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Jul. 8th, 2009 04:58 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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wl_fanfictionYo dudes! I haven't a clue what this is but enjoy!
Pairing: Ryan/Colin, Greg/Brad, Jeff/Chip, Drew/Wayne
Rating: R for language, nothing sexy.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, or their wives or anything mentioned in this story. D'you think I'd be in debt if I did?!
Whose Line: The Aftermath
The Cancellation Of Whose Line
Drew: I was so fucking angry when Whose Line ended. I was lucky enough to have two prime time TV shows on at the same time, but they both ended in the same year technically. You know, when the Drew Carey Show ended, it was because a group of us had decided it. Ryan wanted to spend more time at home, and he was a big ratings draw. I don't blame him. If I had had a wife and kids complaining at me, then I'd want to spend more time with them to shut them up. Funny thing is, I'm not if he did actually go home the times he said he did. I know I didn't when Wayne came on our show.
Ryan: Whose Line enabled me. It started essentially all of our careers, made us all famous. Especially me and Colin. We got labelled as the 'main stars' of the show. Maybe we were. I didn't care. I tolerate fans, whereas Colin loves them. I'll sign autographs, pose for pictures most days, but some days, I just want to be left alone to smoke and think. I was like that, but ten times worse when I found out Whose Line was cancelled. We were all together when we found out. Me, Drew, Greg and Brad shouted and screamed. Chip, Jeff and Wayne agreed with us but were too much in shock to do anything else. But Colin. He just sat there, silently fuming. I can tell you from experience that it's not good when Colin doesn't say anything at all. Yeah, I was getting burned out, but I was willing to go along with it. It allowed me and Colin to have our affair without raising eyebrows as to why we were sharing a room.
Colin: I loved Whose Line. They screwed me around on my first performance, which screwed me up, but I got a second chance. It made me famous. I was struggling before that show. It gave me fans, which was weird. Apparently my big puppy dogs eyes do actually make girls swoon which I've never got. It didn't affect me either. I only ever wanted to make one person 'swoon' and I did. There was two reasons I loved Whose Line: although I have the best 'mask' face and reputation for not cracking up set, afterwards I would laugh so hard that I would cry which made me happy, and for Ryan. We fell in love somewhere along the line, and Whose Line gave us the opportunity to have our affair.
Greg: People tend to forget that I was on Whose Line first out of all the 'regular' US performers. I would go so far as saying that I miss it the most. Yeah, Ryan and Colin became the main stars, but I was on it first. I had good times on that show, some behind the scenes and some behind closed doors, and I miss it. I was with Drew on the feelings spectrum. I was angry. Fucking angry. You see, Whose Line essentially set everybody up nicely. Ryan and Colin for example. Me? I had Brad.
Jeff: Yeah, I was angry! I got upset too. I was doing alright when Whose Line asked me to appear, and that propelled me to stardom. Well, lower level stardom. I got to learn things about improv from the masters, but I could also have fun doing it. I had never had that in a job before. I had so much fun every time I filmed on Whose Line. I also met Chip. It was legend that when you became a regular on Whose Line, you found a fellow performer to share your life with. I didn't think it would happen to me.
Chip: I was on the UK version of Whose Line, and the US version. And when I found out that they were shelving Whose Line, it was like a wave of shock hit me, gripped me and wouldn't let me go. I couldn't believe it. I was a kind of semi-regular on there, and it was like, the only job where I could completely hyped up on caffeine and not be shouted at for it. Because we were improvising, the directors just let us to our stuff most of time. Apart from when we were censored. We had competition once to show who got censored most. I had my money on Greg. Colin put money on Ryan. I ended up a poor man that night.
Brad: Oh, I remember that night. We were all sitting in a pub - no surprise - as we were all due to start filming a new series in a couple of days, but we all agreed to go to LA early and just get together for a few. Because it was only four people on, we never usually got the chance to go out with the whole group you know? Drew got the call, and his face just kind of froze and then he just got so angry. Drew's like, a kind of big teddy bear, and I've never seen him get angry. I'd seen him annoyed or pretend to be angry, but this was something else. We all thought that he'd been conned out of money or something, but when he told us we all erupted. 'Cept Colin. Colin sat there in silence, but I swear that if you had looked close enough you would've seen little wisps of hot air coming out of his ears. Greg was pissed too. Chalk one for rough angry sex that night cos I was fuming too.
Wayne: I was shocked when I found out. But I think I was one of the few guys would actually thought that they'd be alright without it. I was angry, sure, I loved that show almost as much as I loved my wife. But I had a record deal going on, recording a new album, so if that went well, I'd be alright financial wise. But, laughing wise, I didn't know what I was going to do. There was never an episode where I didn't break down into tears of laughter. I never had that kind of inner strength that Ryan and Colin have that they can hold in their laughter, although Ryan shows he's holding it in more than Colin. And, like the rest of their guys and their 'partners' on the show, I wondered how often I would see Drew now. Me, Drew, Ryan and Colin were affected worse in terms of our relationships. We'd see each other every weekend, sometimes even more than that, and now, we would hardly see each other without some serious explaining to do.
Green Screen Show
Drew: The audience had always like the 'Green Screen' game on Whose Line, and since technology had advanced, I thought it would be good to try a show based on that. I thought of it during a game of Moving People, and thought that it would be even funnier if you couldn't see the people moving the guys. It done pretty well, but I think people soon realised that it wasn't Whose Line. We still had fun, we still got laughs, we still laughed, but it just wasn't the same. To be honest, I think most of the people involved done it for the money, to see their respective half or just to see everybody else. Some of them all three. I'm not sure why Colin done it really. Ryan wasn't on it, he didn't need the money, so he was probably the only guy to do it because he missed everyone else. I had fun, but there was another reason that I didn't love it as much as Whose Line. Wayne didn't do it either.
