Story – Robert McKee's Creative Storytelling Magazine Issue 005 – Drew Carey | Page 66

MCKEE
INTERVIEWS
DREW CAREY
thing an actor can have. Once
you let go of any kind of fear, or
fear of judgment or anything like
that, then you can do anything.
So Wayne got up there and he
just went crazy. He came over by
my desk and danced. He grabbed
one of the other performers and
hugged them and danced all over
them. It was just fantastic, and all
you have to do is go for it 100%.
You have to have the basic thing
down there. We have a good profession for them to be, we have a
good situation, and then the rest of
it was just him going for it. So that’s
the punch. He did all the punchlines, but we provided the groundwork. That’s the secret of Whose
Line: we provided the groundwork
for everybody in a really good way,
and then all they had to do was go
for it.
RM: I have watched hundreds
of hours of Whose Line is it Anyway? All those guys—Wayne,
Ryan Stiles—it seems to me that
it’s more than just letting themselves go.
DC: Right, there is more to it.
RM: They get into a great situation—that’s the setup. Then
they’ve got to find variations on
that theme somehow. I watch
these guys and I think, “Where
does this come from?
DC: A lot of it is list-making. If

you’re writing comedies, a lot of it
is list-making.

cent that was practicing making
out with a girl.

RM: What does that mean—
list-making?

Brad Sherwood had to do his bit,
then Wayne Brady had to do his
bit, and then Colin. So Ryan had
all these minutes—he had like a
minute and a half to think, “What
would an awkward teenager do
when he was practicing making
out?” He did this move, and my
arms aren’t long enough, but he
reached around and did that. He
went to kiss two cameras. He had
like four or five faces, and that’s really all the bit was is he had to think
of like three faces to make, three
make out faces and three cameras to go to, and then turn around
and change his voice.

DC: Okay, I’m going to do and bit
about, let’s say, rich rednecks. So
you have the Beverly Hillbillies
kind of rich rednecks. So you make
a list: what kind of car would a rich
redneck drive? You know, types of
cars they would buy. They would
have a Da