Whose line one word

Whose Line Is It Anyway has always had a very dedicated and passionate fan base, amongst which there is one name that causes opinions to divide like they’re made of water and aquaphobic oil, Kathy Greenwood. Despite being one of the shows most popular female performers, she’s infamous for once spending an entire episode without saying a word.

If you’re not familar with Whose Line Is It Anyway, the basic idea of the show is that it’s entirely improvised by the performers taking part on the spot. For example, there’s a popular game on the show simply called “Props” during which performers have to improvise a scene or joke with an innocuous or random object. Like so.

In the time the show has been on air in the US and UK it has played host to some of the most respected improvisational comedians in the world including but not limited to: Greg Proops, Paul Merton, Eddie Izzard and Robin God-damn Williams.

This isn’t even mentioning that the show’s main-stay performers, Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie have been consistently voted as some of the finest and sharpest comedic minds in the business by critics and their peers. In other words, to appear on this show you have to be able to react faster than a mongoose fighting a cobra made of biceps and then make it funny to boot.

Appearing in 33 episodes of the show during its original run, Kathy Greenwood is statistically one of the most popular recurring guest stars Whose Line has ever had. However, there’s a small, but dedicate group of fans who don’t seem to agree and boy do they love talking about it, like in the comment section of this article published in 2013, 8 years after she last appeared on the show and 6 years after that run of the show was cancelled.

So why do fans hate her so much that the Whose Line wiki refer to her as “one of the worst guest-stars throughout the show’s run“? Well for the most part the hate seems to stem from the fact that Kathy is a woman who has the audacity to try to be funny, which is of course just awful. However, lost amongst the wealth of bilious venom is a single saline fact that kind of stands out, she once went an entire episode without saying anything.

As noted here, in the second episode of the fourth season, Kathy only directly appeared in games in which she didn’t need to speak with the exception of scenes from a hat, during which she failed to offer a single suggestion. Meaning throughout the entire episode, as far as we’re aware (the show’s often cut a lot of content from each episode due to time constraints) Kathy didn’t open her mouth once. What makes this more amusing is that Kathy actually “won” that particular episode, which if we’re honest only makes this fact more impressive.

We’re not saying Kathy is a bad comedian because she’s honest, pretty freaking hilarious, we’re just think it’s really interesting that there’s an episode of this show where a contestant won without speaking.

TEST 3 (Module 3)

V- 1

1. In each line choose one word that doesn’t belong to the group:

1)       hook, tentacle, tail, extinct;

2)       sharp, head, giant, horrifying;

3)       mythical, ape, squid, hedgehog;

4)       humped back, short neck, snake-like head, survive.

2. Complete the sentences.

giants, horrifying, extinct, illusion, sightings

1)    Two fisherman reported …  of a strange ten-legged creature in the lake yesterday.

2)    Did the magician really make the man disappear or was it just an optical …?

3)    We’ve all heard well-known stories about mythical … .

4)    The Kraken is a … deep-sea monster.

5)    People thought the coelacanth was a(n) … species of fish, until a fisherman caught one in 1938.

3. Choose the correct answer.

1)    This time last week we were lying / lied on a beach.

2)    After Bill had mown / had been mowing the lawn, he collected the grass cuttings for compost.

3)    The research team found / was founding an unusual fossil and took it back to the lab to examine it.

4)    Sandra had been painting / had painted for three years before she sold her first painting.

5)    Claire was driving / drove along a country road when a huge creature came out of nowhere and fell onto her car.

6)    Jim hadn’t finished / had been finishing all his homework by the time he went to bed.

7)    Benjamin gasped / was gasping in horror when he saw the ghostly figure.

4. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)          Susan may / must be at the photographic exhibition, but I’m not sure.

2)          The magician’s assistant hasn’t truly disappeared; our eyes may / must be laying tricks on us!

3)          It can’t / may be a coincidence, but isn’t it strange that I was thinking about John at the exact moment he called me?

4)          The style of that painting must / may be Cubism, because the artist has used square and rectangular shapes.

5)          Our house can’t / may be haunted; we’ve lived here for years and we’ve never seen or heard anything unusual going on.

6)          You may not/ can’t have seen a ghost. They’re not real!

5. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    In the past, my sister used to make / use to made fun of Surrealist paintings, but now she loves them.

2)    When I was still at school, I would read / would to read a new ghost story every week.

3)    James used to believe / use to believe in ghosts when he was a child.

4)    Eleanor’s parents never used to buy / used to bought her books about monsters when she was a child.

5)    Sally would to visit / would visit her grandparents quite often when she still lived in London.

6. Choose the correct preposition.

1)          Sue thought about / of a good idea to raise money.

2)          Will knew from / of experience not to walk though the woods at night.

3)          They succeeded in / at working out the answer.

4)          Jack was nervous about / in camping in the forest.

5)          Have you heard of / from Bigfoot?

7. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    Eve came up / came across with a great idea for a story.

2)    Dave came across / came over a secret passage in the castle.

3)    Lee feels ill. He must be coming down / coming up with the flu.

4)    A strange feeling came over/ came down me as a walked home.

5)    I can’t wait for Spielberg’s new film to come out / came up.

TEST 3 (Module 3)

V- 1

1. In each line choose one word that doesn’t belong to the group:

1)       hook, tentacle, tail, extinct;

2)       sharp, head, giant, horrifying;

3)       mythical, ape, squid, hedgehog;

4)       humped back, short neck, snake-like head, survive.

2. Complete the sentences.

giants, horrifying, extinct, illusion, sightings

1)    Two fisherman reported …  of a strange ten-legged creature in the lake yesterday.

2)    Did the magician really make the man disappear or was it just an optical …?

3)    We’ve all heard well-known stories about mythical … .

4)    The Kraken is a … deep-sea monster.

5)    People thought the coelacanth was a(n) … species of fish, until a fisherman caught one in 1938.

3. Choose the correct answer.

1)    This time last week we were lying / lied on a beach.

2)    After Bill had mown / had been mowing the lawn, he collected the grass cuttings for compost.

3)    The research team found / was founding an unusual fossil and took it back to the lab to examine it.

4)    Sandra had been painting / had painted for three years before she sold her first painting.

5)    Claire was driving / drove along a country road when a huge creature came out of nowhere and fell onto her car.

6)    Jim hadn’t finished / had been finishing all his homework by the time he went to bed.

7)    Benjamin gasped / was gasping in horror when he saw the ghostly figure.

4. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)          Susan may / must be at the photographic exhibition, but I’m not sure.

2)          The magician’s assistant hasn’t truly disappeared; our eyes may / must be laying tricks on us!

3)          It can’t / may be a coincidence, but isn’t it strange that I was thinking about John at the exact moment he called me?

4)          The style of that painting must / may be Cubism, because the artist has used square and rectangular shapes.

5)          Our house can’t / may be haunted; we’ve lived here for years and we’ve never seen or heard anything unusual going on.

6)          You may not/ can’t have seen a ghost. They’re not real!

5. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    In the past, my sister used to make / use to made fun of Surrealist paintings, but now she loves them.

2)    When I was still at school, I would read / would to read a new ghost story every week.

3)    James used to believe / use to believe in ghosts when he was a child.

4)    Eleanor’s parents never used to buy / used to bought her books about monsters when she was a child.

5)    Sally would to visit / would visit her grandparents quite often when she still lived in London.

6. Choose the correct preposition.

1)          Sue thought about / of a good idea to raise money.

2)          Will knew from / of experience not to walk though the woods at night.

3)          They succeeded in / at working out the answer.

4)          Jack was nervous about / in camping in the forest.

5)          Have you heard of / from Bigfoot?

7. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    Eve came up / came across with a great idea for a story.

2)    Dave came across / came over a secret passage in the castle.

3)    Lee feels ill. He must be coming down / coming up with the flu.

4)    A strange feeling came over/ came down me as a walked home.

5)    I can’t wait for Spielberg’s new film to come out / came up.

TEST 3 (Module 3)

V- 2

1. In each line choose one word that doesn’t belong to the group:

5)       mythical, ape, squid, hedgehog;

6)       humped back, short neck, snake-like head, survive;

7)       hook, tentacle, tail, extinct;

       sharp, head, giant, horrifying.

2. Complete the sentences.

giants, fantasy, humped, illusion, sightings

6)    Nessie has a long neck and a … back.

7)    … of strange creature have been reported by people all over the world.

    We’ve all heard well-known stories about mythical … .

9)    Garry really lives in a(n) … world !He believes that he will be   the one who will take pictures of Bigfoot first!

10)           People who see one picture inside another are experiencing an optical … .