Ryan: Green Screen? Yeah, I done the pilot, but I couldn't do the show. I hardly admitted it but it killed me not to do it. My little girl was born in the same year Whose Line and Drew Carey Show ended, and I wanted to actually be there for this child. I hated being apart from Col, from most of the guys actually. I watched the show every time it was on, and I could see them having fun, and half the time wished I was there with them. But like Drew says, it just wasn't Whose Line.
Colin: I done Green Screen just to perform with the guys again. I loved Whose Line, so I thought that if there was any chance that we could capture at least a fraction of what Whose Line was, we would be alright. But, as proved by the cancellation of that show, it wouldn't be the same. Maybe it's me, am I a bad omen for shows?
Greg: Green Screen was a blast. I had fun on the show, because we were allowed a little more freedom. Anything remotely sexual on Whose Line was a big no-no. Except for the gay kisses and Colin's infamous party quirks. But we could actually flirt on Green Screen which was good for me and Brad I suppose. And if we swore, it was kept in but we were just bleeped out. I think the audience liked it although it must've been weird watching a bunch of middle aged guys rolling around on a green screen cos the effects weren't added in til later.
Jeff: I enjoyed doing Green Screen, but for me, it got slightly repetitive. I mean, the games were different, but we were always having to be conscious of what we were doing. Sometimes, instead of thinking 'Would this be funny?', I'd catch myself thinking 'Am I holding this imaginary bottle right so the animators can put one in later?' Whose Line showcased our talents as comedians, whereas Green Screen showed off the animators talent. We were just needed to fill in space. But we still got laughs, and that made it alright for us.
Chip: Green Screen worked me I think because we got to jump around all the time, and half the time it feels like I've got too much energy for one person. Jeff was on it most of the time, and I was too, so we could still continue seeing each other. It worked for most of us I think: we still had fun working together, most of us saw our 'guy' and it kept money coming in. I think only Colin, Greg and Drew didn't do it for the money. Colin hardly went on either. It was weird because we all knew him as nervous but he showed confidence on the stage, and he's regarded as one of the masters of improv, but most games he was happy just to sit out.
Brad: I liked doing Green Screen. Me and Colin were touring at the time too, so we could take a break from continually driving and do some improv in a studio. Touring kept me away from Greg, so that was good for us too. Contrary to Whose Line as well, Green Screen wasn't nearly as sex filled. Although they were two of the oldest guys, Ryan and Colin were definitely the worst for sneaking away for a quickie in the dressing room. There was very little of that on Green Screen even though we could've probably done that during a game for the amount of screen time we all got.
Wayne: I just didn't do Green Screen. I didn't even do the pilot. It sounds so mean, but it just didn't interest me at all. The only reason that I've done it was for Drew. But I was recording, I wanted to give music a try, and I couldn't do that if I had done Green Screen. I missed it though. I'm with Ryan on this one, I sometimes wish that I had done it. I got offered several game shows too. I'm currently doing 'Don't Forget The Lyrics' which is pretty good, they let me sing a couple of times.
Relationships on Whose Line
Drew: We all seemed to split up into perfect pairs. Ryan and Colin were first obviously. Whenever they done something suggestive on the show, we actually got scared a couple of times that they were gonna come out live on air! Greg and Brad were next I think, then me and Wayne. Jeff and Chip are the newest, they've only been going out since Green Screen-ish time. But we all described Whose Line is an 'orgy' except there wasn't any swapping of partners at all.
Ryan: Me and Col were lovers before Whose Line. There was relationships between everybody, simply because they worked together all the time. Me and Col used to have bets on who would get together. I always figured that Greg and Josie would have gotten together at some point, but as it turned out, he liked Brad! Whenever there was a break though, me and Col would slip away. There was one good thing about being a producer on Whose Line - I got a pretty big dressing room, which was good because when Col was in a particularly sexy mood, woah! We actually dented one of the walls once. I told Dan that I had thrown my shoe at it.
Colin: Me and Ryan? Yeah, we were together long before Whose Line. I thought we would be the only ones, but everybody seemed to have someone. It was so weird. Drew and Wayne was the weirdest one I think, nobody saw them getting together. But I can't stay anything, I'm with the tall goof! (Ryan: Hey!) But Whose Line let us all be together without worry of wives and girlfriends. You could tell when one was visiting because the other person would become bored. It was usually Greg's wife coming down, and Brad would hide. He told me once when we were touring that he could never face Greg's wife.
Greg: Everyone was fucking someone. I was fucking Clive for a while, but when Brad appeared on the show, I was stolen. I had to stop seeing Clive even before anything between me and Brad happened. We all joked that there should be some sort of award for the gayest show on TV, and we would've won it hands down. The fans say that there was so much kissing between the guys. Let me just say that most of the kisses between us didn't make it to air, and the amount that was filming is nothing compared to the amount that happened behind dressing room doors.
Jeff: Like I said, there was a kind of label attached to Whose Line to those who worked on it that you'd find somebody on it. It wasn't talked about widely though, and nobody made a big deal out of it. Ryan and Colin had been together long before I started, and I was shocked the first that we all went out and they were being, well, couple-ish. Always touching. Greg and Brad were too but nowhere near as bad as them too. Then we all noticed Drew and Wayne getting comfortable, and then after a while, I started thinking about Chip in a way I never had before. Luckily for me, he noticed.
Chip: Yeah, I felt kinda out of place on the UK version of Whose Line because I didn't have a 'partner' on the show. I was actually going after Greg but he was seeing Clive, and then that stopped which I found weird, and he and Brad were always sneaking off. But anyway, yeah, it was when we were doing Green Screen that I kept watching Jeff all the time, and then one night we all went out, and somehow I ended up in his room.
Wayne: Er, me and Drew? Well, I had went along to his dressing room once for something, I think he asked me to go on the Drew Carey Show, and we ended up going for something to eat. I joked that the restaurant was a bit romantic and it felt like a date. He blushed so much at that. I was feeling kinda weird because I had liked Drew, but, you know, he was going to strip clubs and everything so I thought that he would never see me in that way. He kinda proved me wrong that night.
