Monday, Feb. 2, 2004 | 8:31 a.m.
"Drew Carey & the Improv All Stars" is an often-hilarious improv show. About the only thing missing is Carey.
The stand-up comic was onstage at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre with a cast of 11, but his presence was hardly noticed as he mostly sat at the back of the stage and allowed his troupe of talented actors free rein.
Carey participated sporadically in the improvisational skits, for the most part allowing the cast to carry the show that carries his name.
The former star of the ABC series "The Drew Carey Show" and "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (both canceled last fall) is more like a player-coach in the NBA than the star of this comedy free-for-all -- mostly observing, but occasionally joining the action.
Carey underwent heart surgery in 2001 to unblock a coronary artery. Perhaps that has slowed him down a bit.
Although he used his standup comedy sparingly, Carey demonstrated that he still has the skill by giving a brief monologue at the outset of the 90-minute production.
Using language he could never use on television, Carey joked about his heart operation, the Lasik surgery that allowed him to put away his trademark black-rimmed glasses, his loathing of super-handsome, super-nice and super-endowed actor Brad Pitt and other topics.
"The only bad part (about Lasik surgery) is I have to see myself naked in the shower."
"I had angioplasty, the same thing Dick Cheney had, only they left my heart in."
Although he might have lost weight immediately after the surgery, Carey once again is overweight.
"They got me a trainer when I got out of the hospital," Carey said. "Obviously, I haven't been seeing him.
"They tell you the key to long health and fitness is to listen to your body. Isn't that (expletive)? How did I get so fat in the first place? Hey let's eat pizza ... hey, let's take a nap."
After warming up the audience, Carey introduced his crew, including keyboardist Laura Hall, guitarist Linda Taylor and actress Kathy Kinney, his tormenting co-star on "The Drew Carey Show."
The ensemble also included Julie Larson, Sean Masterson, Jeff Davis, Chip Esten, Colin Mochrie and Greg Proops.
Coach Carey has an eye for talent. The team he put together is filled with veterans who are sharp, clever and funny.
Mochrie, a native of Canada, began his career with Toronto's famous Second City improv group. Hall started out with Second City in Chicago. Esten and Proops were with the British version of "Whose Line is it Anyway?"
The cast wasted no time in launching into a series of classic improv skits that made the evening fly, among them "questions" (two people communicate with each other by answering a question with a question).
The audience participated in the routines by suggesting certain elements. In "questions," Hoover Dam was chosen as the location.
"Is this Hoover Dam?" Kinney asks.
"Is there another dam around here I'm not aware of?" Masterson responds.
A "Jeopardy!" routine was brilliant; one in which two volunteers from the audience came onstage to provide sound effects failed miserably.
Carey and Larson performed the final skit, a masochistic piece in which they were blindfolded and barefoot as they walked around a stage strewn with 100 mouse traps.
Even though Carey did not dominate the show (and probably shouldn't have, since it was a group effort), as long as he continues to surround himself with talented performers, he can sit back and relax and enjoy the show.
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