3. Choose the correct answer.

    We were walking / walked for an hour when it started to rain.

9)    I didn’t sleep well last night because I was warring / worried about my exam.

10)           Paul didn’t watch / wasn’t watching a DVD yesterday.

11)           Wendy had been cooking / had cooked dinner for over two hours before the guests arrived.

12)           While Lisa was reading / read a book, her brother was listening to music.

13)           It was the first time that Elizabeth had ever seen / had ever been seeing pictures of Bigfoot.

14)           Alex didn’t go to the photographic exhibition because he had not finished / had hot been finishing his homework.

4. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

7)          The style of that painting must / may be Cubism, because the artist has used square and rectangular shapes.

          Our house can’t / may be haunted; we’ve lived here for years and we’ve never seen or heard anything unusual going on.

9)          You may not/ can’t have seen a ghost. They’re not real!

10)      Susan may / must be at the photographic exhibition, but I’m not sure.

11)      The magician’s assistant hasn’t truly disappeared; our eyes may / must be laying tricks on us!

12)      It can’t / may be a coincidence, but isn’t it strange that I was thinking about John at the exact moment he called me?

5. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

6)    Eleanor’s parents never used to buy / used to bought her books about monsters when she was a child.

7)    Sally would to visit / would visit her grandparents quite often when she still lived in London.

    In the past, my sister used to make / use to made fun of Surrealist paintings, but now she loves them.

9)    When I was still at school, I would read / would to read a new ghost story every week.

10)           James used to believe / use to believe in ghosts when he was a child.

6. Choose the correct preposition.

6)          Jack was nervous about / in camping in the forest.

7)          Have you heard of / from Bigfoot?

          Sue thought about / of a good idea to raise money.

9)          Will knew from / of experience not to walk though the woods at night.

10)      They succeeded in / at working out the answer.

7. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    A strange feeling came over/ came down me as a walked home.

2)    I can’t wait for Spielberg’s new film to come out / came up.

3)    Eve came up / came across with a great idea for a story.

4)    Dave came across / came over a secret passage in the castle.

5)    Lee feels ill. He must be coming down / coming up with the flu.

TEST 3 (Module 3)

V- 3

1. In each line choose one word that doesn’t belong to the group:

9)       hook, tentacle, tail, extinct;

10)  humped back, short neck, snake-like head, survive;

11)  sharp, head, giant, horrifying;

12)  mythical, ape, squid, hedgehog.

2. Complete the sentences.

giant, mind, mysterious, violent, imagination

11)           Jonathan’s vivid … is what makes him able to write spine-chilling (страшный, ужасный) ghost stories.

12)           According (В зависимости) to Norwegian legend, the Kraken was a(n)  …monster that lived in the sea.

13)           Eric has a brilliant …; he’s sure to become a famous scientist one day.

14)           The old castle had a dark, … corridor leading to the dungeons(темницы) below.

15)           The Kraken would create a … whirlpool to pull ships down to the bottom of the sea.

3. Choose the correct answer.

15)           Kate was bored because she hadn’t gone out / hadn’t been going out all weekend.

16)           John was washing / washed the car when it started to rain.

17)           Benjamin gasped / was gasping in horror when he saw the ghostly figure.

18)           Daniel felt ill last night because he  had eaten / had been eating the lawn, he collected the grass cuttings for compost.

19)           The research team found / was founding an unusual fossil and took it back to the lab to examine it.

20)           Sandra had been painting / had painted for three years before she sold her first painting.

21)           Claire was driving / drove along a country road when a huge creature came out of nowhere and fell onto her car.

4. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

13)      Susan may / must be at the photographic exhibition, but I’m not sure.

14)      The magician’s assistant hasn’t truly disappeared; our eyes may / must be laying tricks on us!

15)      Our house can’t / may be haunted; we’ve lived here for years and we’ve never seen or heard anything unusual going on.

16)      You may not/ can’t have seen a ghost. They’re not real!

17)      It can’t / may be a coincidence, but isn’t it strange that I was thinking about John at the exact moment he called me?

18)      The style of that painting must / may be Cubism, because the artist has used square and rectangular shapes.

5. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

11)           In the past, my sister used to make / use to made fun of Surrealist paintings, but now she loves them.

12)           Sally would to visit / would visit her grandparents quite often when she still lived in London.

13)           When I was still at school, I would read / would to read a new ghost story every week.

14)           James used to believe / use to believe in ghosts when he was a child.

15)           Eleanor’s parents never used to buy / used to bought her books about monsters when she was a child.

6. Choose the correct preposition.

11)      Sue thought about / of a good idea to raise money.

12)      Will knew from / of experience not to walk though the woods at night.

13)      Have you heard of / from Bigfoot?

14)      They succeeded in / at working out the answer.

15)      Jack was nervous about / in camping in the forest.

7. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    Eve came up / came across with a great idea for a story.

2)    A strange feeling came over/ came down me as a walked home.

3)    I can’t wait for Spielberg’s new film to come out / came up.

4)    Dave came across / came over a secret passage in the castle.

5)    Lee feels ill. He must be coming down / coming up with the flu.

TEST 3 (Module 3)

V- 4

1. In each line choose one word that doesn’t belong to the group:

13)  humped back, short neck, snake-like head, survive;

14)  hook, tentacle, tail, extinct;

15)  sharp, head, giant, horrifying;

16)  mythical, ape, squid, hedgehog.

2. Complete the sentences.

mythical, survived, horrifying, illusion, sights

16)           Did the magician really make the man disappear or was it just an optical … ?

17)           Andrew’s nightmare was absolutely …; he dreamt that a three-headed monster was approaching him, but he couldn’t move.

18)           Old castle are very popular … in Britain.

19)           Can you imagine what would happen if a dinosaur someone … and was still alive today?

20)           Every culture has stories of … creatures.

3. Choose the correct answer.

22)           While Lisa was reading / read a book, her brother was listening to music.

23)           It was the first time that Elizabeth had ever seen / had ever been seeing pictures of Bigfoot.

24)           Benjamin gasped / was gasping in horror when he saw the ghostly figure.

25)           This time last week we were lying / lied on a beach.

26)           After Bill had mown / had been mowing the lawn, he collected the grass cuttings for compost.

27)           The research team found / was founding an unusual fossil and took it back to the lab to examine it.

28)           Sandra had been painting / had painted for three years before she sold her first painting.

4. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

19)      Our house can’t / may be haunted; we’ve lived here for years and we’ve never seen or heard anything unusual going on.

20)      You may not/ can’t have seen a ghost. They’re not real!

21)      Susan may / must be at the photographic exhibition, but I’m not sure.

22)      The magician’s assistant hasn’t truly disappeared; our eyes may / must be laying tricks on us!

23)      It can’t / may be a coincidence, but isn’t it strange that I was thinking about John at the exact moment he called me?

24)      The style of that painting must / may be Cubism, because the artist has used square and rectangular shapes.

5. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

16)           Eleanor’s parents never used to buy / used to bought her books about monsters when she was a child.

17)           Sally would to visit / would visit her grandparents quite often when she still lived in London.

18)           In the past, my sister used to make / use to made fun of Surrealist paintings, but now she loves them.

19)           When I was still at school, I would read / would to read a new ghost story every week.

20)           James used to believe / use to believe in ghosts when he was a child.

6. Choose the correct preposition.

16)      Jack was nervous about / in camping in the forest.

17)      Have you heard of / from Bigfoot?

18)      Sue thought about / of a good idea to raise money.

19)      Will knew from / of experience not to walk though the woods at night.

20)      They succeeded in / at working out the answer.

7. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    A strange feeling came over/ came down me as a walked home.

2)    I can’t wait for Spielberg’s new film to come out / came up.

3)    Eve came up / came across with a great idea for a story.

4)    Dave came across / came over a secret passage in the castle.

5)    Lee feels ill. He must be coming down / coming up with the flu.

TEST 3 (Module 3)

V- 5

1. In each line choose one word that doesn’t belong to the group:

17)  mythical, ape, squid, hedgehog;

18)  hook, tentacle, tail, extinct;

19)  sharp, head, giant, horrifying;

20)  humped back, short neck, snake-like head, survive.

2. Complete the sentences.

glanced, violent, glaring, staring, existed

21)           Although many people say they have seen Bigfoot, there are no fossil remains that prove the creature ever … .

22)           When Richard and Ian heard the angry shouts they … around the room to see where they were coming from.

23)           Last night I dreamt that a … whirlpool was pulling me to the bottom of the ocean.

24)           Why are you … at Stewart so angrily? Has he done something wrong?

25)           Rosie couldn’t stop … at the beautiful reendow, as it was the first time she had ever seen one.

