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** In the "Greatest Hits" about taxi drivers:
--> '''Colin''': Y'know, for as long as I can remember, I've had memories...
--> '''Colin''': Y'know, for as long as I can remember, I've had memories...
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* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Meta-example in the 2013 series - from the sneak preview based on {{Series/90210}}, TheCW was apparently trying to pitch their other shows with it. What they ''got'' was one TakeThat after another.
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* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Meta-example in the 2013 series - from the sneak preview based on {{Series/90210}}, 90210, TheCW was apparently trying to pitch their other shows with it. What they ''got'' was one TakeThat after another.
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Spelling
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** Early 2000's there was a Dutch version as well. This one actually did pretty well, became it's channel's big name show, and put some (somewhat) obsecure Dutch comedians into the spotlight who then went on to have extensive TV carreers to this day. And it was called The Llama's. Why? [[TheUnreveal Why indeed]].
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** Early 2000's there was a Dutch version as well. This one actually did pretty well, became it's channel's big name show, and put some (somewhat) obsecure obscure Dutch comedians into the spotlight who then went on to have extensive TV carreers careers to this day. And it was called The Llama's. Why? [[TheUnreveal Why indeed]].
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** In a "Helping Hands" where Ryan and Kathy Greenwood played newlyweds on their honeymoon, the two began the scene lovey-dubby, but then Kathy made a remark and Ryan frustratingly replied with, "Oh, it's startin' ''already'', is it?!", only to be calmed back down by Kathy's next line.
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** In a "Helping Hands" where Ryan and Kathy Greenwood played newlyweds on their honeymoon, the two began the scene lovey-dubby, but then Kathy made a remark and Ryan [[AwfulWeddedLife frustratingly replied replied]] with, "Oh, it's startin' ''already'', is it?!", only to be calmed back down by Kathy's next line.
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** In a "Helping Hands" where Ryan and Kathy Greenwood played newlyweds on their honeymoon, the two began the scene lovey-dubby, but then Kathy made a remark and Ryan frustratingly replied with, "Oh, it's startin' ''already'', is it?!", only to be calmed back down by Kathy's next line.
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** Lampshaded in a later episode before "Greatest Hits". Drew gets the topic that the cast has to make songs about, and goes into laborious detail about the concept of the game. Ryan interrupts: "We've all played the game before, Drew."
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** Lampshaded in a later episode before the "Greatest Hits". Hits" about songs of Norway. Drew gets got the topic that the cast has had to make songs about, and goes went into laborious detail about the concept of the game. Ryan interrupts: "We've game.
--> '''Drew''': You guys are gonna make up names of songs, based on the suggest- the CD, songs of Norway, and then Wayne and Jeff- you're gonna pick a style of music, and Wayne and Jeff have to make up a ''song'' about it-\\
'''Ryan''': We've all played the game before, Drew."
--> '''Drew''': You guys are gonna make up names of songs, based on the suggest- the CD, songs of Norway, and then Wayne and Jeff- you're gonna pick a style of music, and Wayne and Jeff have to make up a ''song'' about it-\\
'''Ryan''': We've all played the game before, Drew.
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** While reading the description for a "Two Line Vocabulary", the audience giggled at Drew saying that the characters were seamen. Ryan replied, "Come on."
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** In another instance, after the Party Quirks where Ryan's nipples were hooked to Greg's hands, Wayne remarked, "Just four guys doin' improv, dude." Ryan: "That's all it is."
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** Alluded to in a post-commercial joke by Drew: "I may not be the most ''downloaded'', but I've downloaded the ''most''."
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** In "Showstopping Number", Wayne would frequently make long, complicated sentences that would be difficult to set to music (ex: "I travel everywhere putting holes in things and choosing people to be my minions to go along with me and put holes in things!"), the logic being that Drew wouldn't buzz him to sing what he just said if he did that. This backfired on him once when his sentence of "itty bitty panty party partakes of the participations of the partisan committee" was buzzed. True to form, though, Wayne sung it brilliantly anyway.
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* Alluded to in a post-commercial joke by Drew, when he said that they're doing massages over the internet now... except you have to use your own hands.
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* Alluded to in a post-commercial joke by Drew, when he said that they're doing massages over the internet now... except you have to use your own hands.
