Wayne Brady Is Not a Game Show Host ... Just Ask Him

There's no doubt that Wayne Brady is quick on his feet, but what I found out when I spoke to the 'Let's Make a Deal' host earlier this month was that he's also quick to make sure his career isn't pigeonholed.

Mention that an improvised rap he did on the CBS daytime game show reminds you of one he did on Drew Carey's version of 'Whose Line Is It, Anyway?' and he'll take pains to mention that he's been honing these skills in his stage show and elsewhere for years. Ask how the chemistry between him and announcer Jonathan Mangum came about and he'll make sure to tell you that the two of them have been performing together for close to two decades.

But, most of all, Brady refuses to define himself as a game show host. "In my head, a game show host is the guy that stands there and just goes, 'And now, what are you doing, Jim?' And that's not me. I was hired to bring something else to it," he told me.

Brady and I spoke about the show's second season, its move from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, and what he thinks of Carey's recent weight loss.

From what I can see from the 2nd season, it seems like you and the gang are pretty much picking up where you left off in the first season. Have you taped episodes that we haven't seen yet where you guys are doing things a little bit differently, we'll see some things we haven't seen before?
Well, I'm not sure...because I get the impression that you're expecting fireworks to come shooting out of my behind if someone picks door 3. Which, sadly to say, while very entertaining in Tijuana, wouldn't happen. It's not reinventing the wheel. It's a game show. Doors, curtains, box, cash, screaming, lunatics in costumes. That's gonna be what it is. That's what Monty Hall came up with. That's what it is, and that's what it's going to be.

Now the thing is, I think the reason that people watch this, besides the free cash, is I'm not Monty Hall. There's your huge difference to begin with. The show is innately funnier already than it ever was. It was never conceived to be a funny show, but doing the deals and the various games, Jonathan (Mangum) and I manage to make things much more funny and light-hearted. We have a lot of challenges coming up this season, where we get to do more of the improv stuff that Jonathan and I do live as a team, and more songs and improvised songs, and on the spot deals. But the basic formula itself will always be what it is.

That is one thing I did notice, is that there were a couple of times where you broke out in a rap like you were back on 'Whose Line Is It, Anyway?'.
No, not back on 'Whose Line,' because I even do that when I do my live show and I do improv. The improv that I do is bigger than just the stuff I did on 'Whose Line.'

I understand, but you've got to remember that TV viewers will remember that from 'Whose Line.'
No, but what I'm saying is that, not just on 'Whose Line,' but on a lot of the programming that I do that's improv based -- 'Whose Line' was the form for those games that began -- but I and other people, we've done that on other places just to as much success. So I know what you're saying, but I'm saying that it doesn't belong to 'Whose Line,' it's something that was innate with me that I did pre-'Whose Line,' that is one of the things that, the musical improv is something that I do.

And that's why it's a part of the fabric of what we're trying to weave into 'Let's Make a Deal' (with) characters doing the deals. We have a new deal this year called Judge Tiffany, where Jonathan and I are 2 opposing lawyers trying to get the contestant to pick what's behind my door or his door. And then instead of just standing there and doing a standard deal, then you get to have fun and become a southern lawyer, or become like an Al Pacino-esque guy, or just riffing right off the top of your head and just having fun so some of the audience stays involved.


What do you think has made this version a success, where a couple of the previous tries to do 'Let's Make a Deal' in recent past haven't done quite as well?
I think it's everything that we just talked about. I think that it's a beautiful, happenstance thing. I think the economy is in a place where people want to see people win, where people want to believe that that can happen. And I get stopped on the street all the time... "Hey Wayne, I'm coming on your show... I need to pay for a car." Now, I don't know if coming on the show would ever net someone that money, but there's a possibility. That's the thing. There's always the possibility. There's that Willy Wonka golden ticket floating around out there.

At what point did the producers think it would be good to make Jonathan more up front and more of a feature, instead of just the guy carrying the box or announcing the Zonk?
Well that was the plan from the very beginning of the show, because Jonathan isn't your typical announcer. Jonathan is a brilliant improviser, and my comedic partner. We've been on stage together since '92. The plan was always to have the show be this, but you have to crawl before you can walk then run.