3. Choose the correct answer.

29)           Daniel felt ill last night because he  had eaten / had been eating the lawn, he collected the grass cuttings for compost.

30)           After Bill had mown / had been mowing the lawn, he collected the grass cuttings for compost.

31)           Kate was bored because she hadn’t gone out / hadn’t been going out all weekend.

32)           John was washing / washed the car when it started to rain.

33)           Claire was driving / drove along a country road when a huge creature came out of nowhere and fell onto her car.

34)           Jim hadn’t finished / had been finishing all his homework by the time he went to bed.

35)           Benjamin gasped / was gasping in horror when he saw the ghostly figure.

4. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

25)      It can’t / may be a coincidence, but isn’t it strange that I was thinking about John at the exact moment he called me?

26)      The style of that painting must / may be Cubism, because the artist has used square and rectangular shapes.

27)      Susan may / must be at the photographic exhibition, but I’m not sure.

28)      The magician’s assistant hasn’t truly disappeared; our eyes may / must be laying tricks on us!

29)      Our house can’t / may be haunted; we’ve lived here for years and we’ve never seen or heard anything unusual going on.

30)      You may not/ can’t have seen a ghost. They’re not real!

5. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

21)           James used to believe / use to believe in ghosts when he was a child.

22)           Eleanor’s parents never used to buy / used to bought her books about monsters when she was a child.

23)           In the past, my sister used to make / use to made fun of Surrealist paintings, but now she loves them.

24)           When I was still at school, I would read / would to read a new ghost story every week.

25)           Sally would to visit / would visit her grandparents quite often when she still lived in London.

6. Choose the correct preposition.

21)      Will knew from / of experience not to walk though the woods at night.

22)      They succeeded in / at working out the answer.

23)      Sue thought about / of a good idea to raise money.

24)      Jack was nervous about / in camping in the forest.

25)      Have you heard of / from Bigfoot?

7. Choose the correct words in the sentences.

1)    Dave came across / came over a secret passage in the castle.

2)    Lee feels ill. He must be coming down / coming up with the flu.

3)    Eve came up / came across with a great idea for a story.

4)    A strange feeling came over/ came down me as a walked home.

5)    I can’t wait for Spielberg’s new film to come out / came up.

V-1	V-2	V-3	V-4	V-5
№1
21)    extinct; 22)    head; 23)    mythical; 24)    survive.	1)        mythical; 2)        survive; 3)        extinct; 4)        head.	1)        extinct; 2)        survive; 3)        head; 4)        mythical.	1)        survive. 2)        extinct; 3)        head; 4)        mythical.	1)        mythical; 2)        extinct; 3)        head; 4)        survive.
№2
1) sightings 2) illusion 3) giants 4) horrifying 5) extinct	1) humped 2) sightings 3) giants 4) fantasy 5) illusion	1) imagination 2) giant 3) mind 4) mysterious 5) violent	1) illusion 2) horrifying 3) sights 4) survived 5) mythical	1) existed 2) glanced 3) violent 4) glaring 5) staring
№3
1) were lying  2) had mown  3) found 4) had been painting 5) was driving 6) hadn’t finished  7) gasped	1) were walking  2) was worrying  3) didn’t watch  4) had been cooking  5) was reading 6) had ever seen 7) had not finished	1) hadn’t gone out  2) was washing  3) gasped 4) had been eating  5) found 6) had been painting 7) was driving	1) was reading 2) had ever seen 3) gasped 4) were lying  5) had mown  6) found 7) had been painting	1) were lying  2) had been eating  3) had mown  4) was washing  5) was driving 6) had not finished 7) gasped
№4
1) may 2) must 3) may 4) must 5) can’t 6) can’t	1) must 2) can’t 3) can’t 4) may 5) must 6) may	1) may 2) must 3) can’t 4) can’t 5) may 6) must	1) can’t 2) can’t 3) may 4) must 5) may 6) must	1) may 2) must 3) may 4) must 5) can’t 6) can’t
№5
1) used to make 2) would read 3) used to believe 4) used to buy 5) would to visit	1) used to buy 2) would to visit 3) used to make 4) would read 5) used to believe	1) used to make 2) would to visit 3) would read 4) used to believe 5) used to buy	1) used to buy 2) would to visit 3) used to make 4) would read 5) used to believe	1) used to believe 2) used to buy 3) used to make 4) would read 5) would to visit
№6
1) of 2) from 3) in 4) about 5) of	1) about 2) of 3) of 4) from 5) in	1) of 2) from 3) of 4) in 5) about	1) about 2) of 3) of 4) from 5) in	1) from 2) in 3) of 4) about 5) of
№7
1) came up 2) came across 3) coming down 4) came over 5) come out	1) came over 2) come out 3) came up 4) came across 5) coming down	1) came up 2) came over 3) come out 4) came across 5) coming down	1) came over 2) come out 3) came up 4) came across 5) coming down	1) came across 2) coming down 3) came up 4) came over 5) come out
	«5» 35- 37 points	«5» 32- 37 points
	«4» 28-34 points	«4» 24-31 points
	«3» 19-27 points	«3» 15-23 points
	«2» 18  … points	«2» 14  … points

МБОУ «Школа №9»

Журнал

регистрации и контроля

ультрафиолетовой и бактерицидной

установки

Кабинет: 44

Ответственный: Хныкина О.Г.

I have a file containing rows of strings like this:

uh-g+n uh-g+b
uh-g g
uh-g+r
g+n
uh-g+s g
sh-n+b
sh-n+d
n+d sh-n+d
g-n+d sh-n+d

I have a list of strings I am searching for, such as

set pats = (g+n sh-n+b n+d)

For each string, I want to find the line whose first «word» matches the string, and append that line to another file.

As you can see…

• The strings to match are in variables

• The strings may or may not contain special leading characters such as «-«

• Lines may contain the string as a first of two words, or in isolation

• The string may be a substring of a longer string containing special leading characters

• The string may the second word or part of the second word (which should not be a match)

It has been an unexpected challenge to find the right combination of things to do with grep to make this work!

Here’s an example of something simple to try that doesn’t work (assuming rows listed above are in file in.txt.

#!/bin/tcsh

set pats = (g+n sh-n+b n+d)

foreach pat ($pats)

   grep -w $pat in.txt >> out.txt

end

In this case, out.txt looks like this:

uh-g+n uh-g+b
g+n
sh-n+b
sh-n+d
n+d sh-n+d
g-n+d sh-n+d
uh-g+n uh-g+b
g+n
sh-n+b
sh-n+d
n+d sh-n+d
g-n+d sh-n+d

But what I want is this:

g+n
sh-n+b
n+d sh-n+d

Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Dan Patterson Mark Leveson
Presented by	Drew Carey Aisha Tyler
Starring	Ryan Stiles Colin Mochrie Wayne Brady
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	20
No. of episodes	395 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Hat Trick Productions Warner Bros. Television (seasons 1–8) Angst Productions Warner Horizon Television (season 9–present)
Release
Original network	ABC (1998–2004) ABC Family (2005–2007) The CW (2013–present)
Picture format	HDTV 1080i (The CW)
Original release	August 5, 1998 – present
Related
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (British TV series)

Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes shortened to Whose Line? or WLIIA) is an American improvisational comedy television series, and is an adaptation of the British series of the same name. It originally aired on ABC and ABC Family from August 5, 1998 to December 15, 2007, hosted by Drew Carey. A revival of the show, hosted by Aisha Tyler, began airing on The CW on July 16, 2013.

The series features Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady as its regular performers with the fourth seat occupied by a guest panelist.^[1] Performers are sometimes assisted by another guest star.

The nineteenth season premiered in October 2022, and the twentieth season premiered in March 2023.

Format[edit]

The show consists of a panel of four performers who create characters, scenes, and songs on the spot, in the style of short-form improvisation games. Topics for the games are based on either audience suggestions or predetermined prompts from the host, who would set up a game and situation that the performers would improvise.^[2] The original host Drew Carey awarded arbitrary point values after each game, often citing a humorous reason for his decision. The points were purely decorative and served no practical purpose. He would reiterate this at the beginning of, and multiple times throughout, each episode by describing Whose Line as «the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter». The style of the games were varied (see Games, below). Some featured all four performers, while others featured fewer. Between games, the performers sat in four chairs facing the audience. The performers who were not involved in a game remained in their seats. Additionally, the show was marked by humorous banter among the performers and host.

At the conclusion of each episode, a winner or several winners were chosen arbitrarily by Carey. The «prize» was either to play a game with the host, or to sit out while the other performers did so. After this game during the first season of the series, credits simply rolled under the show’s theme. In the second season, the reading of the credits was performed by one or more cast members in a comedic fashion, based on a theme announced by Carey that often derived from a successful joke earlier in the show.