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* ExecutiveMeddling: Thankfully averted, though attempted. When the show was first pitched for ABC, the execs didn't want Colin Mochrie to be part of the cast, for fear that he would look too old next to the others (being bald and all). Drew and Ryan fought hard for him to stay, and he not only was in every single episode of the U.S. version but ended up being one of the audience favorites.
to:
* ExecutiveMeddling: Thankfully averted, though attempted. When the show was first pitched for ABC, the execs didn't want Colin Mochrie to be part of the cast, for fear that he would look too old next to the others (being bald and all). Drew and Ryan fought hard for him to stay, and he not only was in every single episode of the U.S. version but ended up being one of the audience favorites. This is also why Colin had to color his hair, too.
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** Many of the different performers involved with the U.S. version have remarked that the producers were always intentionally restrictive with the female performers appearing on the show, most under the belief they didn't want to take a chance on any of them possibly upstaging the men (especially Colin and Ryan). Debra [=McGrath=], Colin's wife, had auditioned for the show, but was rejected, because the producers wanted to avoid the nepotism of having both Colin and his wife on the show together. After [[PutOnABus Denny Siegel's departure]], Colin and Debra suggested Kathy Greenwood to the producers, but after her initial audition, she was rejected; Colin and Debra continued to insist the producers hire her, and after some time, they relented. Kathy has also said the producers prohibited her from participating in certain games, such as Hoedowns.
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* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Meta-example in the 2013 series - from the sneak preview based on {{Series/90210}}, TheCW was apparently trying to pitch their other shows with it. What they ''got'' was one TakeThat after another.
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* FlippingTheBird: In the outtakes on the DVD, the performers (and Drew) repeatedly do this to the staff, but mostly to Keith Richmond.
** Ryan gave Drew the finger (a response to Drew's HowManyFingers remark) after the infamous "Party Quirks" where Ryan accidentally broke the neon light on Drew's desk with his head.
** Ryan gave Drew the finger (a response to Drew's HowManyFingers remark) after the infamous "Party Quirks" where Ryan accidentally broke the neon light on Drew's desk with his head.
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--->'''Wayne''': (with a red two-pronged thing held over his head) Hahahaha, I am the dark one!\\
to:
--->'''Wayne''': (with a red two-pronged thing held over his head) Hahahaha, I am the dark one!\\
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** In a playing of "Questionable Impressions", Jeff stuttered while he talked, and said, "I'm Creator/JeffGoldblum, of course..." before continuing with his sentence.
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** This can also apply to audience members as well; in the infamous Richard Simmons episode, check out one audience member laughing and clapping so hard that he can't stay seated.
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* DeusExMachina: At the end of the infamous "Improbable Mission" with [[RunningGag the cat]], the burnoose that Ryan and Colin are supposed to be washing is accidentally set on fire and destroyed. There's a brief pause, and Colin says, "It's OK, I have an extra burnoose." and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z86EGt3GuPw mimes pulling one out of his pocket.]]
** Most segments of Improbable Mission utilize this trope pretty heavily throughout.
** Most segments of Improbable Mission utilize this trope pretty heavily throughout.
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* DeusExMachina: At Most segments of Improbable Mission utilize this trope pretty heavily throughout. For instance, at the end of the infamous "Improbable Mission" with [[RunningGag the cat]], the burnoose that Ryan and Colin are supposed to be washing is accidentally set on fire and destroyed. There's a brief pause, and Colin says, "It's OK, I have an extra burnoose." and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z86EGt3GuPw mimes pulling one out of his pocket.]]
** Most segments of Improbable Mission utilize this trope pretty heavily throughout.]]
** Most segments of Improbable Mission utilize this trope pretty heavily throughout.
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** In another instance, Drew said, "I didn't touch your daughter. Quit calling me."
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** Also this example: "The good news is, they're going to name a disease after you."
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** For obvious reasons, heavily used in "Sound Effects" whenever the audience members provided sound effects.
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--> '''Ryan''': Me want boy go. (audience barely responds) It's a Series/{{Survivor}} thing! Me want boy... oh man. (walks off stage)
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--> '''Ryan''': Me want boy go. (audience barely responds) It's a Series/{{Survivor}} thing! Me want boy... oh man. (walks off stage)stage with a look of disbelief)
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** A U.K. "Let's Make a Date" featured Ryan suffering some serious road rage. He began the scene only slightly peeved and quickly escalated to shouting at the top of his lungs for the stalled traffic to get moving.
