Whose Thread Is It Anyway?

[on:]

I'm amazed to see that there isn't already a Whose Line Is It Anyway? thread - it's a fantastic show and one of my favourites. If you haven't heard of it, what basically happens is this: Four performers improvise scenes and songs based on suggestions from the audience or from the host's premade cards. It started in the UK, then a US version was made with Drew Carey hosting.

So this is just a general thread about the US version (aka "Drew's Line Is It Anyway" or DLIIA) and the UK version (aka WLIIA). Which improv games are your favourites? What are your favourite quotes? And so on, and so forth. But I thought I'd add a poll in, just to see who your favourite performer is (in the US version, I couldn't fit in all of the UK version guys).

For me, Ryan and Colin are the best because they work so well together, and their scenes never fail to have some really hilarious moments. But I do really like Greg's stuff, especially in individual games like "Let's Make A Date" and "Scenes From A Hat". He's also very quick with comebacks ("It's also a very big continent if you're a geographer" ). But I still think that Ryan and Colin are the best, and if I have to pick one, then I'm going to go for Ryan.

I like pretty much all the games except for the ones with song components. It's not that I don't think Wayne is talented, just that the whole song thing is never quite as quick or funny as the stuff that happens in the other improv games. I don't really like Hoedown for that reason, although it's better than the other song games. One exception: "Three Headed Broadway Star". But only for that time when Drew mucked it up completely, three times. 

I really like "Scenes From A Hat" because it's so quick and every bit is always so funny. My favourite game is "Sound Effects", especially when the audience do the sound effects. But I also really like "Party Quirks", "Let's Make A Date" and most of the other non-song games.

Whoa, breaking news! Check out this website...
 http://www.geocities.com/save_whose_line/index2.html

Whose Line is being cancelled! NOO! Save it from the same fate as Futurama, go write to ABC! 

Did you American and Canadian guys know about the cancellation? Is it not on ABC anymore? I didn't have any idea until I saw this website, because the Comedy Channel in Australia is still showing WLIIA at 5pm and DLIIA at 7.30pm on weekdays.

So.... Whose Line Is It Anyway? Discuss!

[Reply #1 on:]

I didn't know Whose Line was still on ABC.

And please tell me you were just making a pun when you called it Drew's Line.

The best one is still the one where Greg Proops makes fun of Gepetto, or however you spell it.  Segment: Scenes from a hat.  Skit: Good news/bad news.  "Merry Christmas, Jimmy!  Oh look, Gepetto!"

[Reply #2 on:]

You didn't list anyone known for just the British version.  I always liked Josie Lawrence, Mike McShane, and Tony Slattery.

[Reply #3 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
I didn't know Whose Line was still on ABC.

Apparently the timeslot keeps changing so it's hard to keep track of. Also, new episodes haven't been filmed since November 2001, but there are still 22 episodes that ABC hasn't aired. They're still airing the old ones in Australia, but it seems that the last time they were on ABC was about a year ago.

 

And please tell me you were just making a pun when you called it Drew's Line.

No, it's just a way of distinguishing the US version (hosted by Drew Carey) from the UK version (not hosted by Drew Carey). I know it's grammatically incorrect, but it does make it easier to tell them apart when people are talking about them. Much like how we have Seasons and McSeasons here - even though McDonalds didn't decide on the airing order, we assosciate Fox with McDonalds on some level because they're big corporations and can pretty much do what they like. So the name doesn't exactly relate/make sense, but it works, and if you know which is which it makes both entities easier to talk about. At least, that's why I thought we called them McSeasons... but I'm getting off track. "Drew's Line Is It Anyway" or DLIIA represents the US version of the show, because their titles are the same. That's what Whosers (fans of WLIIA and DLIIA) use, anyway.

AJ, because there are so many UK performers, I wouldn't have been able to fit all of them into a poll.
Besides, the US version is better. Of the episodes I've seen anyway.

My favourite skits were when Ryan was a calf being born in "Party Quirks", Wayne being affected by erratic gravity in "Party Quirks", Ryan as an auctioneer in "Let's Make A Date", when Ryan and Colin were Noah and Mrs Noah in "Sound Effects" and the bald people hoedown. The UK version had some memorable moments as well, like Ryan, Colin and Greg being TV evangelists at the laundrette.   

[Reply #4 on:]

That is a great show.  Improv is a very difficult form of acting.  It's a useful tool when an actor is really trying to get into a character, so it's not always funny.  Of course there are those who are absolutely unfunny they're trying to be funny.  I recall my first and last visit to an improv performance when I was going to school living in Pittsburg.  One particularly bad improvisor thought he could make anything funny by yelling in the same way that Al Pacino thinks he can make himself dramatic by screaming.

[Reply #5 on:]

I love this show. Thanks for opening up a thread on it Dolcelannah. It's a little hard to watch in Perth if you don't have cable though.
I think the by-play between Colin and Ryan is the highllight of the show. Those two work so well together.

[Reply #6 on:]

 

Originally posted by Iron Chef:
I love this show. Thanks for opening up a thread on it Dolcelannah.

No worries, Iron Chef! 

 

Originally posted by Iron Chef:
It's a little hard to watch in Perth if you don't have cable though.

Yeah, it's a shame they don't show it on free-to-air TV in Australia, because I'm sure it would get a much bigger fanbase. I've got Foxtel, and would be very distraught if I had to lose it, purely because of WLIIA and DLIIA.