The show’s «short-form» approach to improv received criticism from some improv actors.^[who?] Performer Colin Mochrie has stated the show was never intended to be the «be-all and end-all» of improv, but that it was meant to introduce improv to the masses.^[3]

Performers/players[edit]

Whose Line Is It Anyway? features four performers, two of whom, Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles, were featured prominently in the UK original. Another performer who made frequent, recurring appearances was Wayne Brady. During his tenure as host, Drew Carey also took part, though only in one game, after one of the performers was declared the «winner» and allowed to take his place at his desk in the studio; host Aisha Tyler does not take part in games, but occasionally joins in for quick scenes on different games (mostly Scenes from a Hat).

Alongside Mochrie and Stiles, other veterans of the UK series who appeared on the U.S. version included Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, and Chip Esten. The U.S. version introduced several newcomers that took part, including Denny Siegel, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Patrick Bristow, Stephen Colbert, Kathy Kinney, and Ian Gomez, though mainly in the early seasons of the show. Unlike the UK original, the US version occasionally featured a celebrity guest performer, such as Robin Williams, Kathy Griffin, and Whoopi Goldberg, while on other occasions, a celebrity made a guest appearance for individual games; such appearances have included Sid Caesar,^[4][5] David Hasselhoff, Florence Henderson, Jerry Springer, Joanie «Chyna» Laurer, Richard Simmons, Katie Harman, Jayne Trcka,^{[citation needed]} the Loyola Marymount University cheerleaders, Hugh Hefner, and Lassie.^[4][5] Celebrity guests became a regular feature of the show beginning with season nine.

Improvisational musician Laura Hall, who appeared in the final season of the UK original, joined the original U.S. format for its entire run and performed piano and keyboards in games featuring improvisational singing by the cast members. Hall, originally from Chicago, gained valuable experience for Whose Line? by performing as a pianist for various theater and improvisational companies including The Second City and the Improv Institute. From the second season onward, other musicians joined Hall – Linda Taylor made frequent appearances playing guitar and occasionally keyboards, while Cece Worrall-Rubin, Anne King, Candy Girard, and Anna Wanselius appeared alongside Hall (and sometimes also Taylor) on occasion.

Games[edit]

The number and type of games played varied from episode to episode, yet while some games became more common over time, others faded from use. Some games are based on traditional improv games, with a considerable number brought over from the UK original, including Scenes from a Hat, Greatest Hits, Props, Hoedown, Helping Hands, Questions Only and Party Quirks. Others were new and uniquely created for both the U.S. original format, and the revived show, with several only being played once or twice, due either to the games not having been well received by audiences, or to Stiles’ reluctance to perform certain rounds. There are eight games that have been performed at least once in every season; these are Scenes from a Hat, Greatest Hits, Props, Let’s Make a Date, Weird Newscasters, Duet, Helping Hands, and Questions Only.

All games are designed to test the performers’ improvisational comedy skills, with some games requiring the host to ask the studio audience for suggestions for specific topics or situations, while at other times these suggestions were written by the production staff, or submitted by the audience in advance, and chosen from among these. In addition, the host would control a buzzer that would signify the end of most games, or the end of individual sections of rapid-fire games such as «Scenes from a Hat».

In addition to being tested on their comedy skills in improv games, the performers are also tested on other skills, such as singing, dancing, or impressions, as Whose Line features a number of musical games, with one or more of the show’s resident musicians playing live backing music for them, except on a few occasions when pre-recorded music was also used. Although they had no bad feelings about these sort of games, many of the performers disliked them.^[6] While Wayne Brady turned out to be well suited to them, having Chip Esten, Jeff Davis, Brad Sherwood and Gary Anthony Williams making frequent appearances as his duet partner, Stiles frequently expressed open disdain towards the «Hoedown» game, which became a bit of a running gag, while Mochrie, who cannot sing, mainly preferred to deliver his lines in a spoken word fashion, much like in the UK original.

History[edit]

Whose Line Is It Anyway? was created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson in 1988 as a radio show on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom. This early incarnation of the show is notable as being the origin of its tradition of having the performers read the credits in an amusing style; as it was a radio show, it was necessary for somebody to read the credits, and it was decided that it might as well be done as part of the program, rather than being done by a traditional BBC Radio announcer. This approach to reading credits was pioneered by the earlier BBC radio show I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again. Indeed, the title of the show itself is a comedic riposte to another radio show, What’s My Line, merged with the title of a 1972 teleplay (and eventual theatrical play) Whose Life Is It Anyway?.

The radio series lasted for six episodes, after which Channel 4 developed the franchise for television.
The British television version lasted for a total of 10 seasons, with 136 episodes, all of which were hosted by Clive Anderson. Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles, who would later star in the U.S. version, became regular cast members in the seventh and eighth seasons.

The format of the American version was very similar to the British program. A major difference was Carey’s use of the game-show facade, explicitly stating at the start of each episode that «the points don’t matter,» and sometimes emphasizing this throughout the episodes. The difference in standards in the UK compared to U.S. prime time meant stricter censoring of both language and content on the U.S. series.

Production of the American version was canceled by ABC in 2003 because of low ratings, with already-produced episodes airing first-run into 2004. The ABC Family cable channel, which had been airing repeats of the show since 2002, also showed «new» episodes from January 2005 to December 2007, formed from previously filmed but unaired performances.^[7]

Hiatus[edit]

Following the cancellation, Drew Carey went on to create the short-lived Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show, which premiered in 2004 on The WB. The series was very similar to Whose Line?, and featured many of the same cast. The major gimmick on that series was that the acting was done in front of a green screen, and animators later added cartoon imagery to the scenes.

Carey and several cast members also started touring North America with a live-action show called (Drew Carey’s) Improv All-Stars. The show was a live stage show similar to Whose Line?, and featuring many of the same games, though also with some new ones. The live shows started in 2003, and since 2006, are only seen on occasion, mostly due to Carey’s current television obligations.^[8] Colin Mochrie, Brad Sherwood and Drew Carey performed at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal as «Improv All-Stars» in 2003 and 2004. Since 2005, Mochrie and Sherwood have toured semi-regularly as An Evening With Colin and Brad.^[9]

The show was recorded on Stage 29 at Paramount Studios.^[10]

Greg Proops and Ryan Stiles presented Stiles & Proops Unplanned, a live improv comedy show based on the successful Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned format that took place at Centaur Theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in July 2008. They also tour with former co-star Jeff Davis under the name Whose Live Anyway? doing live improv. Proops appeared as Max Madigan on Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP, and is currently hosting Head Games on The Science Channel and was the host of «Odd News» segments for Yahoo! (now called Broken News Daily) while Esten has made multiple appearances in various TV series including The Office, ER (also produced by Warner Bros.) and Big Love and guest-starred in Enlightened. In 2007, Mochrie was host of a five-episode run of Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader? on Global TV in Canada.

Carey, Stiles, Brady, and Esten were all later employed by American television network CBS; Carey succeeded Bob Barker as the host of the long-running game show The Price Is Right (after a short stint as host of another game show, Power of 10). In addition, Sherwood and Davis served as guest announcers for the 2010–11 season of The Price Is Right, after the departure of Rich Fields, who was eventually replaced by George Gray. Stiles appeared as a supporting character on the sitcom Two and a Half Men. Esten had a recurring role on The New Adventures of Old Christine and made a guest appearance in NCIS: Los Angeles, before moving to star in the ABC drama Nashville.

Brady had a summer variety show on ABC in 2001, The Wayne Brady Show and then hosted a daytime talk show of the same name for two seasons, starting in September 2002. He also was the host of Fox’s Don’t Forget the Lyrics. In 2007, he made a guest appearance in one episode of 30 Rock, and has made several appearances on How I Met Your Mother as Barney Stinson’s brother. He also had a couple of guest appearances on Chappelle’s Show. Since October 5, 2009, Brady has been the host of CBS’ revival of the classic game show Let’s Make a Deal. Featuring Jonathan Mangum as announcer and co-host, this new iteration utilized some classic elements of improv from Whose Line, most notably Brady’s singing and comedic abilities, occasionally breaking out into spontaneous musical improv in front of or involving contestants, and not being a stipulated aspect of the particular game to be played. As of 2009, every main Whose Line participant has hosted at least one game show except Ryan Stiles.

On November 18, 2010, Variety announced that Drew Carey would host a primetime improv show on GSN.^[11] The series, entitled Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza, debuted on April 11, 2011, and featured most of the Whose Line regular cast before ending in June 2011; Rich Fields was the announcer for the series. It lasted one season.

