For 23 years Ben Hollis has made talking to Chicagoans his forte. Best known as the Emmy-award winning host and co-creator of WTTW’s Wild Chicago, a local “travel” show which ran from 1988 through 2002, Hollis has since moved on from TV and thrown himself into developing the live comedy/interview show—“What’s It Like To Be You?”

With “What’s It Like To Be You?” Hollis turns the mike to the audience and tries to navigate between insight and entertainment. Since November this monthly stage “talk” show has taken place at the Wilmette Theatre, and has become a staple for the local theater.

“Some people describe it as the best thing they’ve seen,” said Nili Yelin Wronski, Marketing Director for the Wilmette Theatre.

Part interview and part improv, “What’s It Like To Be You?” involves Hollis selecting four or five people from the audience to come up and discuss their lives. The level of candor and honesty that Hollis’ guests bring to the stage is remarkable, and a bit surprising even for those who volunteer.

“I thought we were going to a traditional comedy show,” said a 42 year-old area physician who was chosen to go onstage, “but I was certainly pleasantly surprised by the concept.”

Others, including a 30 year-old Chicago improv actor, applauded the idea behind “What’s It Like to Be You?” and complimented Hollis’ skill as a moderator and interviewer.

“When I get up there I have to combine my interest with people with kind of my producer or director’s hat,” Hollis told Patch in an interview after the show.

Hollis also discussed what he sees as a different generational sense of openness, which he attributes to a degree on the internet.

“Tonight we heard stuff about mental illness, painful break-ups, stuff people years ago would not have shared with strangers. I think it also reflects a hunger in our culture for this kind of contact, which I don’t think the internet provides as satisfactorily as a place like this with living human beings," he said.

The latest show featured an opening interview with Craig Benzine, a.k.a. Wheezy Waiter from YouTube, and much of the discussion addressed the Internet’s effect on how people live. 

Despite Wednesday’s focus on YouTube “What’s It Like To Be You?” has the feel of a classic TV talk show, complete with an opening monologue and music by Hollis. However, by it’s very nature, “What’s It Like To Be You?” rides the fence between comedy and group therapy: serious one moment and goofy the next. Hollis relishes the unpredictable nature of the show and despite its occasional gravity he defends the show’s status as an improv comedy.

“In the great tradition of Chicago improv we get up there and co-create a vignette,” Hollis said. “It’s a great question, what’s it like to be you? You can ask anybody at any time, no matter where you are.”

Hollis also discussed the similarities between this project and his work with Wild Chicago, which he hosted from 1988 to 1992, returning frequently for specials such as the seven-part Wild Chicago’s Illinois Road Trip in 2006.

“While doing this show and reflecting I realized Wild Chicago could have been called “What’s it like to be you?” It was about people doing what they love to do and what they’re passionate about . . . It wasn’t so much about places or things or hobbies but it was about the people. That’s why I think people liked the show so much because [the interviewees] were fascinating and full of life no matter how eccentric their interests were.”

Hollis cites TV personality Dick Cavett and theater icon Spalding Gray as his greatest influences as an interviewer.

Gray’s famous show Interviewing the Audience from the early 1980s was a direct influence on Hollis’ “What’s It Like to Be You.” When Hollis asked Gray if he could reproduce the show shortly before the actor’s suicide in 2004 Gray gave him a one-word answer, “Okay.”

Hollis speaks admiringly of Gray and noted the generational shift between his show and Interviewing the Audience.

“When Spalding Gray did this show around 1983 he was adamant about not exploiting it for radio, or TV. He felt like the presence of recording devices would inhibit people. I think that has changed over the years, now people are less inhibited,” said Hollis, who also expressed his interest in possible internet projects.

“What I’m continually curious about and attracted to is something that years ago would have been considered TV now tends to be an online video project of some sort. I am working on something along those lines, but it’s really too early to talk about.”

Ben Hollis’ “What’s It Like To Be You?” will return to the Wilmette Theatre Feb. 16 for a post-Valentines special, “When Love Goes Stale.”