Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza/Characters

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The resident funnymen (and women), sorted alphabetically. For now, descriptions are taken from the official Improv-a-ganza website here.

The Main Cast

Heather Anne Campbell

"What did I say to the judge I would do to get points? Albania."

The talented improv artist has performed with troupes in Chicago, Los Angeles and Amsterdam, appeared on Mad TV, and pranked with Improv Everywhere in the YouTube hit, “Food Court Musical.”

• Cute but Cacophonic: Her turn as a ten-year-old.

Heather: DAD?! DOES IT BOTHER YOU IF I... IF I SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH REALLY LOUD?!

• Ms. Fanservice: Some cleavage here, and those pants don't do a lot to disguise the thighs she flaunted in Food Court Musical.
• One of the Boys: It's refreshing to see a woman on the panel (besides the already - established Kathy Kinney) who can hold her own.
• Token Girl
• Woman Of A Thousand Voices: Sensual Slav, Southern Ditz, ten-year-old kid, blue-collar laborer, you name it.

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Drew Carey

"If you don't like the way I smell, then (Beat) the price is wrong!"

Stand-up comic turned actor-producer, Drew Carey has brought his golden comic touch to numerous hit television shows, including “The Drew Carey Show,” “The Price Is Right” and “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” on which he served as host and producer. He has also attracted enthusiastic live audiences across the country with his Drew Carey's Improv All-Stars.

• Achilles Heel: Drew still tends to bust up laughing more than the others.
• Nerd Glasses
• Self-Deprecation: Still one of his favorite types of humor.

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Jeff B. Davis

"Because I win and you lose. I'm already at the bottom while you're still up on the slopes going swish, I'm in the lodge sipping hot cocoa."

Davis started acting at age 4 (as Linus in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”) and appeared on Broadway at age 11 with Yul Brynner in “The King and I.” He’s had several recurring roles on Drew Carey’s TV shows, and is a member of Carey’s Improv All-Stars.

• Ascended Extra: Although Jeff was technically a regular of Whose Line?, he was added late and certainly didn't appear as often as Greg or Chip. This is no longer the case.
• Clothes Make the Legend: Jeff always wears a shiny-ish suit and tie combo.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Estrogen Brigade Bait
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Chip.
• Large Ham
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Always averted when it comes to his Stock Characters.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Jeff occasionally wrests the scene from his costars and steers it in his own direction. This isn't always a bad thing (Dust Storm, anyone?).
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Although the male cast usually dresses well, Jeff is always impeccably dressed.
• Stock Characters: Keanu Reeves and Christopher Walken.

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Bob Derkach

The pianist.

• Bald of Awesome
• Cool Old Guy
• Everything's Better with Bob
• The Silent Bob: Heh heh heh...Well he is...
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The game Bob's Call, where Bob starts playing music that forces the players to sing along based on whatever they just said, revolves around the comedy side of this trope. Often results in Lyrical Dissonance for the players.
• Suspiciously Apropos Music: Whenever Bob decides to flavor up non-Bob's Choice games.

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Chip Esten

"WHASSUP, TOM?! I'M 'BOUT TO GET MY TENNIS ON!"

The improv artist and actor trained at the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles and has appeared on “Big Love,” “The Office,” “ER,” “Married...With Children” (he married Kelly Bundy in the final episode), and “The Drew Carey Show.”

• The Cast Showoff: Given how immensely talented Wayne was (and still is), Whose Line? made it easy to forget that Chip is a trained singer who, prior to Whose Line?, was best known for playing Buddy Holly. Now Chip's a regular for the musical games.
• Estrogen Brigade Bait
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Jeff.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice
• Large Ham
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His first name is Charles.
• Retraux: His chiseled good looks invoke '60s screen idols.

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Kathy Kinney

(walking into the audience) "You can look but don't touch!"

Well known to audiences as Mimi Bobeck-Carey on “The Drew Carey Show,” Kinney has also appeared in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “My Name Is Earl,” and “Newhart.”

• Deadpan Snarker: One of her favorite types of humor.
• The Scrappy: Well, if the YouTube comments are anything to go by...
• Signature Style: Makes jokes about MacGyvering a lot.

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Jonathan Mangum

"I had no idea my man was cougar material!"

Mangum began doing improvisational comedy with Wayne Brady in Orlando, Florida, before moving to L.A. He has appeared on “The Sarah Silverman Program” and “The Drew Carey Show,” and has toured the world with Carey and Brady.

• Adorkable
• Butt Monkey: To the point that it seems to be some kind of hazing for the non-Whose Line? vet.
• Catch Phrase, Biatch!
• Cloudcuckoolander: Sometimes.
• Eyes Always Shut: With his trademark grimace and Adorkable appeal, he's practically a live action Brock.
• Fiery Redhead: His spunk and exuberance make him seem like he's the youngest in the cast, but Jeff is younger.
  • It should be noted though that Jonathan's only about two years older than Jeff, making him the second youngest of the male cast (unless you count Wayne).
• Keet: The other reason Jonathan seems to be the youngest.
• Large Ham
• Precision F-Strike: The handcuffs poem:

"Roses are red, violets are blue, the handcuffs didn't work, hey hey, f--- you!"

• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Thanks to Wayne's influence.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Watch any playing of Mousetraps with him in it.
• Tempting Fate: A good chunk of his Butt Monkey status can be attributed to the fact that he keeps giving the other guys ideas of how to mess with him.
• This Is For Emphasis, Biatch! Overused, and eventually disallowed.

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Colin Mochrie

"Do you like the hair now!?"

Born in Scotland, Mochrie has worked frequently with Drew Carey and fellow cast member Brad Sherwood. But he says his most famous role was as Molly Ringwald’s captor in “Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone.”

• Bald of Awesome
• Berserk Button: Bald jokes. And Suzanne.
• Butt Monkey: Just like on the original Whose Line?.
• Cool Old Guy
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially during games of Freeze.
• Large Ham
• Overly Prepared Gag: He manages to sneak them into the Song Compilation introductions now and again.
• Running Gag: Velociraptors.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Absolutely defied. Colin knows that he can't do accents, so when a game of Options places him in Mexico, he becomes a Scottish tourist.

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Greg Proops

Jeff: Someone suggested Balzac... think you can handle some Balzac? Greg:: That's how I got the gig...

Trained in improvisation and acting in San Francisco, Proops has performed for Prince Charles, and worked as a voice actor in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”

• Camp Straight: On occasion.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Fascinating Eyebrow
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: His usual shtick.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Greg's specialty.
• Ho Yay: The main source of it on the show.
• Large Ham
• Man of a Thousand Voices: His Elvis Costello is impeccable.
• Nerd Glasses
• Precision F-Strike: "APPLAUD GOD DAMN YOU!"
• Smug Snake

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Brad Sherwood

"I like how we just started out as lumberjacks, then went on to become eco-terrorists and mass murderers!"

The comedian, actor and game show host (“The Price Is Right”) appeared often on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and has demonstrated his quick-witted improv skills in shows nationwide with colleague Colin Mochrie.

• Badass Baritone: Often used for his testosterone-poisoned characters and for his backup vocals in the musical numbers.
• Large Ham
• No Indoor Voice
• Refuge in Audacity: Seems to be Brad's favorite style of humor.
• Testosterone Poisoning: A lot of his characters come across as an amalgam of John Wayne, the male lead of a soap opera, and Captain Ahab.

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Ryan Stiles

"I love hispanic men!"

Having dropped out of high school to pursue a comedy career, Stiles has appeared in such comedy hits as “Two and a Half Men,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “Mad About You” and “Murphy Brown.” A longtime performer on the British version of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” Stiles served as executive producer and co-star with Drew Carey on the U.S. version.

• Celebrity Resemblance: To Neil Patrick Harris, resulting in a Running Gag about him being "Neil Patrick Harris Sr.," who runs a real estate business called Doogie's Houses.
• Crosscast Role: "As you can see, I'm dressing up as a woman again."
• Deadpan Snarker: A lot of Ryan's humor.
• Gag Nose
• Game-Breaking Injury: An interview with Colin revealed that Ryan's bad back is being taken into consideration during the acts this time.

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Special Guests

Wayne Brady

Drew: "Every position is sexual with Wayne Brady."

• Achilles Heel: Wayne is better at keeping himself from laughing than he used to be, but he still can't keep a straight face in much of his improv.
• Estrogen Brigade Bait
• Stunt Casting: He was evidently brought in to acclimate fans of Whose Line to this show.

Sean Masterson

• Butt Monkey
• The Chew Toy: Any ep with Sean WILL have him in "Mousetraps".
• Demoted to Extra: Sean probably appeared in more eps of Drew Carey's Green Screen Show than this one.
• Testosterone Poisoning: His naturally deep voice goes Up to Eleven during his role as a Large Ham fitness instructor.

Charlie Sheen

Greg: "We were walking in the daytime on the strip, and we were between the casino shaped like a pyramid and the one that's shaped like a castle, and we saw this kid just walking around, he was the cutest little kid with his big brown eyes, and he came up to us, remember? And he goes "I love you guys, I've seen you do your improv before, and your comedy, and I wonder if I there's any tickets to the show tonight", and I said, y'know, "No f--k off, we're sold out"..."

• Harsher in Hindsight: Two and A Half Men was the next high point of Ryan's career after Whose Line was discontinued... now it's Ryan getting Charlie on TV after his tenure on that show was brought to an end.
• Off the Rails: He completely derailed a game of Fairytale with the line, "Charlie Sheen fucks dead hookers."
  • You could tell by the expression on his face throughout the entire game that he was completely lost. When he finally got picked to narrate, the Non Sequitur was all he could think of.