Red Robinson's Legends Of Comedy - Ryan Stiles

Ryan Stiles the man with a plastic face became famous on The Drew Carey Show he's also well-known for whose line is it anyway this interview with Ryan if you can call it that was in 2010 how does it kid who is born in Seattle end up going to High School in Richmond British Columbia uh well I uh moved up when I was 10 my dad was in the fishing industry so he moved up and started up here and didn't want to come you know it's hard when you're tend to move out of your place and ended up in Richmond and at that time I was kind of a farming community still you know blueberries and ditches and and went to Richmond High didn't last long they're good I didn't make it all the way through but I'll go back and get it my mom wants me to go back and get my high school diploma soon are you gonna do it for her I might if I can find some time you must have known what you wanted to do what was it what were your dreams in I know I didn't want to be in the fishing industry that's for sure and I used to go down to punch lines and you remember punch lines and books I would you know I would start my dad because he was the boss oh he TNT the worst job so I was the one dressing the fish so I would start that about 4:00 in the morning then go down and do stand-up at night and be smelling like fish and you know have a few drinks after and then go back before in the morning cut fish open again so I knew I didn't want to do that and I didn't really know what I wanted to do I just didn't want to do a regular job and be bored at it so things just kind of fell in place for me I never really kind of pursued anything but everything just kind of happened were you a break up in class like it would you get less I was people tell me I was but I remember the teachers were always sad that they had to kick me out of their class so there must have been something going I'm very sorry but you can't come back so I think the teachers liked me I just never attended school I started doing stand-up at that time stand-up wasn't like it is now you know it was kind of it all it was that during that David Brenner kind of era you know and every city didn't have a stand-up Club and you know so what I told my parents was going to do that you know I had a lot of sin you already got the fish place so to quit that and go do stand-up underage at strip clubs in Vancouver they weren't really into that it paid off all right you tried to write your own stuff you know but I'll defend it where you were they didn't want to hear my Dolly Parton routine at the Drake you know you just went to the back of Playboy and found some jokes there when you were playing the strip club so but then and that's the thing I hated about stand-up after a while was trying to write material that's why I got an improv enough to think about anything but that was the hardest part for me was writing material I was enjoyed being on stage it was slow but you know you made a living I remember I remember my wife I'd go off for two weeks where we lived up here and I'd play strip clubs and discos discos at that time you know and I play for two weeks and make $200 and it was all ones and fives because the bartender paid you know I remember going home she'd be in bed and I throw it on or thinking we're rich you know and I could never understand so you know people who started out and a woman sticks by them when they make no money and then they suddenly get a little money and they drop that woman and get another who's obviously just every cuz you have money now you know I never understood why him when we drop anybody that stayed with you during the bad times like that but but that may change in a year yeah I never know yeah did you carry the show was a great experience though look at the exposure you had throughout North America right Andrew always tells me that he didn't want me for the show he wanted the other guy he's makes sure to tell me about all time it was between me and another guy he tells me I always wanted that other guy I never really wanted you to do the show but you know it was a middle America sitcom and Andrew was very popular at that time in the show went for nine years which is a long time for a sitcom oh boy a long time and who's lying counting Britain went 13 years so three in the three in the States and you know what the British won I don't know much about but you had to go to England to do it right right yeah yeah was it shown in North America on PBS or anything uh Comedy Central picked it up after about the first three years it was always a huge hit in Britain yeah the first year was actually on radio wasn't even on television which is very odd and then it got to the point where you when I first started it was three Brits and an American that it got to be two and two and then there was dead in the last couple years there was no Brits on the show so it made sense to bring it over here you have to be with people that you trust you know and you know working on that show I mean Colin Mochrie was on it and I've known Colin over 30 years you know so it's it's a matter as a matter of fact a group we work with now Jeff Davis is the new guy with the group and he's only been with us nine years so you know that's how long we've worked together all these people and that's what it is on stage it's just trusting who you're in stage with so you're a family guy you have children right I have three kids yeah yeah so is that it's that tough going on the road like this with a whose line is it anyway well that's not bad you know when I was when I was doing drew and whose line my family still lived up here in the northwest and and we worked three weeks on in a week off so I saw my family one week every month for nine years you know and I have an 18 