On July 10, 2012, ABC premiered a new improv comedy series featuring several of the Whose Line alumni called Trust Us With Your Life. The players included Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, Greg Proops, Jonathan Mangum, and Nicole Parker.^[12] On July 30, however, after only six episodes had aired, ABC pulled the remaining episodes after its host Fred Willard was arrested on a lewd-conduct charge at the Tiki Theater, an adult movie theater in Hollywood, California.^[13]

In February 2013, Ryan Stiles revealed in an interview that he would be returning to Los Angeles in April for a new season of Whose Line, hosted by Aisha Tyler and featuring the original cast of the U.S. version.^[14] The revival was later officially announced on March 1, 2013.^[15]

CW revival[edit]

Whose Line Is It Anyway? returned to television, this time on The CW, with Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, and Wayne Brady all returning, with Aisha Tyler taking the role of the host (Brady also continued to host Let’s Make a Deal at the time).^[16] In addition to the traditional rotating fourth improv player (often drawn from same pool of regulars that appeared on the original show), a new feature was that of a «special guest». This fifth player would not necessarily have an improv background, but would still participate in some of the improv games.

The initial 2013 summer run was made up of twelve half-hour episodes with the three veteran players joined by a featured player, along with a different special guest for each episode who would play in some of the games.^[17][18]

On July 29, 2013, The CW announced that it had renewed the show for a 24-episode season, airing Fridays at 8 ET/PT starting March 21, 2014,^[19][20] due to solid ratings. Illness prevented Stiles from appearing in two season 10 episodes, the first Whose Line shows he had missed in nearly 20 years, dating back to the original British series. Frequent guest Greg Proops filled in for Stiles on these occasions.

On July 18, 2014, The CW announced that the show would be returning for a 24-episode eleventh season (and third season on The CW) that started airing on April 17, 2015.^[21] On August 11, 2015, the series was renewed for a twelfth season (fourth on The CW) to start airing May 23, 2016.^[22] On October 24, 2016, The CW renewed the show for a thirteenth season (fifth season on The CW) to start airing May 29, 2017.^[23] On October 26, 2017, The CW renewed the show for a fourteenth season (sixth on the CW).^[24] The first two episodes aired June 4, 2018.^[25] On October 9, 2018, The CW renewed the show for a fifteenth season (seventh on the CW) that began airing June 17, 2019.^[26] The CW renewed the show for a 16th season, with new episodes airing since March 30, 2020 in order to fill the void left by TV series affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[27] On May 14, 2020, The CW renewed the series for a seventeenth season that began airing in January 2021.^[28] On May 25, 2021, The CW renewed the series for an eighteenth season,^[29] which premiered on October 9, 2021.^[30] On May 19, 2022, it was announced that the series was renewed for a nineteenth season, which premiered on October 14, 2022.^[31] On January 23, 2023, it was announced that the twentieth season will premiere on March 31, 2023.^[32]

Potential ending[edit]

On November 4, 2022, regular performer Mochrie announced that the show would film its final season in January 2023.^[33][34] After the CW stated that this was inaccurate as no decision had been made yet, Mochrie clarified his comments in a February 2023 interview, saying that the cast never received fair compensation nor were paid residuals. He also said how producers and cast members referred to it as their last season, and that if the show continues afterwards, it, «probably won’t be with this cast». Mochrie also voiced displeasure regarding the show’s minimal publicizing, saying that they did most of the publicizing on their own social media.^[35][36]

Performers[edit]

Several of the performers, including the three regulars Brady, Mochrie and Stiles, had previously appeared in the original UK run of Whose Line; other performers who had made appearances in the British version are Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Chip Esten, Karen Maruyama and Josie Lawrence, as well as musician Laura Hall. Mochrie and Stiles have been regulars since the show started airing in the States, whilst Brady became a regular from season two to seven, and from season nine onwards, appearing as a recurring performer in seasons 1 and 8. Mochrie is the only performer to have appeared in every episode of the U.S. series of Whose Line?, with Stiles having missed two recordings due to illness. Greg Proops is the most prolific recurring performer, having appeared in 76 episodes, with Brad Sherwood not far behind with 71 appearances.

The show also included occasional guest fourth chairs during the first 8 seasons, each appearing in only one or two episodes, such as Stephen Colbert, Drew Carey Show performer Kathy Kinney, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. After the 2013 revival on the CW, celebrity guests appeared far more frequently, although only generally as an alternative to audience members in games such as Helping Hands or Living Scenery; such special guest stars have included Verne Troyer, Penn & Teller, Bill Nye and Alfonso Ribeiro. Occasionally more musically inclined guests, like Christopher Jackson, and David Hasselhoff, also partook in singing games.

The original host of the U.S. show was Drew Carey, who appeared in every episode of seasons one through eight. Carey notably took more of an active role in the show than his predecessor Clive Anderson, as following the announcement of the «winner» of each show, Carey would perform a game with the other performers. After the CW revival in 2013, Aisha Tyler took over as host, as Carey was the host of The Price is Right, which ran at the same time as Whose Line; Carey is mentioned numerous times by Tyler and the other performers, however. Unlike Carey, Tyler does not perform full games with the other performers; nonetheless, she does occasionally interject in quick fire games such as Scenes from a Hat with her own suggestions or to help another performer with their scene. Tyler has also surpassed Carey in tenure, although Carey hosted more episodes of the show.

Improvisational musician Laura Hall, who appeared in the final season of the UK original, joined the original U.S. format for its entire run, and performed piano, keyboards and other instruments in games featuring improvisational singing by the cast members, such as Hoedown, Greatest Hits and Songstyles.

Main[edit]

Series overview[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Refs
2001	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program	Wayne Brady	Nominated	[37]
Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video for a Series	Ted Ashton, Sam Drummy, Larry Heider, Bob Keys, John O’Brien, John Pritchett, Brian Reason, Easter Xua, Brad Zerbst	Nominated	[37]
2002	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program	Ryan Stiles	Nominated	[37]
Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program	Wayne Brady	Nominated	[37]
2003	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program	Wayne Brady	Won	[37][38]

International broadcast[edit]

The U.S. version of Whose Line? has been broadcast in the UK, originally on Channel 4. Challenge was the first non-terrestrial channel to broadcast the show for a brief period in 2005. From 2007 to 2012, 5USA aired the show. Since February 2021, Dave has also broadcast the show. It is also available on its on-demand service UKTV Play starting from season eleven onwards, marketed as series three of the revival.^[39] Several series of the show are also available on Amazon Prime Video.^[40][41]

In Canada, the show also ran on the CTV network from 1998 to 2003, and then on The Comedy Network from 2003 onwards.

The show’s original run in Australia was on the Nine Network in an early morning time slot; One repeated the program from 2011. It also airs on The Comedy Channel. ABC has also aired the CW revival of the show on ABC Comedy.

Home media[edit]

The first DVD, Season 1, Volume 1, of the U.S. version of Whose Line? was released on September 26, 2006. It comes in «censored» or «uncensored» versions. Both releases include the first ten episodes of the first season, with the episodes being the same on either version.^[42] The first seven episodes have had their original theme music (including all credits and ad bumpers) replaced with the version used for the rest of the episodes. Warner Home Video released Season 1, Volume 2 on October 9, 2007, but only in an «uncensored» version.^[43]

Warner Home Video released a two-disc «best of» compilation with ten episodes on June 9, 2009. Featured in this release were celebrity guest episodes including appearances by David Hasselhoff, Florence Henderson, Jerry Springer, Richard Simmons and bodybuilder Jayne Trcka, along with the hour-long «Best of Whose Line» compilation episode aired at the beginning of season three.^[44]

Of the 219 episodes from the original eight seasons, 186 of them are available to stream on HBO Max.^[45]

DVD title	No. of episodes	Run time (minutes)	Release	Notes
Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season One, Vol. 1	10	110	September 26, 2006[46]	Uncensored
Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season One, Vol. 1	10	220	October 9, 2007[47]	Censored
Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season One, Vol. 2	10	260	October 9, 2007[48]	Uncensored
The Best of Whose Line Is It Anyway?	11	300	June 9, 2009[49]	Uncensored; includes the special «Best of Whose Line» episode

See also[edit]

• Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show
• Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza
• Kwik Witz
• Trust Us With Your Life
• Wild ‘n Out

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website
• Production website
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998–2007 series) at IMDb
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (The CW series) at IMDb

Awesome moments in Whose Line Is It Anyway?

UK version:

• Stephen Fry (yes, that one) has a very unique way of playing Number of Words (normally one of the harder games) here. You even see him counting off on his fingers a few times.

