By Josh Bell
MGM Grand 9 p.m. Feb. 2-5, $69-$89 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
Drew Carey has performed in various capacities throughout his career, from stand-up comedian to sitcom star (The Drew Carey Show) to game show host (as Bob Barker’s replacement on The Price Is Right), but one thing Carey always comes back to is improvisation. When he was working on The Drew Carey Show, Carey started hosting the American version of the British series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, an ensemble live-performance show based around creating improvised skits, often incorporating suggestions from a studio audience.
Carey went from hosting Whose Line to creating his own improv-based show, Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show, for The WB and later Comedy Central, and even incorporated improv into several episodes of The Drew Carey Show. Even after Whose Line ended, Carey kept performing with a troupe of expert improvisers, many of whom participate in his current stage improv show, Drew Carey’s Improv-a-Ganza. The latest edition includes former Drew Carey Show co-star Kathy Kinney and veteran Carey collaborators Jonathan Mangum and Heather Anne Campbell. Carey clearly has a great love for improv, and that comes through in the giddy enthusiasm of the Improv-a-Ganza shows. Whatever else he has going on, he loves getting onstage and making up goofy skits with his friends.
