very important work.
On Saturday, my role got pretty sweet. I was responsible for filming Mochrie and Sherwood doing a funny backstage bit for the DVD and getting photographs of the audience members who participated onstage.
I handed a microphone to the audience members who had questions during the “Love Doctor” sketch and protected the talent from diving head-first into the audience during the “most dangerous improv game ever,” which consisted of them tiptoeing through a mousetrap minefield while blindfolded.
What I learned from this experience is that it takes an extremely hard-working and dedicated crew 30 grueling hours to produce a hilarious two-hour show for you to enjoy.
I also learned that a scene done completely sideways on the ground is revolutionary. You”ll know what I mean when you see the show’s premiere on Comedy Central in the near future.