  Fry: I’m going to count… to six.

  • «Well, I’m sorry, but it gets.» (Beat) «My goat to hear her talking.»
• A game of Expert (obviously from the show’s early years) had «taxidermist» as the suggestion for what Ryan was an expert on. Greg is then faced with the task of interviewing an unresponsive Ryan, who spends the entire game completely motionless. He doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t blink. He never once cracked a smile until the buzzer sounded. Even on repeat viewings, it’s a mesmerizing, awesome performance.
• An early game of Song Styles for John Sessions, where he’s tasked to sing about a television set In the Style of folk music. Richard Vranch, for all his musical talents, isn’t equipped to play a folk song, so with barely a moment’s hesitation, John does it a capella. The result is unfiltered John Sessions; a cynical, stream-of-consciousness ramble of a song that’s probably his best single performance on the show. Say what you want about John, but the man had talent.
• See the Josie Lawrence «faux-Albanian» clip. That was Jim’s very first time on the show, where he got the idea to follow the trend of taking potshots at Josie. And he pulled it off.
• Caroline Quentin’s Song Styles duet with Josie, from the incredible pipes she unleashed to Colin and Ryan’s standing ovation. To think the song was supposed to be about a beached whale.
  • Quentin’s Hoedown verse about being stood up also deserves a mention. She does it with an authentic country twang and it took her all of fifteen seconds to come up with the verse as she was the first performer.
• On the last season of the British version of the show, Colin makes an awesome crack at Clive in World’s Worst.
• In one of his first British appearances, Ryan is chosen to be the host of Party Quirks. He immediately guesses every quirk mere seconds after the guest walks in the door, and never has to be the host ever again.
• An odd place to get a MOA, but in a game of Hey You Down There about learning to pilot an aircraft, there’s a part of the scene where Colin slices his hand off, and Ryan… uh, hands it back to him. There’s something about how Ryan uses his own hand for a prop that looks quick, seamless and fluid. It’s a small moment, but it’s brilliant.
• The game of Props where Steve Frost has the nerve to make a bald joke about Colin (as if Steve Frost is one to talk), and Colin responds with one of the most savage burns of the entire UK series. See here.

First US version:

• One episode had Oscar-winner Whoopi Goldberg as special guest. Colin went toe-to-toe with her on «Questions Only,» and managed to buzz her out.
• One of Colin’s best must have been during the «Going Bald» hoedown, after both Drew Carey and Brad Sherwood had riffed on Colin’s distinct lack of hair. The look on his face as he is about to deliver it just cements it:

  Colin: People always kid me ’cause I’m losing all my hair / I can’t really help it that I’m follically impaired! / It really is quite horrible, but my life is not through / I still get way more sex than either Brad or Drew!^note 

• This Newsflash game is widely considered the show’s single funniest game and the most awesome and heartwarming for Mochrie, if only for the line:

  Colin: It all started with a badly-timed bald joke!

  • Which ironically makes it the best timed bald joke ever. Also, you can calculate to the second where it dawns on him that it’s a montage of him from earlier episodes.
• «We’re watching animal porn!» Colin says something stupid, realizes how stupid it was, and delivers a spectacular punchline to his own stupid statement… all in less than seven seconds.
  • Best part, Colin is so professional and so good at keeping a straight face (while Colin often gets Ryan to crack, Colin himself almost never breaks) that after the punch line, he consciously avoided looking at Ryan in order to help himself keep a straight face and didn’t loosen up until Ryan broke character, signaling the scene was temporarily over.
• And from that same episode, we have Wayne and Jeff performing a jaw-dropping operatic song about motorcycles. It has to be seen to be believed.
• Considering the unscripted nature of this show, a few Moments stem from the genuine unplanned accidents that take place. Special mention must be made here of Ryan Stiles, who accidentally shattered the neon light on Drew’s desk with his head, and refused to break character until the scene had ended. Less damaging but equally Awesome ‘accidents’ include:
  • Colin turning around an impossible rhyme in Irish Drinking Song (Slept With An Ugly Woman), ending the song with an apparently random, but horribly sexist and yet fitting line. ‘She looked like someone had beat her’…
  • Wayne and Chip are tasked with making up a Police song, and somehow both men get the idea to mimic early Sting’s signature ‘Eeee-yoooh!’ at the exact same moment.
  • At the end of one Newsflash game. involving footage of numerous rats, Drew admits that he didn’t get Ryan’s reference to the early Michael Jackson song «Ben», upon which Ryan and Colin start singing one line of the song. Again, at the exact same time. Crosses into Heartwarming Moments in a way.
  • In one Film Dub game, Wayne makes the assumption that one person in the film is about to get violent. It pays off.
    • Even better, this follows a line from Ryan suggesting that the characters’ outfits make them look gay. Right after he says it the other characters take off their suit jackets.
  • In this classic «Song Styles» segment, Wayne sang to Samantha, an aerobics instructor, in the style of Riverdance (Irish step-dancing). Wayne was suitably impressed to find out that Samantha actually could step-dance. He gave her a standing ovation afterwards.
• A not-as-accidental one: Ryan, Wayne and Chip find out during one Hollywood Director game that the Stomp style of musicals actually fit perfectly into the show’s improvised format. The fact that the whole audience is clapping along by the end says it all.
• The Newsflash game is known for its use of increasingly obscure footage that most people wouldn’t even believe existed — yet Colin has not only guessed very closely each time, but in one case, gave the movie’s exact name.
• Chip’s killer Snagglepuss impression during a Weird Newscasters, finishing by running off and leaving his stool rocking just like in a Hanna Barbera cartoon. It’s pretty much impossible to tell if that was deliberate. The only way it could have been better is if he actually got Colin to crack up afterwards; as it is he still needs a few seconds to regain his composure, something he’s usually doing to everyone else.
• Awesome for Wayne and for the show’s musicians — watch the back and forth between Wayne (singing in the style of Louis Armstrong) and the trumpet player here.
• One round of Weird Newscasters had Chip, as a gameshow announcer, inadvertently sabotaging Colin’s Theme Naming shtick by calling out his actual name. It doesn’t stop him.

  «Iiiiiiintroducing COOOOLIIIIINN!!!!»
  (Beat) «…Welcome to the 6 o’clock news, I’m Colin Themarines.»

  • And later on in the same game, he manages to make this legend:

    «This just in — Beverly Hills, 90210… Cleveland Browns 3.»
    (camera cuts to Drew, who nearly has a Spit Take at the joke)

• After the director stops a sketch from being about Hitler, all the performers run with it for the rest of the show, sneaking references to Hitler into almost every sketch. Drew gets into the act by keeping a list of all the things it’s apparently more okay to make fun of than Hitler.
• The crowner for Colin could have been that one game of Greatest Hits where he joined in on all of the dancing.
  • Seen here. Impressively, he keeps up with Wayne.
• Ryan said that his best time on the show was when he gave a passionate kiss to Florence Henderson.
• Sid Caesar’s guest appearance. It’s great to pay tribute to a comedy legend, but when he came on stage, he looked a little worse for wear. Then he breaks out into the greatest round of Dubbing the show has ever seen.
• Brad finds words that rhyme with the name Naroshi.
  • Even funnier when Drew jokingly dares Brad «try rhyming that!» As you can see, he does.
  • Bonus awesome points for actually making Ryan crack up laughing.
• Wayne working the word pachyderm into a song.
• One game of Greatest Hits featured Wayne and Josie having to sing in the style of GILBERT AND SULLIVAN. But really, all of the songs are just awesome.
  • And of course, who can forget this incredible rendition of The Harley of Seville.
• Colin Mochrie is Captain Hair!
• Wayne’s absurdly high note at the end of this game of Greatest Hits.
• Once when Wayne, Ryan, and Chip were playing Motown Group: Wayne and Chip turned in their usual brilliant musical performances; Ryan, who’s usually so-so at the musical games, busts out w/ a phenomenal bass verse, stealing the scene from Wayne and Chip.
• Stephen Colbert’s appearance. He was hilarious throughout but his CMOA was probably Foreign Film. The fake language was German and since Colbert actually speaks German every line he said was an actual German phrase including a line from one of Hitler’s speeches («Heute Deutschland, morgen die Welt!»/»Today Germany, tomorrow the world!»).
• A nice pair of zingers between Colin and Wayne during a game of World’s Worst TV Advertisements.

  Wayne: Order Colin Mochrie’s guide to dialects in different countries! You get French, «HALLO!», Spanish, «HALLO!», Indonesian, «HALLO!»

  Colin: The Wayne Brady surfboard — with a bump big enough to sit on!