The Tours
Drew: Well, we were already doing tours, but after Whose Line and Green Screen ended then, we all just kinda split up. I got offered to do 'The Price Is Right' which I love doing. We all do the All Stars, well, most of us, every year which is great. We've got people doing that who were never on Whose Line, and it must be weird for them seeing us all paired off. Again, the bad point for me is that Wayne doesn't do them.
Ryan: I done one with Greg for a while which was awesome. We called it 'Stiles and Proops Unplanned‘, and it didn't have any games, we just talked about stuff and made it funny. Colin toured with Brad, and after a while, me and Greg talked about actually touring. But I hate flying so I told him that it would have to be along the West Coast. We got Chip and Jeff in as well - which maybe wasn't the best idea travelling wise - and toured as Whose Live. We were pretty popular, although I was always asked 'Where's Colin? Where's Drew?'
Colin: Me and Brad agreed to come together and tour, which is weird if you think about it. Me and Brad touring, Ryan and Greg touring. It was like, we had split the pairs up. Brad asked me why I wasn't touring with Ryan, and I gave him the honest answer: 'If me and Ryan toured together, we wouldn't leave the hotel room to do the gigs.' Plus, we had been working together for over twenty years by that point, it would be interesting to see what would happen if we weren't together. But it was kinda the same show just without the tall guy, rich guy and black guy. And the speccy guy.
Greg: Yeah, me and Ryan done the Stiles and Proops thing which was pretty good, but it wasn't the improv that we both needed really. We got Chip and Jeff and then set off along the West Coast cos pussy boy doesn't like to fly. It's alright though, we just play poker and smoke til we get wherever we're going. Well, I say play poker, me and Ryan play poker, Chip and Jeff are hiding in a bunk most of the time. The music's always loud in our bus to drown out the sound of them two.
Jeff: Yeah, after Green Screen, I was at a bit of a loose end. I was still getting work, but I wanted improv. Ryan and Greg asked me and Chip to tour with them, which was great for us because it meant that we would see each other for like six weeks straight. I think Ryan and Greg may have regretted asking us to actually come on the bus with them though, cos well, me and Chip hadn't seen each other for a while.
Chip: Ryan and Greg definitely regretted asking to go on the bus with them. They told us that they loved working with us, they didn't appreciate the screams that echoed around the bus. But it was great, we were doing improv together, having so many laughs, the audience's were, and are, fantastic, but there were times when we wished that it could be all of us together again. Usually when we were drunk. But me and Jeff felt bad for Ryan and Greg. We were together, while their respective halves were touring together away from them.
Brad: I absolutely love touring with the old guy. I'll admit to being a bit nervous at the start for two reasons: he is an genius of improv so would he overshadow me and I also wondered if he'd go back to being shy without Ryan. But I was wrong on the both things. He’s good at showing how good the other person is. And a couple of times though, we'd book places damn near where Whose Live were performing so me and Colin could see Greg and Ryan. I missed Greg whenever I was touring. There was only so many excuses I could say to the girlfriend. That was the only bad point I think. Well, that and Colin snores. Loudly. (Greg: Does he? Brad: Yeah, amazingly loudly. Greg: That's weird, so does Ryan. Brad: They must be like, a marching band when they actually do some sleeping together. Greg: I don't think they ever sleep when they're together. We don't!)
Wayne: Well, since I was doing 'Don't Forget The Lyrics' I didn't tour with anyone. Strangely, I was the same as Drew and hit another studio presenting a game show. It's weird how our lives seem to run in parallel slightly. I got divorced around that time anyway, so it should’ve been good for me and Drew anyway, cos we could’ve gone out without it raising suspicion. Well, until he got engaged anyway.
Filming Improv All - Stars
Drew: Well, every time I spoke to one of the guys, they would say how much they missed working with everybody, and I did too. So I thought, well, what if we did a couple of shows in Vegas? I love Vegas so it would be the only place that I would do a show anyway. Ryan could drive there and everyone would have no problem flying. So I rang around, and most of the guys agreed to it. We had been essentially doing that anyway, but this time I wanted something different. I wanted it to be filmed.
Ryan: Yeah, we had been doing the All Stars for a couple of years anyway, but I didn't do it much. Again, I wanted to stay home for the family. I had essentially semi-retired anyway. But when Drew asked me to do the one in 2006 because it was being filmed, I decided to do that one. I had missed the guys so much. And it would give me the chance to see Colin without wives and kids, which wasn't something that happened much after Whose Line.
Colin: Ryan begged me to do the All Stars. (Ryan: I did not!) He kinda did. I wanted to do the filmed one anyway. You get more money on filmed stuff. And I missed everybody too. There was gonna be new people on it too, like Sean Masterson and Julie Larson, and Kathy Kinney was doing it too. So we all kinda wondered how they would react to us all coming together. I mean, most of us hadn’t seen each other in ages so feelings were bound to erupt that were best kept for the bedroom.
Greg: Filming All Stars was a great idea I thought, it let people know that we weren’t dead yet. We had been doing for a couple of years, and it let us all see each other and catch up without it being one of the formal dinner things. We all met up for the first filmed one in 2006, we all must’ve raised eyebrows at the way we greeted each other. Colin and Ryan hadn’t seen each for about four months, so everybody else got a quick ‘hi, bye’ and they disappeared. Me and Brad done the same essentially, although we stuck around long to ask everybody how their families were and all that shit. I didn’t care. I just wanted Brad at the point.
Jeff: All Stars was great to see everybody again. I mean, for Ryan and Greg, they probably loved it because they would see Colin and Brad again, whereas I was already touring with Chip. The worst thing though was the look on Drew’s face when he found out that Wayne wasn’t doing it. Things were already rocky for them anyway, they must’ve seen each other like two or three times a year, and Drew got engaged too. Apart from though, the shows we filmed were great. Everybody was at the top of their game, and we had a brilliant laugh. I nearly died when Joe Walsh came out in stage though.