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* ITasteDelicious: Greg Proops in "Superheroes" as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jXTF5NGlbs Chocolate Bunny Man]].
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** In the Greatest Hits about "Songs of the Plumber", Colin apparently thought this about Ryan:
--> '''Ryan''': You know, if you've got drains and pipes, you've ''probably'' had a plumber over at one time or not in your life (Colin looks confused at this line and begins to mock him by derisively mouthing his words), and we've assembled over six of the greatest songs, that's right, six songs on three [=CDs=], I CAN SEE YOU OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE!\\
'''Colin''': I'm sorry, you just ''explain'' things too long!\\
'''Ryan''': ...Six songs, three [=CDs=].\\
'''Colin''': Was ''that'' so hard?!\\
'''Ryan''': (upset) GO AHEAD!
--> '''Ryan''': You know, if you've got drains and pipes, you've ''probably'' had a plumber over at one time or not in your life (Colin looks confused at this line and begins to mock him by derisively mouthing his words), and we've assembled over six of the greatest songs, that's right, six songs on three [=CDs=], I CAN SEE YOU OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE!\\
'''Colin''': I'm sorry, you just ''explain'' things too long!\\
'''Ryan''': ...Six songs, three [=CDs=].\\
'''Colin''': Was ''that'' so hard?!\\
'''Ryan''': (upset) GO AHEAD!
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** One major sticking point for Drew Carey haters is that he opened every episode by declaring the show "where the rules are made up and the points don't matter." Yeah, thanks for clearing that up.
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--> '''Drew''': Thousand points for everybody! Usually a thousand, but for you, 999! (Ryan looks surprised) 999! I'm giving the points away, only 999! I'm craaaazy!
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* HulkSpeak: One "Scenes from a Hat" suggestion was "If Tarzan had appeared in other shows". Two of Ryan's suggestions involved speaking in this manner:
--> '''Ryan''': [[Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire Mmm, yes that final answer.]]
--> '''Ryan''': Me want boy go. (audience barely responds) It's a Series/{{Survivor}} thing! Me want boy... oh man. (walks off stage)
--> '''Ryan''': [[Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire Mmm, yes that final answer.]]
--> '''Ryan''': Me want boy go. (audience barely responds) It's a Series/{{Survivor}} thing! Me want boy... oh man. (walks off stage)
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None of these examples are severe enough to count, and even the ones left are dubious; also, moving Ho Yay examples to YMMV
Deleted line(s) 124,129 (click to see context) :
** Chip is responsible for the infamous "clothes in the dishwasher" mistake, and the lesser-known case where he inadvertently sang "professor" instead of "wrestler".
*** Speaking of Chip, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ene7qcKKOQ during a playing of "Let's Make a Date"]], he guessed Ryan's character to be "the farmer's daughter's father"; in other words, as Drew simplified for him: "The farmer".
---->'''Chip''': Do I even get ''one'' point for that?\\
'''Drew''': [[NoJustNoReaction No]].
** And Wayne forgetting one of his two lines during ''Two Line Vocabulary''.
--->'''Drew:''' "Do you want to keep a copy for your own reference...?"
*** Speaking of Chip, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ene7qcKKOQ during a playing of "Let's Make a Date"]], he guessed Ryan's character to be "the farmer's daughter's father"; in other words, as Drew simplified for him: "The farmer".
---->'''Chip''': Do I even get ''one'' point for that?\\
'''Drew''': [[NoJustNoReaction No]].
** And Wayne forgetting one of his two lines during ''Two Line Vocabulary''.
--->'''Drew:''' "Do you want to keep a copy for your own reference...?"
Changed line(s) 131,132 (click to see context) from:
*** Speaking of this, in a playing of "Film, TV & Theater Styles", the style was Three Stooges, but Ryan got mixed up and did an impression of Chico Marx instead.
---->'''Drew''': Three Stooges.\\
---->'''Drew''': Three Stooges.\\
to:
Deleted line(s) 136,152 (click to see context) :
** Drew will occasionally call one of the performers a different name by accident, like when he called Wayne "Brad" before "Greatest Hits".
--->'''Ryan''': Hey, Clive's allowed to make mistakes.\\
'''Drew''': (to Ryan) I'm sorry, Greg.