• The episode with Robin Williams as a whole. Awesome for Robin because he fit the show’s format like a glove, and awesome for Ryan, Wayne and Colin because they managed to hold their own with Robin freakin’ Williams, one of the most manic improvisors ever.
• One episode ended with Drew participating in a World’s Worst «priest or rabbi«; his impression of Jerry Lewis as a rabbi practically brought down the house.
• Denny Siegel makes the best Let’s Make A Date guess of all time. You know you’ve scored one when you can get a reaction from Colin AND Ryan.

  Denny (guessing Wayne, who’s actually Jar Jar Binks): Wait a minute, bachelor number one, are you dating Woody Allen?

  Drew (after everyone else finally stops laughing): No, but that’s a great guess, though.

• For Kathy Greenwood:

  Drew: (reading) «Things You Can See From The Moon Other Than The Great Wall of China.»

  Kathy: «Hey look, those are Ryan’s shoes!»

  • One round of Song Styles has her effectively humping Colin and Wayne in the chest — and Wayne loves it!
  • She actually got a playing of Party Quirks completely right. Because it’s a special occasion for Kathy, Drew gives her 3000 points.
• The game of Party Quirks where Colin is obsessed with confirming everyone’s gender. His total commitment to this role sells it. Definitely Crosses the Line Twice.
• During a game of «Props,» Ryan and Drew are horsing around with horseshoe-shaped pink foam pads. Drew doesn’t miss the chance for comedic gold and has Ryan play the appropriately-shaped tall and skinny pole while Drew flings his «horseshoes» at him with granny-style tosses. Drew misses the first toss miserably. Not expecting to nail the second, he chucks it at Ryan’s head… and gets it hooked around his neck. Cue cheering from the amazed crowd, Ryan smiling with utter humility (his expression says, «I can’t believe he actually did it — and now I look like a fool again»), and a priceless look of sheer astonishment and happiness on Drew’s face as he celebrates with a victory dance.
• After Richard Simmons has some fun in «Living Scenery,» his insane, over-the-top antics have Ryan and Wayne laughing their asses off, Greg can barely contain himself from his seat, Colin, the hardest to crack out of the guys, has completely lost his composure, Drew’s in tears from laughing so hard, and everyone in the studio audience is thrashing wildly with the greatest laughter ever triggered in one single show, something so rare and unprecedented it may very well be THE funniest episode Whose Line ever spawned during the course of the whole series.

  Kinley Mochrie: That man (referring to her father, Colin) did things with Richard Simmons that no one else would do!

• Drew’s comeback to a fat joke Ryan makes at the beginning of this video

  Drew: A lot of people forget that on The Drew Carey Show, Ryan and I have been totally naked.

  Ryan: Of course, some of us needed a wide angle lens.

  Drew: And some of us needed a zoom.

• Ryan’s incredibly moving (as well as hysterical) monologue during a game of Weird Newscasters, in which he plays a demanding temperamental Hollywood actor trying to give an Oscar winning performance. Given the standing ovation he got from both the audience and other performers, he succeeded big time.
  • Made even better when accompanied by sad violin.
• This game of African Chant sung to Julia, a dance instructor who definitely stole the show when she started leading the performers with dance.
• During one episode, when Drew announced Colin, Ryan, and Wayne for the next game, the audience cheered even louder than ever, to the point where the three ended up giving a bow before the game even began!
• Colin as Disco Boy in this game of Superheroes. His dance moves were surprisingly swift, and the entire room roared in thunderous applause (Drew even gave him a standing ovation).
• The «Greatest Hits» about taxi drivers had three great songs: «I Can’t Pronounce the Driver’s Name» (in the style of disco), «I Think We’re Goin’ Around in Circles» (in the style of Elvis), and «Your Air Freshener Smells Like Crap» (in the style of heavy metal). Jeff and Wayne had amazing singing chemistry.
• Brad does a fantastic impression of Fred Schneider from The B-52s, and always gets an enthusiastic audience response. In the first instance he did this (in the Greatest Hits about ant farmers), the audience applauded/cheered after he had only sang two words.
• Let’s face it: we would buy absolutely anything if only it was advertised by Colin and Ryan.
• In general: The cast famously hated Hoedown. But Drew loved it and kicked ass at it. A game that was loathed by a collection of some of the world’s best improv comedians for being so dang difficult, and the host, not a trained improv performer, was the best at it.
  • In one particular Hoedown, Ryan actually couldn�t come up with anything and essentially bowed out of the game. Drew, who had already given his own verse, came up with a second one and performed it from behind Ryan while he tried his best to mouth along.
    • Even better — this episode came from the taping where Ryan compared Drew to the bottom of the evolutionary pole, so Drew bailing him out is great payback. Chip and Colin come over to shake Drew’s hand while Ryan slinks back to his chair in (good-natured) defeat.
  • This hoedown, of the rare Ryan-less variety, is perhaps the crowning achievement, with all of the performers firing on all cylinders and Chip giving the absolutely perfect final line.
• In one «Let’s Make a Date», Wayne is an «Excited teenage girl who decides she can’t play the game without bringing her best friends on stage to do it with her» who brings an audience member Carol up with him. Unlike most audience members who let the cast play it out or get embarrassed, she actively plays along with Wayne. At the end of the game Drew praises her and jokes that she has some contracts to sign so she can appear on more episodes.
• In episode 233 while playing the game «Greatest Hits» the topic was wrestling. Ryan gave Wayne and Brad, Italian Love songs as the song style in attempt to stump them. Wayne and Brad proceed to do so well the audience gives a standing ovation. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the hit song Pile Driver of Love.
• This particular «Questions Only,» with the theme «Frankenstein’s Castle.» Everyone is just really on their game and it flows remarkably well. It’s basically Whose Line meets Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Second US version:

• Wayne was named an executive producer. He has a lot of good ideas, and he has given a lot to the show. He deserves it.
• While the first episode was good but a bit uneven, the second episode of the new CW version demonstrated that Whose Line has made a solid comeback with one of the funniest «Scenes From A Hat» rounds in series history. Clearly they needed that first episode for practice.
  • The musical games have come back, with Laura Hall and Linda Taylor once again providing the music.
  • They also brought a bunch of the old crew back. The buzzer even makes the same sound as before. It’s like coming back home.
  • During the Helping Hands segment, Ryan passes popcorn to special guest Kevin McHale by pouring it into his own mouth and shooting it to Kevin’s. Kevin catches one
  • Also, by the third episode Aisha Tyler has started making Canada jokes and issuing joke points. While she’s not as good as Drew yet, she’s clearly opening up to the cast.
  • The revival got renewed for a second season within two weeks of its premiere because of high ratings.
    • The first two episodes brought in an average of 2.96 million viewers (only one other show on the network that week managed to get over 1 million viewers) and averaged a 1.15 rating among viewers 18-49, whereas most shows on the network over the summer are lucky to get a 0.5 18-49 rating.
  • Kyle Richards (from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) doing the splits.
  • In «What’s in the Bag» in the first episode, Colin finds a pair of sunglasses in the bag, puts them on, and tells Wayne «Sorry, there’s just a bit of a shine.» That’s right, Colin finally made a bald joke at someone else’s expense.
• Speaking of which, the first Gary Anthony Williams episode. You can see him gesturing for Wayne and Colin to join him on stage for the «bad hairloss commercial» one. That’s right, it was his idea.
  • In his next appearance, he scores another personal one by getting Wayne to corpse first.
• The Kevin McHale episode. Colin’s claim of holding a note for 50 minutes may not actually pan out that way, but YOU try making one breath last 15 seconds.
• Wilson Bethel plays a doctor-themed Helping Hands with Ryan and Colin. Ordinarily, this is a game where Colin gets to shove potentially disgusting things into Ryan’s mouth. Instead, Wilson shows what a good sport he is. Aisha actually cheers at the bravado.
• The Lisa Leslie episode.
  • Ryan actually getting to work with a woman his size.
  • Heather Anne was happy and honored to meet Lisa. It was a definite girl power moment for her.
• The second Nyima Funk episode, with Living Scenery. After Ryan brings up waffles, Nyima gets the idea to pose prettily and remain very still, giving Ryan the idea to treat her like a particular brand of waffle syrup known for a distinctive bottle design.◊ Possibly the only time you’ll see one of the old guys follow the new guy’s lead.
• Another one for the «Greatest of Greatest Hits» collection: Wayne and Jeff sing «Pulling Sally’s Pigtails» as Kanye West and Neil Diamond.
• One episode brought back the Irish Drinking Song, and well, let’s just say that Colin Mochrie STILL got it after all these years!
  • Similarly, the return of Hoedown, in particular, how excited Aisha was knowing that the fans had been waiting for it for so long (judging by the huge applause it got when it was announced), and that she’d get a front-row seat to the players having to suffer through their favorite game in the world.
• Linda Taylor played some EPIC guitar riffs during the game of Dubbing with Jack Osbourne; Aisha even awarded her 5,000 points for it.
• Nyima Funk had a moment of awesome in the Scenes From a Hat where the topic was «Tattoos you don’t want to discover on a new partner’s body». Wayne said «Next rest area ten miles?» and without missing a beat… well, you gotta see it for yourself.
• One word: boing. Even Ryan said «What is happening here?» in the middle of it.
• I have performed in a choir full of a-holes, but never this literally.
• If you’re only familiar with Ryan’s (or any of ’em really) ridiculous Elvis Presley impression, you may not be prepared for Wayne’s near-perfect rendition of Jailhouse Rock-era Elvis.
• Kunal Nayyar’s Metal Scream.
  • Also from that episode, Aisha interrupts Ryan’s suggestion in Scenes from a Hat where he’s playing a Doctor. Ryan glares at her, and says «he’s in the middle of fucking surgery.»
• Ryan being a sperm cell in «Party Quirks» and tackling a «didn’t want to come» joke. It got past the censors!
  • Also from this round, Wayne playing a wide array of video game characters. His references include Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Gauntlet.
• Much like Wilson Bethel above, Padme Lakshmi from Top Chef scores one when she gamely eats something that Colin was going to feed to Ryan.
• Forget Breaking the Fourth Wall, Kathie Lee Gifford breaks the first wall by taking what Colin would’ve fed to Ryan to feed Brad and Wayne!
• The fans get one for following through on their calls for a revival, watching Whose Line? lovingly, and quickly earning the show a third season.
• The entire «sexy jobs» Scenes from a Hat, and pretty much that entire episode was a Crowning Moment of Awesome. From Wayne finally getting the best of Aisha with the waxing gag, to Jeff Davis milking a bull, to Wayne’s impression of Stephen Hawking, to Jeff taking over the camera, Ryan taking over Aisha’s buzzer, and Aisha herself smacking the buzzer with her breast… It transcended funny and went right for awesome.
  • For those who wanted to see said awesomeness in action. Season 10, Episode 19’s Scenes from a Hat… Sexy Jobs included.
• Gary Anthony Williams plays a British metal singer in a game of Duet. And pulls it off remarkably well!
  • Gary again in a ragtime number in Greatest Hits, which earns uproarious applause.
• On Thanksgiving Day 2014, Whose Line? aired in a two-hour block from 8P.M. to 10P.M., just like ABC used to do when their schedule was lean. Treat for the fans, perfect ratings opportunity, win-freaking-win!
  • They did it again on Thanksgiving Day 2015, with even higher ratings.
  • On Thanksgiving Day 2016, they did it yet again.
• Ryan, Wayne, and Jeff parodying Les Mis�rables during a game of Hollywood Director. The «Do You Hear the People Sing?» style song that the three come up with is purely epic, and Wayne even manages to gather an entire crowd of audience members to play the ensemble!
• The singing part of «Scenes from a Hat» in the Heather Morris episode, which went from funny to epic as practically everyone brought their singing A-game.
• The game of Living Scenery where Colin lifts Randy «The Natural» Couture. Yes, that Randy Couture. Damn!
  • To clarify: Colin picks up Randy Couture. Not the other way around. And hits Wayne with him. (okay, it’s a light tap, but still)
  • He does it again in the episode with Chris Jericho.
• Aisha takes an unforeseen leap by getting out of the chair and actually joining in for one «Scenes from a Hat».
• Brad Sherwood hits it out of the park, three times in a row.
• They got Bill Nye the Science Guy on the show. Seriously. One of the few special guests who can match Colin and Ryan in age… and can still bust more dance moves than both of them combined!
• More representation from Dancing with the Stars in season 4 with Alfonso Riberio. After getting around the implications of three black guys in an 80s hiphop number, Alfonso proceeds to light the stage on fire.
• In a way, the sea creatures Newsflash leads to the audience becoming surprisingly quiet and well-behaved for a change, most likely fixated with the shots of seldom-seen sealife.
• The game of Props from the same ep really shows how the guys have learned to step up their game, from Jon spitting water as part of his bird bath act to Wayne putting his own shoes on his hands for… well, just watch. For some, it’s just the fact that Jonathan Mangum did a long overdue Doctor Who reference that the audience got!
• After they barely get the stage back up when Alfonso Riberio lit it on fire, Brett Dier proceeds to tear it down.
• Taking Audience Participation up a notch, one «Let’s Make a Date» has Ryan as a busy worker ant who rallies the audience behind him as the rest of the ‘colony’. He empties an entire block!
• Brad Sherwood again, this time earning some kind of medal of honor when Scenes from a Hat does «if Olympics athletes were drunk». Brad as a pole vaulter breaks into a shaky run, makes a full U-turn and runs back up the stage, where he makes a fantastic flying leap off the edge!
• The episode with Tony Cavalero churns out two for the price of one:
  • Song Styles — Wayne grabs an additional suggestion from Tony and does his song about pro wrestling, leading up to a playful mock-grapple between them. Tony reaches to tag Colin in the back, and he flat out rejects it — Wayne reaches to tag Aisha, who literally leaps with both feet into action, pinning and straddling Tony on the floor.

    Wayne: Let’s hear it for Tony Cavalero and defending champion Aisha Tyler!!

  • Dubbing revisits the Jack Osbourne one with Linda Taylor lending impromptu guitar riffs again, but then goes even further when Wayne successfully gets Laura Hall to jam out on the piano at the same time. Ryan and Colin sorta-singing in time with the beat just adds to it.
  • Much like Brad’s death-defying stunt above, Greg flips a big one to everyone who thought the older guys would be less relevant now, by snarking it up across the whole episode.
• Chip Esten. Guest starring. On Whose Line. Season 13!
  • And now Colin is an executive producer as well, along with Ryan and Wayne.
• One Special Guest is Wanye Morris of Boys II Men fame. Put him alongside Wayne for Song Styles and already you have epicness in the making.
  • Wanye in Helping Hands leads to another historical moment — not only the guest digging into the same stuff Colin normally feeds to Ryan, but also for spitting it all into Colin’s hands just like Ryan always does. Wanye celebrates along with the audience, and rightfully so.
• The long-awaited tribute to Hamilton in season 5 episode 14. Since Wayne actually starred in the show at one point, it’s clear that he knew exactly what he was doing throughout the song.
• In this game of Party Quirks, Wayne has to act out a series of violent movie scenes in Slow Motion. He eventually starts doing 300, and gets an entire section of the audience to stand up so he can «slaughter» them one by one. Then he shoots an imaginary arrow and wipes out an entire row of people at once (the fact that they all knew to «die» at the same time in order to achieve the effect is pretty impressive in itself). Jeff can’t help but comment on how awesome it was afterwards.

  Jeff: That thing with the arrow was the coolest bit of Audience Participation of all time.

• «Duets» with Wayne, Jeff and Cornelius Smith Jr. That’s right, Malcolm Walker actually slays with his rap flow.
• «Weird Newscasters» assigns Ryan with the daunting task of acting out «The Wizard of Oz in 30 seconds». It clearly takes him longer than that, but Ryan manages to go through all the important parts of the movie in point form — special mention must be made of going through three different poses to cover the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, and remembering that Dorothy took a blow to the head to explain the All Just a Dream ending. The applause at the end is rightfully earned.
• In the 2019 season, Chip is back in the third chair, and all is right with the world.
• After a playing of Mixed Messages, Wayne reveals that the sister of the person whose phone he borrowed for the game did not realize Whose Line? was still on the air (or perhaps even revived in the first place). Rather offended by this remark, he calls the sister on Facetime, prompting the other panelists and Aisha to crowd the camera and flip her off! See it here!
• They set a new benchmark for Audience Participation in 2020, with a game of «Sound Effects» with Ryan and Colin as Canadian Mounties. Ryan claims he’s going to sing a classic song out loud, and the woman paired with him clearly has heard of «Oh Canada» but has no idea how it goes, and ends up improvising an «Oh Canada» to the tune of «Oh Christmas Tree».
• In perhaps a Call-Back to his dancing cameo from the Drew era, Colin boasts in a playing of «Greatest Hits» that he plays guitar on a blues track, so he gets Linda Taylor to play guitar for him «Helping Hands» style, and Linda’s still almost as good a guitar player when she’s got Colin obstructing her vision and reach!

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