in the 16 and six-year-old now so I told them when those shows ended that I was gonna stay home for a while you know I had a newborn you know and that's why I built my theater in Bellingham because I could I could do without TV or film but I need to get on stage so it was kind of a selfish thing to build with my not myself and they HAMP they run the whole thing for me I just I'm like Ricky Ricardo you know I just show up at the club and I leave you know but it's not bad cuz I can pick what I want to go out we don't do that many dates here we'll do maybe 40 gigs a year you know so I can spread it out limb still it's better than me down there on a sitcom constantly you know what's the name of your club with Bela hammock the up-front yeah that's right downtown right on Bay Street down there up front six year we just went into here but that was a smart move because you can always like you say do what you love well you know I was doing when I got back from doing his I moved back to Bellingham there was ads in the paper that they had improv classes going so I dropped by one much to the shock of the teacher who was teaching the thing because I want to take the class you know and I found out there was people that had been doing improv there for three or four years in these classes that had never been on a stage before so I said I'll build this place for you but you guys have to run it I don't want anything to do with it right and they have and then it's you know there was the Chicago Film Festival this year they only take 40 groups from around the world they took two of my groups from the club so what a compliment very cool and I think the Pacific Northwest lends itself this this whole triangle of Calgary Alberta Washington State Oregon improv is really good in that triangle and I think it's because of the weather I think it's when it's really rainy and ugly it you want to be inside creating you know and that's why when Second City moved to LA it didn't last because nobody would it was nice out you know and there they don't drink they'll have a Perrier and you know those clubs make all their money off booze when at Corp City so and they wouldn't drive from the valley to Santa Monica to see a show it was too far a traffic how did you end up with a recurring role on Two and a Half Men well Chuck Lorre who is the exact producer on it did darman Greg as well and I did a couple of appearances on Dharma Greg so he knew me from there and it started out as a one-shot deal and really wanted to do it because he approached me and said the characters got a little more big as the years have gone by but the first episode is pretty straight and I wanted to do something that wasn't whose line where I was big in gag you playing a moose and wasn't drew where it was still big and gaggy I wanted I wanted something where I played a little little more real you know so that's originally why I did it and then I think they wrote something that was a little bigger in one episode now it's just getting bigger and bigger and actually as the child on the show gets older it gets a little dirtier now too you know when he was a when he was a little kid they couldn't be that dirty but now he drives his own car to work so you know uh-huh so it could be a little more risque but he's a good kid and they're good people on that show and I've known Charlie side did both hot shot's movies so I've known Charlie since Darren Jon Cryer actually did one of those movies as well so but it's you know it's not like a drew set a drew set is very it was loose and we could throw stuff in and add stuff you know the writers on Two and a Half Men are pretty solid so by the time the script gets there it's good you know so you just stick to what they have and do your job and you know they're very nice and treat you well but it's not that I mean Drew was ridiculous you know how loose that show was so you could feel it though yeah I think that's part of its success Andrew is always open to if you want to throw stuff in you know during tape nights you know you do it the way they wrote and throw that in what you did in rehearsal you know he was always into that so I don't I don't really want to work that hard anymore red you know I want to play golf and we've got chickens and bunnies and living a lake and it's perfect you know I got my club so I could still go perform and that's the main thing yeah well you seem like a happy guy and I am it life's been good you know they used to uh every year drew you had to have a physical at the beginning every year for insurance purposes and when I lived down there my blood pressure was always high and when we moved up here and I went back down the dude drew that first year I said how's my blood pressure he goes fine normal it was just from living up here yeah I'll be in Bellingham and I'll realize I haven't heard a car horn in like a month you know and people are just rude in LA and there is traffic everywhere and you know I think I think everybody wants to make enough money to get out of LA I think that I think that's the goal you know and I'm really happy where I am and I love that it's the weather's getting ugly now it's gonna be raining soon and I love putting on jackets and layering I just love the whole thing you love the seasons like I do I do and this is the best season right here we're Northwest kids looking forward to seeing you at the theater and and last year you came and I hope you bring that crew back again next year I hope so too yeah it's a lot of fun there we enjoy it there thank you thanks red you

Channel: Red Robinson

Views: 122,273

Rating: 4.9196692 out of 5

Keywords: #deejayred, #red robinson, ryan stiles

Id: euMFerYdbiI

Length: 9min 20sec (560 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 29 2016