Chip: Yeah, Joe Walsh was amazing. He had been on the Drew Carey Show a couple of times anyway, and the audience screamed when he came out on stage. He was awesome, although during the ‘Biography’ game, he was spouting the weirdest stuff. Something tasted like ‘moose farts’ I think he said, and we all just broke up giggling. It was definitely good seeing everybody again, some of the nights out we had after the show should’ve been filmed too. I remember Drew falling on his ass in a bush and dragging Greg down with him. Ryan was trying to light the wrong end of his cigarette, Colin was begging him to give a drag, Brad was giggling at Greg in the bush so me and Jeff had to fish them out. Next day, none of us could remember why we were covered in scratches.
Wayne: Yeah, I didn’t do the filmed version of All Stars. I had my show, and recording. That signalled the end of my relationship with Drew as well. We hardly saw one another and I got angry at him about getting engaged, which might’ve been unfair. I mean, I was married when we got together, got divorced, and then got married again. I wish I’d done it now, totally.
Coming Out
Drew: Well, since I wasn’t seeing Wayne anymore, I had nothing to come out about. I was, and still am, happy with Nicole, though she knows that I like men. I like women too, although I think that Nicole’s probably the only women I’ll ever settle for, without sounding mean there. She’s perfect, but I couldn’t see myself with a women again if something ever went wrong between us.
Ryan: Oh, I remember that day. It must’ve been a year after the filmed version of All Stars and I wasn’t doing one of the shows whereas Colin was. Since I had persuaded him - (Colin: Begged. He begged me.) - no, persuaded him to do it last time, he tried to persuade me. I asked him the real reason why he wanted me to do it, and he said it was because he missed me. Unknown to me, Pat had heard and seen the entire thing, including the massive kiss I gave him after he said that. But we weren’t the first ones to come out.
Colin: No, we weren’t. But I do remember that day. I had to fly home the same day and tell Deb before Pat phoned her. Unfortunately I was too late and came home to find my suitcases outside with a note saying ‘Don’t bother’ attached. But Ryan’s right. Greg and Brad came out first, I think, simply because they had less people to hurt by it all. They only had wives, whereas me, Ryan and Chip had kids as well.
Greg: Yeah, me and Brad were first. I was just so fucking tired of only seeing him when our schedules allowed, and our wives had a pretty good idea anyway I think. Well, mine did. She had seen me kiss guys, and I had told her about my attraction to men, so it didn’t shock as much as it should have. But I still felt pretty bad about it.
Jeff: Me and Chip came out second, publicly anyway. Ryan and Colin were second in terms of telling family. Chip told his wife, they had a talk and he came to mine and stayed. He’s been there ever since. It’s nice though, cos I get to see him everyday, but he misses his kids. I think that’s what stopped Ryan and Colin coming out publicly before we did.
Chip: My kids were the main reason that I didn’t want to come out. It was good for me, because by hiding my relationship with Jeff, I was getting my cake and eating it too. They were cool about it though, I don’t think the youngest understands what’s going on, but I’m happy. The worst part was definitely telling my parents though. (Jeff: I don’t think mine do. Hey Mom! Surprise!)
Brad: Me and Greg were outted first. My wife found a really dirty text from Greg on my phone and confronted me about it. Weirdly, she thought that out of anybody from Whose Line, I would’ve been sleeping with Colin since I’m touring with him! No, no, no. He’s not my type anyway, and plus, you should see Ryan every time someone tries to come in between him and Colin. The look he gives could kill.
Wayne: I didn’t have anything to come about! Me and Drew had finished, and that was that really.
Changing Anything
Drew: If I could change anything? I might've made a bit more effort with Wayne maybe, before I met Nicole of course. I don't know, I suppose everybody's got regrets. I might've fought harder to keep Whose Line on air, or maybe even gotten a better time slot. I mean, against Friends?!
Ryan: I think I would've just come out with Col years ago, so we could've avoided everything we're going through now. Both our wives are taking us to court for custody, which I'm not getting. My oldest kids are old enough to decide for themselves I think. It's little Claire though. But yeah, I wouldn't swap my kids for anything, but if we had just been honest from the start, I could've avoided hurting them.
Colin: It's the same with me. Luke's seventeen now so he's old enough to decide whether he wants anything to do with me. I hope he does, I love the kid more than anything. I would've maybe fought for the shows as well. If Whose Line had continued, I don't think any of us would've had to come out to be honest. We would all been happy. (Ryan: Nah. Colin: Why not? Ryan: I would've wanted you to myself sooner or later.) He's so selfish sometimes!
Greg: Not fucked Clive? Ha ha! Um, probably asked for more shows on Whose Line. I love stand up, but there's nothing better than making something up off the top of your head and it's funny. It's like mini orgasm each time it happens.
Jeff: Oh God, er.... I'd probably auditioned for Whose Line earlier than I did. I might not have been as good, but I would learn faster too. You never learn anything faster than being on a stage to find out what works and what doesn't. I would've hoped that the producers would have moved Whose Line to a better time slot. It really was an amazing show.
Chip: Yeah, definitely. I'm always asked if Whose Line is coming back. I think it'd do well if they brought it back now! That's not a blatant hint or anything.
Brad: Not being cruel to Colin, but I might've asked Greg to tour with me instead, if I'd known how much it was gonna kill us being apart. Or maybe just got us all touring together instead of us all splitting up in the first place. Yeah, that'd been better. Spending six months just travelling together, eight of us in the bus, driving from state to state. Yeah, we should've done that instead.
Wayne: I wouldn't have got so mad at Drew as I did. I would've probably done Green Screen too. I'm hoping that someday I'll be free to do the All Stars, if they'll still have me. There's a few things, but we've really got to deal with what we've got.
Pairing: Ryan/Colin, Greg/Brad, Jeff/Chip, Drew/Wayne
Rating: R for language, nothing sexy.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, or their wives or anything mentioned in this story. D'you think I'd be in debt if I did?!