** Drew also called Ryan "Colin" before "Newsflash":
--->'''Greg''': That's Ryan.\\
'''Drew''': Ryan. What'd I say?\\
'''Greg''': Colin.\\
'''Drew''': Oh, Ryan. Right right right.\\
'''Ryan''': [[TheDrewCareyShow It's better than "Lewis"]]; he's been calling me that for years.\\
'''Greg''': (to Drew) Wait a minute, let me get this straight: Are you [[JimCarrey Jim]], or [[Music/MariahCarey Mariah]]?
** In the episode where Drew actually kept track of the points:
--->'''Drew''': ...And 1,000 to Ryan. Er, Colin. 1,000 to Colin.\\
'''Colin''': (points to himself) Colin. (points to Ryan) Ryan.
** When trying to impress [[FanService two Playboy Bunnies]]:
--->'''Ryan:'''This is my shoe.\\
''[[TheWoobie (he's ignored)]]''
** A particularly epic meltdown [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXiUi0UsTk&t=6m10s here]], spreading from Wayne to ''the whole band''.
--->'''Ryan''': Hey, Clive's allowed to make mistakes.\\
'''Drew''': (to Ryan) I'm sorry, Greg.
** Drew also called Ryan "Colin" before "Newsflash":
--->'''Greg''': That's Ryan.\\
'''Drew''': Ryan. What'd I say?\\
'''Greg''': Colin.\\
'''Drew''': Oh, Ryan. Right right right.\\
'''Ryan''': [[TheDrewCareyShow It's better than "Lewis"]]; he's been calling me that for years.\\
'''Greg''': (to Drew) Wait a minute, let me get this straight: Are you [[JimCarrey Jim]], or [[Music/MariahCarey Mariah]]?
** In the episode where Drew actually kept track of the points:
--->'''Drew''': ...And 1,000 to Ryan. Er, Colin. 1,000 to Colin.\\
'''Colin''': (points to himself) Colin. (points to Ryan) Ryan.
** When trying to impress [[FanService two Playboy Bunnies]]:
--->'''Ryan:'''This is my shoe.\\
''[[TheWoobie (he's ignored)]]''
** A particularly epic meltdown [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXiUi0UsTk&t=6m10s here]], spreading from Wayne to ''the whole band''.
Changed line(s) 154,166 (click to see context) from:
** One mistake actually led to Brad ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liy0LZH0E_E getting chewed out for it]]'':
--->'''Drew:''' "So what was the 'Gary US Bonds' thing?"\\
'''Brad:''' "Didn't he go 'Do The Gator' during a song of his...?"\\
'''Drew:''' "''You didn't even know and you throw it out as a clue?'' Minus 500 points..."
** During a game of 'Narrate' Colin orders fries. Then he drinks them. The audience laughs and the look on his face when he realizes what he did is priceless.
** Before a playing of "Duet", Drew asked Katie, a woman from the audience, what her job was. She replied that she works at Hoagie Oagie. This exchange occurred:
--->'''Drew''': Do you work behind the counter, in front of the counter?\\
'''Katie''': Behind.\\
'''Drew''': Behind the counter, oh.\\
'''Ryan''': "In front of the counter". That would be a ''customer'', Drew. (audience laughs)
** A prop in the UK version's christmas special broke and throughout the sketch gradually deteriorated.
** In a playing of "Changed Letter", the performers couldn't say B; they had to say F. So what's Colin's first line? "Yeah, Brank?"
*** It should be clarified that Brad opened with ''"Fetty?"''. Most likely, Colin did that intentionally.
--->'''Drew:''' "So what was the 'Gary US Bonds' thing?"\\
'''Brad:''' "Didn't he go 'Do The Gator' during a song of his...?"\\
'''Drew:''' "''You didn't even know and you throw it out as a clue?'' Minus 500 points..."
** During a game of 'Narrate' Colin orders fries. Then he drinks them. The audience laughs and the look on his face when he realizes what he did is priceless.
** Before a playing of "Duet", Drew asked Katie, a woman from the audience, what her job was. She replied that she works at Hoagie Oagie. This exchange occurred:
--->'''Drew''': Do you work behind the counter, in front of the counter?\\
'''Katie''': Behind.\\
'''Drew''': Behind the counter, oh.\\
'''Ryan''': "In front of the counter". That would be a ''customer'', Drew. (audience laughs)
** A prop in the UK version's christmas special broke and throughout the sketch gradually deteriorated.
** In a playing of "Changed Letter", the performers couldn't say B; they had to say F. So what's Colin's first line? "Yeah, Brank?"
