#4

Whose Line is it Anyway?

Improv is hard, but there are a handful of people who can do it unlike anyone else. That is the concept behind the EYG Hall of Fame show Whose Line is it Anyway?

Whose Line started in England before being brought to the states by Drew Carey, whose pull at ABC was strong. The show ran for 21 years in America, at first on ABC, and then, eventually, over at the CW, when Drew Carey was replaced by Aisha Tyler.

There were three main cast members that were on the majority of the episodes, Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie and Wayne Brady. Stiles and Mochrie were regulars on the British version of the show and Brady became a series regular after season one of the American version (though he also appeared on the British show at times). There is a fourth recurring cast member, referred to as the fourth chair, which included a number of other improv comics such as Brad Sherwood, Jeff Davis, Chip Esten, Greg Proops, Keegan-Michael Key, Gary Anthony Williams, Denny Siegel, Kathy Greenwood, Jonathan Mangum, and Heather Anne Campbell. There were celebrities who appeared as the “fourth chair” including Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Colbert and Kathy Griffin.

The show featured members of the cast performing improv games read off by the host. Some of these games included Helping Hands, Whose Line, Scenes from a Hat, Three-Headed Broadway Star, Doo-Woop, African Chant, Dating Game, World’s Worst and Hoedown.

Hoedown was particularly disliked by the cast, which became a running joke on the show.

The quick-witted performers had amazing ability to come up with funny responses consistently Stiles and Mochrie had an unbelievable chemistry with each other which led them to having many scenes together.

The game “Living Scenery” was used when guest star Richard Simmons was on the show and it led to, perhaps, the funniest scene in the entire show’s run. If you have never seen this game, do yourself a favor and find it on YouTube. It is as funny as anything you’ll ever see.

Ah heck… here it is…