Whose Line: The Aftermath
The Cancellation Of Whose Line
Drew: I was so fucking angry when Whose Line ended. I was lucky enough to have two prime time TV shows on at the same time, but they both ended in the same year technically. You know, when the Drew Carey Show ended, it was because a group of us had decided it. Ryan wanted to spend more time at home, and he was a big ratings draw. I don't blame him. If I had had a wife and kids complaining at me, then I'd want to spend more time with them to shut them up. Funny thing is, I'm not if he did actually go home the times he said he did. I know I didn't when Wayne came on our show.
Ryan: Whose Line enabled me. It started essentially all of our careers, made us all famous. Especially me and Colin. We got labelled as the 'main stars' of the show. Maybe we were. I didn't care. I tolerate fans, whereas Colin loves them. I'll sign autographs, pose for pictures most days, but some days, I just want to be left alone to smoke and think. I was like that, but ten times worse when I found out Whose Line was cancelled. We were all together when we found out. Me, Drew, Greg and Brad shouted and screamed. Chip, Jeff and Wayne agreed with us but were too much in shock to do anything else. But Colin. He just sat there, silently fuming. I can tell you from experience that it's not good when Colin doesn't say anything at all. Yeah, I was getting burned out, but I was willing to go along with it. It allowed me and Colin to have our affair without raising eyebrows as to why we were sharing a room.
Colin: I loved Whose Line. They screwed me around on my first performance, which screwed me up, but I got a second chance. It made me famous. I was struggling before that show. It gave me fans, which was weird. Apparently my big puppy dogs eyes do actually make girls swoon which I've never got. It didn't affect me either. I only ever wanted to make one person 'swoon' and I did. There was two reasons I loved Whose Line: although I have the best 'mask' face and reputation for not cracking up set, afterwards I would laugh so hard that I would cry which made me happy, and for Ryan. We fell in love somewhere along the line, and Whose Line gave us the opportunity to have our affair.
Greg: People tend to forget that I was on Whose Line first out of all the 'regular' US performers. I would go so far as saying that I miss it the most. Yeah, Ryan and Colin became the main stars, but I was on it first. I had good times on that show, some behind the scenes and some behind closed doors, and I miss it. I was with Drew on the feelings spectrum. I was angry. Fucking angry. You see, Whose Line essentially set everybody up nicely. Ryan and Colin for example. Me? I had Brad.
Jeff: Yeah, I was angry! I got upset too. I was doing alright when Whose Line asked me to appear, and that propelled me to stardom. Well, lower level stardom. I got to learn things about improv from the masters, but I could also have fun doing it. I had never had that in a job before. I had so much fun every time I filmed on Whose Line. I also met Chip. It was legend that when you became a regular on Whose Line, you found a fellow performer to share your life with. I didn't think it would happen to me.
Chip: I was on the UK version of Whose Line, and the US version. And when I found out that they were shelving Whose Line, it was like a wave of shock hit me, gripped me and wouldn't let me go. I couldn't believe it. I was a kind of semi-regular on there, and it was like, the only job where I could completely hyped up on caffeine and not be shouted at for it. Because we were improvising, the directors just let us to our stuff most of time. Apart from when we were censored. We had competition once to show who got censored most. I had my money on Greg. Colin put money on Ryan. I ended up a poor man that night.
Brad: Oh, I remember that night. We were all sitting in a pub - no surprise - as we were all due to start filming a new series in a couple of days, but we all agreed to go to LA early and just get together for a few. Because it was only four people on, we never usually got the chance to go out with the whole group you know? Drew got the call, and his face just kind of froze and then he just got so angry. Drew's like, a kind of big teddy bear, and I've never seen him get angry. I'd seen him annoyed or pretend to be angry, but this was something else. We all thought that he'd been conned out of money or something, but when he told us we all erupted. 'Cept Colin. Colin sat there in silence, but I swear that if you had looked close enough you would've seen little wisps of hot air coming out of his ears. Greg was pissed too. Chalk one for rough angry sex that night cos I was fuming too.
Wayne: I was shocked when I found out. But I think I was one of the few guys would actually thought that they'd be alright without it. I was angry, sure, I loved that show almost as much as I loved my wife. But I had a record deal going on, recording a new album, so if that went well, I'd be alright financial wise. But, laughing wise, I didn't know what I was going to do. There was never an episode where I didn't break down into tears of laughter. I never had that kind of inner strength that Ryan and Colin have that they can hold in their laughter, although Ryan shows he's holding it in more than Colin. And, like the rest of their guys and their 'partners' on the show, I wondered how often I would see Drew now. Me, Drew, Ryan and Colin were affected worse in terms of our relationships. We'd see each other every weekend, sometimes even more than that, and now, we would hardly see each other without some serious explaining to do.
Green Screen Show
Drew: The audience had always like the 'Green Screen' game on Whose Line, and since technology had advanced, I thought it would be good to try a show based on that. I thought of it during a game of Moving People, and thought that it would be even funnier if you couldn't see the people moving the guys. It done pretty well, but I think people soon realised that it wasn't Whose Line. We still had fun, we still got laughs, we still laughed, but it just wasn't the same. To be honest, I think most of the people involved done it for the money, to see their respective half or just to see everybody else. Some of them all three. I'm not sure why Colin done it really. Ryan wasn't on it, he didn't need the money, so he was probably the only guy to do it because he missed everyone else. I had fun, but there was another reason that I didn't love it as much as Whose Line. Wayne didn't do it either.
Ryan: Green Screen? Yeah, I done the pilot, but I couldn't do the show. I hardly admitted it but it killed me not to do it. My little girl was born in the same year Whose Line and Drew Carey Show ended, and I wanted to actually be there for this child. I hated being apart from Col, from most of the guys actually. I watched the show every time it was on, and I could see them having fun, and half the time wished I was there with them. But like Drew says, it just wasn't Whose Line.
Colin: I done Green Screen just to perform with the guys again. I loved Whose Line, so I thought that if there was any chance that we could capture at least a fraction of what Whose Line was, we would be alright. But, as proved by the cancellation of that show, it wouldn't be the same. Maybe it's me, am I a bad omen for shows?