And I know how the daytime audience is, having done a daytime show already, that change needs to be almost introduced slowly, or spoon-fed, because you get into a habit. You get your coffee and I want to see this. And all of a sudden, when there's a difference, then everyone gets up in arms. So this needed to be "Hey, this is 'Let's Make a Deal,' you remember that show. Yeah. And this is Wayne hosting it, you know Wayne. Yeah. And these are the prizes. OK. This is the way the game works. And now, Wayne's gonna be funny, and now Wayne's bringing in his buddy Jonathan. Oh, OK, I get it." And that gives us the ability now to hit the ground running second season to just do what we do.


How did the move back to Los Angeles from Las Vegas late last season help?
It helped out two-fold. It helped me sleep in my own bed, which I said I needed to do and had to do. And it eliminated... not being disrespectful of anybody, but the audiences in L.A. that come to see a taping are tourists and people that are almost, you would say, professional game show goers: very savvy about the world of games. And they love it. And it's fun. All you have to do is, you look at the audience in 'The Price is Right'... those guys are happy. They travel from all over the world. And they started doing that with this show now.

Then on top of that, Vegas is Vegas. It's where people come to do horrible things that they wouldn't do in their own towns. So you're asking people that are there to be on a bender, to get up the very next morning in that heat, and put on an orangutan costume, or a cereal box costume, and jump up and down in an audience? And then, you have some people who would just walk off the street, and you'd go "Hey, nice hobo outfit!" And they'd go, "I'm not here to be on the show, I'm trying to get warm." So it really was a very mixed bag.

Here in Los Angeles, the ability to really have the audience that wants to be on 'Let's Make a Deal' has happened, and it's worked out great.

How do you feel about ('Deal' and 'TPiR' executive producer) Mike Richards taking the concept of the back and forth between you and Jon, and saying "Hey, I want that on 'The Price is Right,' too?"
I feel it's as good a concept as the show makes it. And if it can work... just because something works in one place doesn't mean it's going to work in the other. It works on our show because I'm an improvisor, and Jonathan and I have worked together since we were 21. And we almost are of one mind, and we have a very similar sense of humor. I hope it does work.

Mike is an incredibly smart guy and he's a buddy of mine, and I want to see anything that works on our show work over on 'Price,' because it makes the entire family work. And then folks will begin to look at the game show paradigm as a very viable one. They go, oh, Drew Carey's doing one and he's funny, and Wayne is really funny, and Steve Harvey has started doing 'Family Feud' now and oh, OK, I guess it's a place that folks can really go and still do really great work, and not have it be an odd...or looked upon as a misstep. That is like oh yeah, that's a really great move.

So in other words, that wouldn't be looked at as a career-ending move?
Right. Because in my case, it was never that. Because I just wanted to do it because it was something new, and I'm still doing movies, and still doing TV, and got my record and everything. And so I want folks to see that hey, yeah, this is another world. Because back in the day, I don't know how old you are, but when I was a kid, a lot of the game shows, that's where the brightest comedians hung out. Because they were the smartest and fastest people on TV, the panel shows.

'Hollywood Squares,' 'Match Game,' that kind of thing.
Oh man, yeah. You had to be quick to be on the shows, not the slowest guy on the track team. You really had to be with it. And I think that changed as the games got a little stale. But now I think we're seeing a return to that, so if I can be part of that, then right on.



Weird to see Drew skinny, by the way... I'm sure it's weird for you...
No, it's not weird, it's something to be applauded. He tried it years ago when he was on 'Whose Line' and 'The Drew Carey Show,' and he lost a lot of weight, especially after his heart attack. And the thing that stuck with me, that I remember, how oddly a lot of America reacted. That it wasn't "Hey, great job on saving your life," it's like "Oh, you're not fat, we don't like you anymore. Because either you're not like us, or you think you're better now... you got your blonde hair and your glasses..." I look at a guy that just wants to be happy and healthy. And so I don't care if he's 350 or 200. I would rather he be 200, because I want to see him healthy, but above all, I want him happy.

'Let's Make a Deal' airs five days a week on CBS. Check your local listings for the time it airs in your area.
(Follow @joelkeller on Twitter.)