When funny man Wayne Alphonso Brady hits the stage, it’s often without a script at hand. So, you’ve most likely seen him making the sparks fly, on that famous and long-running improvisational comedy, Whose Line Is It Anyway? The show with its unique brand of completely unplanned humour turned him into a star who is recognised in different parts of the world.

But if you haven’t caught him on that show there’s an even bigger chance than that you’ve watched him in action on the blockbuster sitcom How I Met Your Mother (he’s the older gay brother to Neil Patrick Harris in the show).

Brady was in town recently on a five-city tour of India (he had audiences in splits in Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune). He was flown in by the luxury Scotch brand Black Dog for their ‘laugh-a- second comedy evenings’, accompanied by his troupe of musicians (on drums, guitar and keyboard) and fellow comedian Jonathan Mangum. “Those who already know me, I want to interact with them. As for the others who do not know of me, I want to acquaint them with my brand of entertainment. So, it’s not just about my first visit here. I am looking at building a relationship with India,” says the 39-year-old.

Wayne Brady in a performance with the Jabbawockeez at the 38th Daytime Emmy awards. AP

The Emmy award winning actor, musician, game show host and television personality is a name to reckon with in the world of showmanship. Of course, it was Whose Line Is it Anyway? between 1998 and 2006 that catapulted him to fame along with fellow panelist Drew Carey.

But today Brady has a whole lot going for him. He is currently the host of the revived classic game show, Let’s Make a Deal, on the CBS network. “It’s a game show where the audience dresses in outlandish costumes to grab my attention and win money. I do the improvisations on the show with Jonathan Mangum as the announcer,” he points out.

While the Brady brand of comedy is spontaneous and about deadpan catchphrases, it also includes a fair bit of music and audience participation. Brady says the contours of his show were formed by watching icons of the past like Gene Kelly, Sid Caesar and Sammy Davis Jr. all of whom could sing, dance, even while acting.

“These men who could do everything were my inspiration, though I call myself an actor first and then a writer and singer,” says Brady who grew up in Orlando, Florida. His first lessons in entertaining audiences came after he joined a group called A Houseful of Honkeys in 1990, a year after graduating from high school.

With a wide repertoire of talents to bank on, Brady juggles a busy schedule year round. In June this year, he hosted the 38th Daytime Emmy awards in the heart of glitzy and glamourous Las Vegas. “It is something that makes me immensely proud,” says the actor.

Incidentally, he happens to be the first actor in the history of Emmy awards to win both a Daytime Emmy and a Primetime Emmy. “All in all, I have four of them for my talk show, The Wayne Brady Show,” adds Brady who sang and danced alongside Jabbawockeez, an all-male hip hop crew at the awards ceremony.

And that’s not all. While he’s busy touring for TV shows — it has made him a globetrotter around the US, Japan, South Africa and Europe to Canada and the Bahamas — he also works on music albums. He made his debut as a musician in 2008 with the album A Long Time Coming and he has just released a second album, Wayne Radio, with 14 tracks for children.

According to Brady, the idea came when he heard his eight-year-old daughter, Maile Masako Brady, listening to hit pop tunes that he considered age-inappropriate. So he went ahead and recorded songs in the studio that are about eating vegetables and growing tall and strong. If Wayne Radio has fun hip hop tunes, it also features Brady performing agile steps from spins and drops to splits. “It is doing well on iTunes and Amazon,” he notes.

Brady is currently hosting the classic game show Let’s Make a Deal. AP

Does it leave him with time for leisure? “I look at this way — you can either complain about too much work or you can complain when you don’t have any. I am good with complaining about too much work. The rest of the time I am to be found in the company of my daughter,” he says.

Brady’s brush with acting and the performing arts happened when he was 16 and had to fill in for a role in a high school play. That changed his plans to enter a military school in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. In 1996, he moved to Los Angeles, California, to hone his acting skills.

And thereafter followed a career that took off on a high note in 1998 with Whose Line Is it Anyway? The other major shows he hosted include his daytime talk show, The Wayne Brady Show (2001), and Don’t Forget the Lyrics on Fox (2009). He’s also guest starred in TV sitcoms like 30 Rock and Everybody Loves Chris among numerous other shows.

There have been the ups and the downs — the ups weighing slightly heavier but the actor maintains that he has always been grounded. “I have always kept a couple of people around me who remind me of who I am. One of them is my ex-wife Mandie Taketa with whom I have my daughter. Even though we’re divorced, she’s is my best friend. She knows me through and through. The other person is my mother who would smack me if I put on airs,” laughs Brady.

Brady reckons that he’s a fairly low-key person behind the screen. In fact, he describes himself as a nerd who relaxes at his house in California with plenty of books, playing on his computer and indulging in bouts of video games.

Says Brady: “I have the Xbox Connect — and have what you will in the category. I pamper myself once in a while because when I was growing up, we had the things we needed, not what we wanted. But having said that you would never see me on American shows like MTV Cribs — I hate showing off. I like to have the good things in life simply because it keeps me and my daughter comfortable. And if it means I do not get to rest on my laurels, so be it.”