*** It should be clarified that Brad opened with ''"Fetty?"''. Most likely, Colin did that intentionally.
to:
--->'''Drew:''' "So what was the 'Gary US Bonds' thing?"\\
'''Brad:''' "Didn't he go 'Do The Gator' during a song of his...?"\\
'''Drew:''' "''You didn't even know and you throw it out as a clue?'' Minus 500 points..."
** During a game of 'Narrate' Colin orders fries. Then he drinks them. The audience laughs and the look on his face when he realizes what he did is priceless.
** Before a playing of "Duet", Drew asked Katie, a woman from the audience, what her job was. She replied that she works at Hoagie Oagie. This exchange occurred:
--->'''Drew''': Do you work behind the counter, in front of the counter?\\
'''Katie''': Behind.\\
'''Drew''': Behind the counter, oh.\\
'''Ryan''': "In front of the counter". That would be a ''customer'', Drew. (audience laughs)
** In a playing of "Changed Letter", the performers couldn't say B; they had to say F. So what's Colin's first line? "Yeah, Brank?"
*** It should be clarified that Brad opened with ''"Fetty?"''. Most likely, Colin did that intentionally.
Deleted line(s) 365,378 (click to see context) :
* HoYay: Deliberately invoked, to the point where Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie being a couple was one of the American series' longest running gags. See [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxkxG3DF4k this bit]] with Richard Simmons, notable for being one of the only times over both the show's runs that Colin [[{{Corpsing}} breaks character]]. [[invoked]]
** [[AThreesomeIsManly A Foursome Is Manly]]
** Ryan and Colin have kissed several times throughout the shows run.
*** To the point where Colin knew the feel of Ryan's lips on his head as opposed to somebody else's.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyvbC4F2bk&feature=sub Behold]] a collection of Whose Line HoYay.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw22_gAmA74 Colin wants to be Ryan's Wife]]
** [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday "By the way, we're not a couple!"]] "...When did that happen-" [-"SHUT UP."-]
** Robin Williams, completely turning the skit homoerotic: "Oh, 'work hard, work hard'. '''Last night you didn't say that.'''"
*** "I WANT IT TO BE FILLED WITH '''''LUST!'''''" -to Robin- ''"[[CampGay You remember!]]"''
** ''Song Titles'' would often wind up like this due to the limited nature of [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment song titles.]]
** Subverted when Drew makes a comment about WLIIA being the show where one can never be too rich or too gay and all four male contestents point to their wedding bands. Drew then quips he's never known a married gay man.
** A suggestion in "Scenes From a Hat" was "when a kiss is completely out of line", and the result was hilarious.
--> '''Wayne''': Your kid's been beatin' up my kid! (Colin kisses him)
** After a commercial break once, Drew said: "Welcome back to ''Whose Line is it Anyway'', the show with the most same sex mouth-to-mouth kissing in the history of television."
** [[AThreesomeIsManly A Foursome Is Manly]]
** Ryan and Colin have kissed several times throughout the shows run.
*** To the point where Colin knew the feel of Ryan's lips on his head as opposed to somebody else's.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyvbC4F2bk&feature=sub Behold]] a collection of Whose Line HoYay.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw22_gAmA74 Colin wants to be Ryan's Wife]]
** [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday "By the way, we're not a couple!"]] "...When did that happen-" [-"SHUT UP."-]
** Robin Williams, completely turning the skit homoerotic: "Oh, 'work hard, work hard'. '''Last night you didn't say that.'''"
*** "I WANT IT TO BE FILLED WITH '''''LUST!'''''" -to Robin- ''"[[CampGay You remember!]]"''
** ''Song Titles'' would often wind up like this due to the limited nature of [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment song titles.]]
** Subverted when Drew makes a comment about WLIIA being the show where one can never be too rich or too gay and all four male contestents point to their wedding bands. Drew then quips he's never known a married gay man.
** A suggestion in "Scenes From a Hat" was "when a kiss is completely out of line", and the result was hilarious.
--> '''Wayne''': Your kid's been beatin' up my kid! (Colin kisses him)
** After a commercial break once, Drew said: "Welcome back to ''Whose Line is it Anyway'', the show with the most same sex mouth-to-mouth kissing in the history of television."