Greg: Green Screen was a blast. I had fun on the show, because we were allowed a little more freedom. Anything remotely sexual on Whose Line was a big no-no. Except for the gay kisses and Colin's infamous party quirks. But we could actually flirt on Green Screen which was good for me and Brad I suppose. And if we swore, it was kept in but we were just bleeped out. I think the audience liked it although it must've been weird watching a bunch of middle aged guys rolling around on a green screen cos the effects weren't added in til later.
Jeff: I enjoyed doing Green Screen, but for me, it got slightly repetitive. I mean, the games were different, but we were always having to be conscious of what we were doing. Sometimes, instead of thinking 'Would this be funny?', I'd catch myself thinking 'Am I holding this imaginary bottle right so the animators can put one in later?' Whose Line showcased our talents as comedians, whereas Green Screen showed off the animators talent. We were just needed to fill in space. But we still got laughs, and that made it alright for us.
Chip: Green Screen worked me I think because we got to jump around all the time, and half the time it feels like I've got too much energy for one person. Jeff was on it most of the time, and I was too, so we could still continue seeing each other. It worked for most of us I think: we still had fun working together, most of us saw our 'guy' and it kept money coming in. I think only Colin, Greg and Drew didn't do it for the money. Colin hardly went on either. It was weird because we all knew him as nervous but he showed confidence on the stage, and he's regarded as one of the masters of improv, but most games he was happy just to sit out.
Brad: I liked doing Green Screen. Me and Colin were touring at the time too, so we could take a break from continually driving and do some improv in a studio. Touring kept me away from Greg, so that was good for us too. Contrary to Whose Line as well, Green Screen wasn't nearly as sex filled. Although they were two of the oldest guys, Ryan and Colin were definitely the worst for sneaking away for a quickie in the dressing room. There was very little of that on Green Screen even though we could've probably done that during a game for the amount of screen time we all got.
Wayne: I just didn't do Green Screen. I didn't even do the pilot. It sounds so mean, but it just didn't interest me at all. The only reason that I've done it was for Drew. But I was recording, I wanted to give music a try, and I couldn't do that if I had done Green Screen. I missed it though. I'm with Ryan on this one, I sometimes wish that I had done it. I got offered several game shows too. I'm currently doing 'Don't Forget The Lyrics' which is pretty good, they let me sing a couple of times.
Relationships on Whose Line
Drew: We all seemed to split up into perfect pairs. Ryan and Colin were first obviously. Whenever they done something suggestive on the show, we actually got scared a couple of times that they were gonna come out live on air! Greg and Brad were next I think, then me and Wayne. Jeff and Chip are the newest, they've only been going out since Green Screen-ish time. But we all described Whose Line is an 'orgy' except there wasn't any swapping of partners at all.
Ryan: Me and Col were lovers before Whose Line. There was relationships between everybody, simply because they worked together all the time. Me and Col used to have bets on who would get together. I always figured that Greg and Josie would have gotten together at some point, but as it turned out, he liked Brad! Whenever there was a break though, me and Col would slip away. There was one good thing about being a producer on Whose Line - I got a pretty big dressing room, which was good because when Col was in a particularly sexy mood, woah! We actually dented one of the walls once. I told Dan that I had thrown my shoe at it.
Colin: Me and Ryan? Yeah, we were together long before Whose Line. I thought we would be the only ones, but everybody seemed to have someone. It was so weird. Drew and Wayne was the weirdest one I think, nobody saw them getting together. But I can't stay anything, I'm with the tall goof! (Ryan: Hey!) But Whose Line let us all be together without worry of wives and girlfriends. You could tell when one was visiting because the other person would become bored. It was usually Greg's wife coming down, and Brad would hide. He told me once when we were touring that he could never face Greg's wife.
Greg: Everyone was fucking someone. I was fucking Clive for a while, but when Brad appeared on the show, I was stolen. I had to stop seeing Clive even before anything between me and Brad happened. We all joked that there should be some sort of award for the gayest show on TV, and we would've won it hands down. The fans say that there was so much kissing between the guys. Let me just say that most of the kisses between us didn't make it to air, and the amount that was filming is nothing compared to the amount that happened behind dressing room doors.
Jeff: Like I said, there was a kind of label attached to Whose Line to those who worked on it that you'd find somebody on it. It wasn't talked about widely though, and nobody made a big deal out of it. Ryan and Colin had been together long before I started, and I was shocked the first that we all went out and they were being, well, couple-ish. Always touching. Greg and Brad were too but nowhere near as bad as them too. Then we all noticed Drew and Wayne getting comfortable, and then after a while, I started thinking about Chip in a way I never had before. Luckily for me, he noticed.
Chip: Yeah, I felt kinda out of place on the UK version of Whose Line because I didn't have a 'partner' on the show. I was actually going after Greg but he was seeing Clive, and then that stopped which I found weird, and he and Brad were always sneaking off. But anyway, yeah, it was when we were doing Green Screen that I kept watching Jeff all the time, and then one night we all went out, and somehow I ended up in his room.
Wayne: Er, me and Drew? Well, I had went along to his dressing room once for something, I think he asked me to go on the Drew Carey Show, and we ended up going for something to eat. I joked that the restaurant was a bit romantic and it felt like a date. He blushed so much at that. I was feeling kinda weird because I had liked Drew, but, you know, he was going to strip clubs and everything so I thought that he would never see me in that way. He kinda proved me wrong that night.
The Tours
Drew: Well, we were already doing tours, but after Whose Line and Green Screen ended then, we all just kinda split up. I got offered to do 'The Price Is Right' which I love doing. We all do the All Stars, well, most of us, every year which is great. We've got people doing that who were never on Whose Line, and it must be weird for them seeing us all paired off. Again, the bad point for me is that Wayne doesn't do them.