[Reply #7 on:]

I never watched the US made episodes, I only watched the ones hosted by Clive Anderson here in the UK, I can't recall who was my favourite person on it, the show was best when they were interacting anyway.

[Reply #8 on:]

I love hearing Colin and Ryan (of course) and I love seeing Ryan's gaudy shoes. I want shoes like that, man. 

But anyway... Dolcelannah, how could you ever expect us to choose our favorite??? I could never choose between Ryan and Colin.

[Reply #9 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
The best one is still the one where Greg Proops makes fun of Gepetto, or however you spell it.  Segment: Scenes from a hat.  Skit: Good news/bad news.  "Merry Christmas, Jimmy!  Oh look, Gepetto!"

I forgot the follow-up to that: Still Scenes From a Hat, this time "What a pull-string Drew doll would say."  Greg: Mimi and I are the same person!  Ryan: Greg, you're fired.

[Reply #10 on:]

I liked the UK version better, none of that cheesy forced-audience laughter that makes me wanna punch American tourists.
I mean more than I punch them already.

Ryan and Colin are the ultimate duo. 

[Reply #11 on:]

How I see it is, Ryan can sing and Colin can't. Ryan has hair and Colin doesn't. Therefore Ryan > Colin. Now even though Wayne Brady can do everything Ryan does, he REALLY gets on my nerves... I don't know why...

[Reply #12 on:]

'I'm Clive Anderson and I have no neck.'

My favourite comedian on Who's line? It would have to be Ryan Stiles, especially his John Wayne impersonation in 'The Party' game.

[Reply #13 on:]

I'd have to say Ryan Stiles, followed closely by Colin Mochrie, and than Wayne Brady. But all of them are great.

[Reply #14 on:]

I.  LOVE.  COLIN.

I mean, seriously, there is nothing more awesome than a bald guy from Canada.

Anyway, ABC Family shows reruns from 10-11 where I live, so I just watch those.

I was originally drawn to the show because it reminded me of the improv games we used to play in theater camp.  But of course the professionals are a million times better than we could ever be. 

[Reply #15 on:]

 

Originally posted by Mango:


I mean, seriously, there is nothing more awesome than a bald guy from Canada.

Indeed. 
But Ryan's shoes are cool...Plus he can sing...

Meh. I vote Colin.

Game: "Scenes from a hat" Topic: "Adam's first words to Eve"

Colin: No, you do not look fat in your leaf.

[Reply #16 on:]

Colin is my favourite. We have entirely too many faux-news programs on Canadian television and Colin is one of the only good comedians on those shows.

I don't really like the singing parts that much. I'd rather see the scenes from a hat or something like that. It's more entertaining when it's little one-liners and stuff.

[Reply #17 on:]

Colin Mocherie is such a sexy man- that balding head drives me WILD!

[Reply #18 on:]

I vote for Colin Mochrie: The Lightning-Rod of Hate.

[Reply #19 on:]

That one episode where Drew throws the "Scenes from a hat" hat at the camera, making it fall over and then Drew saying "Oh Shit!" had me laughing out loud.
Then 2 milliseconds later they cut to commercial.

[Reply #20 on:]

I can't pick a favorite, in my eyes they're all pretty fucking funny. Oh but there was one Irish Drinking Song that was hilarious where the others were too busy laughing so Colin had to do it alone, and he kept saying Meow. I was laughing so hard I rolled off my bed.

[Reply #21 on:]

As much as I love Colin, I gotta go with Ryan. Though bald guys from Canada are what we need more of 

 

Originally posted by Chump:
I don't really like the singing parts that much. I'd rather see the scenes from a hat or something like that. It's more entertaining when it's little one-liners and stuff.

Agreed. I don't find the singing all too funny.

[Reply #22 on:]

 

Originally posted by Chump:
I don't really like the singing parts that much. I'd rather see the scenes from a hat or something like that. It's more entertaining when it's little one-liners and stuff.

Same here.

"Scenes From A Hat" is great for one-liners, as are games like the one where everyone has a set amount of words they can say in a sentence. I like all of the out-of-game stuff as well though, like Greg teasing Drew all the time, as well as the time where Drew said, "The show where everything's made up and the points don't matter. That's right, the points don't matter, just like Canada."
Colin's face was so funny. 

[Reply #23 on:]

I've only watched the UK episodes, but I would always probably go for Ryan Stiles anyway 

Though my favourite line from the show was said during that round when the contestants stand in a line and step foward to say bizarre or random - or both - one-liners, and all that time Jonathan Pryce just stood there doing nothing until the end when he stepped forward and said "I just want to say I've actually said quite a lot during this round but they've all been cut out..."

[Reply #24 on:]

Colin and ryan carry the show, I think Colin is the funniest.

[Reply #25 on:]

 

 

Originally posted by Mango:

I mean, seriously, there is nothing more awesome than a bald guy from Canada.

Originally posted by Y_L_B:
 Indeed.   

 

Originally posted by Futurama_Hil:
...bald guys from Canada are what we need more of.

*Looks around*
Hey, I'm in Canada!
Feels head*
Aw, I'm not bald.
*Looks at family's genetics.*
I probalby will be in about 15 years, though!  Is that close eonugh?

Anyway, I'm voting Greg, because a) he's only got one vote so far, and b) he was the voice of the Harlequin in Nightmare Before Christmas.