Eugene weekly., June 14, 2007, Page 33, Image 33

BY JOHN DOOLEY
Naturally Funny Guy
Ryan Stiles on “A Night of Improv”
“Y
ou’re not really a clown if
you’re not funny, unless you’re
a sad clown.”
Known for having the best dressed feet
in improvisational comedy (OK, he also did
a few TV shows like Whose Line Is It
Anyway? and The Drew Carey Show),
comic showoff Ryan Stiles and his hand-
picked pack of wild comedians return to the
Hult Center Saturday for “A Night of
Improv.”
Raised as a border baby (born in Seattle
and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia),
Stiles recently founded the Upfront Theatre
and Improv School in Bellingham, Wash.,
where he now lives. Stiles takes his celebri-
ty in small doses, popping up in Two and a
Half Men or Reno 911! and performing at the
Upfront Theatre. He also tours “A Night of
Improv” with his pals Greg Proops,
Jeff Davis and Chip Esten.
Stiles does astound-
ing charity work,
staging benefits
for injured
children
and visiting hospitals with other stars and
improv students. “That’s the kind of stuff you
want to do,” he says. “But then you also get,
you know, ‘It’s my husband’s 40th birthday
— can you come and do something?’”
“I could care less whether I’m in televi-
sion or film again, but I need to get on
stage,” Stiles says. “I never really got into
it for the fame anyway. I was nominated
for an Emmy one year, and I never even
went. … I don’t want to do a regular series
where I’d have to be down there all the
time. My family lives up here, so I saw my
kids one week of every month for ten
years. So I kind of wanted to stay up here.”
Stiles, 48, quit high school to do
standup, then joined Second City in
Toronto to do improv in 1986. “I went
down with a company that moved to L.A.
and it took off from there.”
“I guess I’m a naturally funny guy,” he
says. “I think that’s why I got kicked
out of school, too. I got kicked out of
class, but I was always the favorite
of every teacher. They’d be, like,
I’m so sorry I have to kick you
out, but I do.”
His touring cast “is a really
tight group,” Stiles says.
“Everybody’s different, and we
really work well together.”
“We used to have Drew
Carey and Kathy Kinney
[The Drew Carey Show’s Mimi Bobeck],
and all those people, so we usually had nine
to 10 people on tour. We found what hap-
pened there is, say there were 12 games in
the show, I would end up doing four. But,
with a four-guy group, we’re on all the time.
It keeps the energy going because we’re not
sitting on the side all the time. And plus,
we wanted to make it funny. That’s why
we don’t have Drew with us.”
ew
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A Night of Improv • 7:30 pm Saturday, June 16 • Hult Center • $27-$37
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JUNE 14, 2007
33