Ryan: I done one with Greg for a while which was awesome. We called it 'Stiles and Proops Unplanned‘, and it didn't have any games, we just talked about stuff and made it funny. Colin toured with Brad, and after a while, me and Greg talked about actually touring. But I hate flying so I told him that it would have to be along the West Coast. We got Chip and Jeff in as well - which maybe wasn't the best idea travelling wise - and toured as Whose Live. We were pretty popular, although I was always asked 'Where's Colin? Where's Drew?'
Colin: Me and Brad agreed to come together and tour, which is weird if you think about it. Me and Brad touring, Ryan and Greg touring. It was like, we had split the pairs up. Brad asked me why I wasn't touring with Ryan, and I gave him the honest answer: 'If me and Ryan toured together, we wouldn't leave the hotel room to do the gigs.' Plus, we had been working together for over twenty years by that point, it would be interesting to see what would happen if we weren't together. But it was kinda the same show just without the tall guy, rich guy and black guy. And the speccy guy.
Greg: Yeah, me and Ryan done the Stiles and Proops thing which was pretty good, but it wasn't the improv that we both needed really. We got Chip and Jeff and then set off along the West Coast cos pussy boy doesn't like to fly. It's alright though, we just play poker and smoke til we get wherever we're going. Well, I say play poker, me and Ryan play poker, Chip and Jeff are hiding in a bunk most of the time. The music's always loud in our bus to drown out the sound of them two.
Jeff: Yeah, after Green Screen, I was at a bit of a loose end. I was still getting work, but I wanted improv. Ryan and Greg asked me and Chip to tour with them, which was great for us because it meant that we would see each other for like six weeks straight. I think Ryan and Greg may have regretted asking us to actually come on the bus with them though, cos well, me and Chip hadn't seen each other for a while.
Chip: Ryan and Greg definitely regretted asking to go on the bus with them. They told us that they loved working with us, they didn't appreciate the screams that echoed around the bus. But it was great, we were doing improv together, having so many laughs, the audience's were, and are, fantastic, but there were times when we wished that it could be all of us together again. Usually when we were drunk. But me and Jeff felt bad for Ryan and Greg. We were together, while their respective halves were touring together away from them.
Brad: I absolutely love touring with the old guy. I'll admit to being a bit nervous at the start for two reasons: he is an genius of improv so would he overshadow me and I also wondered if he'd go back to being shy without Ryan. But I was wrong on the both things. He’s good at showing how good the other person is. And a couple of times though, we'd book places damn near where Whose Live were performing so me and Colin could see Greg and Ryan. I missed Greg whenever I was touring. There was only so many excuses I could say to the girlfriend. That was the only bad point I think. Well, that and Colin snores. Loudly. (Greg: Does he? Brad: Yeah, amazingly loudly. Greg: That's weird, so does Ryan. Brad: They must be like, a marching band when they actually do some sleeping together. Greg: I don't think they ever sleep when they're together. We don't!)
Wayne: Well, since I was doing 'Don't Forget The Lyrics' I didn't tour with anyone. Strangely, I was the same as Drew and hit another studio presenting a game show. It's weird how our lives seem to run in parallel slightly. I got divorced around that time anyway, so it should’ve been good for me and Drew anyway, cos we could’ve gone out without it raising suspicion. Well, until he got engaged anyway.
Filming Improv All - Stars
Drew: Well, every time I spoke to one of the guys, they would say how much they missed working with everybody, and I did too. So I thought, well, what if we did a couple of shows in Vegas? I love Vegas so it would be the only place that I would do a show anyway. Ryan could drive there and everyone would have no problem flying. So I rang around, and most of the guys agreed to it. We had been essentially doing that anyway, but this time I wanted something different. I wanted it to be filmed.
Ryan: Yeah, we had been doing the All Stars for a couple of years anyway, but I didn't do it much. Again, I wanted to stay home for the family. I had essentially semi-retired anyway. But when Drew asked me to do the one in 2006 because it was being filmed, I decided to do that one. I had missed the guys so much. And it would give me the chance to see Colin without wives and kids, which wasn't something that happened much after Whose Line.
Colin: Ryan begged me to do the All Stars. (Ryan: I did not!) He kinda did. I wanted to do the filmed one anyway. You get more money on filmed stuff. And I missed everybody too. There was gonna be new people on it too, like Sean Masterson and Julie Larson, and Kathy Kinney was doing it too. So we all kinda wondered how they would react to us all coming together. I mean, most of us hadn’t seen each other in ages so feelings were bound to erupt that were best kept for the bedroom.
Greg: Filming All Stars was a great idea I thought, it let people know that we weren’t dead yet. We had been doing for a couple of years, and it let us all see each other and catch up without it being one of the formal dinner things. We all met up for the first filmed one in 2006, we all must’ve raised eyebrows at the way we greeted each other. Colin and Ryan hadn’t seen each for about four months, so everybody else got a quick ‘hi, bye’ and they disappeared. Me and Brad done the same essentially, although we stuck around long to ask everybody how their families were and all that shit. I didn’t care. I just wanted Brad at the point.
Jeff: All Stars was great to see everybody again. I mean, for Ryan and Greg, they probably loved it because they would see Colin and Brad again, whereas I was already touring with Chip. The worst thing though was the look on Drew’s face when he found out that Wayne wasn’t doing it. Things were already rocky for them anyway, they must’ve seen each other like two or three times a year, and Drew got engaged too. Apart from though, the shows we filmed were great. Everybody was at the top of their game, and we had a brilliant laugh. I nearly died when Joe Walsh came out in stage though.
Chip: Yeah, Joe Walsh was amazing. He had been on the Drew Carey Show a couple of times anyway, and the audience screamed when he came out on stage. He was awesome, although during the ‘Biography’ game, he was spouting the weirdest stuff. Something tasted like ‘moose farts’ I think he said, and we all just broke up giggling. It was definitely good seeing everybody again, some of the nights out we had after the show should’ve been filmed too. I remember Drew falling on his ass in a bush and dragging Greg down with him. Ryan was trying to light the wrong end of his cigarette, Colin was begging him to give a drag, Brad was giggling at Greg in the bush so me and Jeff had to fish them out. Next day, none of us could remember why we were covered in scratches.
