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What is sitcom superstar DREW CAREY up to
with a new game show? Something outrageous -
and you'll find out just what, as ET brings you a
preview - with Drew's first guest, Mimi!
Entertainment Tonight: Give us a capsule of the show. Drew Carey: It's an improv show, everything is totally made up by the performers as we go. We've written some suggestions for them ahead of time, but they haven't seen them. The audience gives suggestions during the show but the performers, they have to act. They haven't heard anything before, they have to make everything up right on the spot. There are no writers. It's really fun. ET: Do they have any idea what form the improv might take? Drew: We have a lot of different improv games that we play. One is called "Film and Theater Styles," where they come out and they act out a scene, and the audience suggests different styles of film or theater. Like they will say kabuki, or western, or science fiction, or documentary, and during the scene I buzz them and I say "Do a western now," and whatever scene they are doing they have to change it into a western. Then I buzz them again and they have to change it into a romance. Buzz them again and they have to change to a kabuki, or whatever I yell at them. And it's really a lot of thinking on your feet. They have to be really fast. We haven't seen anything like it on American TV ever unless you've seen the English version of the show on Comedy Central. ET: And you're involved as one of the executive producers? Drew: Yes, RYAN STILES and I and the English producers. It's really fun. ET: Now you get to sit behind the desk? Drew: That's right, the easiest job on the show. They always tell me it's the hardest job, but I don't have to do anything improv really until the end. I just do one game at the end to wrap up the show. And it's really nerve racking because they get to the part where I have to join in and I'm like "Oh no." Because you've just seen the best improv you've ever seen in your life in the last 20 minutes and then I have to get up there and muddle my way through and I do okay, but I'm not as funny as these other guys are. ET: It's a powerful position though. Drew: Yeah, I can buzz them in, I can buzz them out. It is kind of a powerful position. And I get to shout out the film and theater styles - The film and theater styles are really fun because I get to pick the order that they go in. I get to pick the people from the audience that come out and interact with the performers. It's really fun. I just sit there and laugh my head off. They actually had to tell me once during the taping - I was laughing so hard I was pounding the table constantly, and it was picking up on the microphone that they use for the buzzer and the doorbell, and they had to tell me to quit doing it. Entertainment Tonight: You and Ryan are on the production team. Did the idea for this show come about from improv on the set of "The Drew Carey Show?" Drew Carey: Well, this started, the whole idea, because you know Ryan has done this show in Britain for the last 10 years. I wanted something different to do besides stand up when we weren't in production. So I wanted to do improv at the Improv, so practically the whole cast would come on Thursdays to the Improv and do improv. After a few weeks it was going real well, and I said to Ryan, 'Hey, why don't we do an American version of "Whose Line Is It,"' and I found out the "Whose Line" people were already trying to sell it into syndication in the United States. It wasn't going that well, because the people they were trying to sell it to wanted to change the show too much, and they were resisting. So I said 'Let's go to ABC, and tell them we will do it as a summer show.' And we'll keep it exactly the same, and the people from England will be happy and ABC will be happy and we'll see how it works out. So we convinced ABC and Warner Brothers came along and we convinced everybody, and now it's on the air and we are really happy. I think it's going to be really great. If you don't like this show something is wrong with you. You got to be crazy not to laugh at this stuff. ET: We know of course that Ryan will be a regular- Drew: Yes, Colin and Brad, they will be here a lot, and there will be a few different changes every week in the personal. Mostly it will be the same people. ET: For me, just to see KATHY [KINNEY] do the improvs - Drew: I knew her from doing stand up with the people from "The Drew Carey Show" and I knew from the production that she was really good at it. She used to teach it, I found out, so she is really great at improv. If we can find other people from other shows that are available I think we'll try to get them on. For the first six we only have a couple, and they are all from "The Drew Carey Show." (Laughs) But if anything happens after that we'll certainly have as many people on as we can, that are good at it, or are famous enough that they don't mind making an idiot out of themselves. But it's really fun to watch. Like seeing Kathy, she usually only does "Mimi" and she does this whole different thing. The same thing with Ryan, you only see him as "Lewis," and then he comes out, you just wouldn't believe all the stuff that goes on. ET: It's a great show, thank you. Drew: No, thank you.
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