Wayne: Yeah, I didn’t do the filmed version of All Stars. I had my show, and recording. That signalled the end of my relationship with Drew as well. We hardly saw one another and I got angry at him about getting engaged, which might’ve been unfair. I mean, I was married when we got together, got divorced, and then got married again. I wish I’d done it now, totally.
Coming Out
Drew: Well, since I wasn’t seeing Wayne anymore, I had nothing to come out about. I was, and still am, happy with Nicole, though she knows that I like men. I like women too, although I think that Nicole’s probably the only women I’ll ever settle for, without sounding mean there. She’s perfect, but I couldn’t see myself with a women again if something ever went wrong between us.
Ryan: Oh, I remember that day. It must’ve been a year after the filmed version of All Stars and I wasn’t doing one of the shows whereas Colin was. Since I had persuaded him - (Colin: Begged. He begged me.) - no, persuaded him to do it last time, he tried to persuade me. I asked him the real reason why he wanted me to do it, and he said it was because he missed me. Unknown to me, Pat had heard and seen the entire thing, including the massive kiss I gave him after he said that. But we weren’t the first ones to come out.
Colin: No, we weren’t. But I do remember that day. I had to fly home the same day and tell Deb before Pat phoned her. Unfortunately I was too late and came home to find my suitcases outside with a note saying ‘Don’t bother’ attached. But Ryan’s right. Greg and Brad came out first, I think, simply because they had less people to hurt by it all. They only had wives, whereas me, Ryan and Chip had kids as well.
Greg: Yeah, me and Brad were first. I was just so fucking tired of only seeing him when our schedules allowed, and our wives had a pretty good idea anyway I think. Well, mine did. She had seen me kiss guys, and I had told her about my attraction to men, so it didn’t shock as much as it should have. But I still felt pretty bad about it.
Jeff: Me and Chip came out second, publicly anyway. Ryan and Colin were second in terms of telling family. Chip told his wife, they had a talk and he came to mine and stayed. He’s been there ever since. It’s nice though, cos I get to see him everyday, but he misses his kids. I think that’s what stopped Ryan and Colin coming out publicly before we did.
Chip: My kids were the main reason that I didn’t want to come out. It was good for me, because by hiding my relationship with Jeff, I was getting my cake and eating it too. They were cool about it though, I don’t think the youngest understands what’s going on, but I’m happy. The worst part was definitely telling my parents though. (Jeff: I don’t think mine do. Hey Mom! Surprise!)
Brad: Me and Greg were outted first. My wife found a really dirty text from Greg on my phone and confronted me about it. Weirdly, she thought that out of anybody from Whose Line, I would’ve been sleeping with Colin since I’m touring with him! No, no, no. He’s not my type anyway, and plus, you should see Ryan every time someone tries to come in between him and Colin. The look he gives could kill.
Wayne: I didn’t have anything to come about! Me and Drew had finished, and that was that really.
Changing Anything
Drew: If I could change anything? I might've made a bit more effort with Wayne maybe, before I met Nicole of course. I don't know, I suppose everybody's got regrets. I might've fought harder to keep Whose Line on air, or maybe even gotten a better time slot. I mean, against Friends?!
Ryan: I think I would've just come out with Col years ago, so we could've avoided everything we're going through now. Both our wives are taking us to court for custody, which I'm not getting. My oldest kids are old enough to decide for themselves I think. It's little Claire though. But yeah, I wouldn't swap my kids for anything, but if we had just been honest from the start, I could've avoided hurting them.
Colin: It's the same with me. Luke's seventeen now so he's old enough to decide whether he wants anything to do with me. I hope he does, I love the kid more than anything. I would've maybe fought for the shows as well. If Whose Line had continued, I don't think any of us would've had to come out to be honest. We would all been happy. (Ryan: Nah. Colin: Why not? Ryan: I would've wanted you to myself sooner or later.) He's so selfish sometimes!
Greg: Not fucked Clive? Ha ha! Um, probably asked for more shows on Whose Line. I love stand up, but there's nothing better than making something up off the top of your head and it's funny. It's like mini orgasm each time it happens.
Jeff: Oh God, er.... I'd probably auditioned for Whose Line earlier than I did. I might not have been as good, but I would learn faster too. You never learn anything faster than being on a stage to find out what works and what doesn't. I would've hoped that the producers would have moved Whose Line to a better time slot. It really was an amazing show.
Chip: Yeah, definitely. I'm always asked if Whose Line is coming back. I think it'd do well if they brought it back now! That's not a blatant hint or anything.
Brad: Not being cruel to Colin, but I might've asked Greg to tour with me instead, if I'd known how much it was gonna kill us being apart. Or maybe just got us all touring together instead of us all splitting up in the first place. Yeah, that'd been better. Spending six months just travelling together, eight of us in the bus, driving from state to state. Yeah, we should've done that instead.
Wayne: I wouldn't have got so mad at Drew as I did. I would've probably done Green Screen too. I'm hoping that someday I'll be free to do the All Stars, if they'll still have me. There's a few things, but we've really got to deal with what we've got.
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Date: 2009-07-08 05:04 pm (UTC)"That's not a blatant hint or anything." Great line. Chip would be the one to say something like that ^_^
I liked everybody's interjections into the other guy's comments, too. Great job!
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Date: 2009-07-09 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-09 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-09 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 08:28 pm (UTC)Thank you for sharing, look forward to reading the other parts :)
xxxxx
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Date: 2009-09-01 11:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 08:07 pm (UTC)I have to say I agree in regards to the interview format. It's wonderful! I can just imagine them all sitting on couches and stuff, lounging about together while someone asks them the questions, and answering some bits privately too.
It's a really fun idea, and I love the whole concept Jeff discusses of going on Whose Line and finding your other half. Plus, Greg/Brad is fantastic and there needs to be more! Hehe. Truly awesome stuff :)