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[[Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway Main Page]] | [[WhoseLine/TropesAToC Tropes A To C]] | '''Tropes D To I''' | [[WhoseLine/TropesJToR Tropes J To R]] | [[WhoseLine/TropesSToZ Tropes S To Z]]
* DarkSecret: The premise of "Secret". Of course, being a comedy show, the secrets are always silly and ridiculous, like one of the characters wanting to make sperm bank [=ATMs=].
* ADateWithRosiePalms: One "Hoedown" about marriage ended with Ryan singing he's glad he's married, because it sure beats sitting around and pulling on his own penis.
** In a deleted scene on the [=DVDs=], Ryan lampshaded the fact that it's hard to do a "Hoedown" about puberty without mentioning masturbation.
--->"I like to pull my penis, I do it all the time..."
** In a "World's Worst" about the worst person to share a lifeboat with, Drew said, "OK, lemme show you one more way I like to masturbate."
** "I've been cheating on you WITH MY OTHER HAND!"
** In the "affair hoedown," both Wayne and Drew mention masturbating
--->'''Wayne:''' "This affair has got me, its hold on me is mighty. No, it isn't with a woman, my affair is with Righty.\\
'''Drew:''' "What I've discovered is an affair to remember, I'm thinking about Ms. June while I'm looking at Ms. November.
* DeadGuyPuppet: An occasional gag, most commonly with Ryan Stiles and/or Scenes From A Hat.
-->'''Drew''': "Things not to do at a funeral..."
** Not to mention that there is a whole round involving this.
* DeadpanSnarker: Clive Anderson, host of the British version. Colin also tends to be one due to how he never breaks character, thus rarely even smiles at his jokes or others' when he performs, though like everyone else on the show, he's also a LargeHam on other occasions.
* DealWithTheDevil: During a "Weird Newscasters" where Ryan ventured into Hell, he went up to Drew Carey and said, "THIS is how you got two shows..."
* DeathGlare: Colin Mochrie, of all people, gives one to Ryan when he makes a Nazi Captain Hair joke at his expense.
* DeletedScene: All of seasons 7 and 8 of the U.S. version are merely cobbled together from old footage not used in previous episodes. As the tapings can take 2-3 hours, it's easy to get a half hour of footage multiple times from them. That said, there are also deleted scenes and games on the season 1 DVD sets, which didn't appear in any proper episodes.
** Parodied in-show with the game "Scenes Cut From a Movie".
* DemotedToExtra: variation, semi-regular players from the UK version like Ron West and Jimmy Mulville would later be credited under staff.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Ryan, during a playing of "Greatest Hits":
-->'''Ryan''': I remember a protest song out of the '60s that I had on a record.. in the '60s.\\
'''Colin''': Wow! What kind of strange coincidence is that!
** "... and ''is'' WhoopiGoldberg: WhoopiGoldberg!"
** In a UK Hoedown, Colin's first line was:
--->'''Colin''': Every night I go to sleep, I go to sleep each night...
** In a "Greatest Hits" about race car drivers:
--->'''Colin''': Oh, I love race cars and I love race car drivers; I love songs about race cars and race car driving!
** A Drew example: "Let's go on to a game called "Film Dub", shall we, it's a game called... "Film Dub", okay?" Right before the game began, Greg teased him about it:
--->'''Greg''': What's this game called?\\
'''Drew''': "Film Dub".
** In the "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of the Marine Corps":
--->'''Colin''': Folk music has been a part of my life, and in fact, a part of my blood. It's been a part of my life, my life's blood!
** In the Greatest Hits about songs of horror, one of the songs was called "Devil, There's A Devil, Whoa Devil, Whoa, That's A Devil".
* DescriptionPorn: As the U.S. version went on, the "Let's Make a Date" and "Party Quirks" descriptions got longer and more elaborate. This was occasionally {{lampshaded}}, such as when Ryan looked at his watch partway through Drew reading Jeff the right answer, or when Greg actually looked at Wayne's quirk on the card after the game and said:
-->'''Greg''': OH MY GOD! There's two paragraphs of text on this!\\
'''Drew''': They're all awfully detailed.\\
'''Greg''': This is the Bhagavad Gita, there's 50,000 chapters! (laughs) I didn't realize we were reading the whole Kabbalah.
** The ''Let's Make A Date'' playing in question can be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ujVFM_mKs here]]. [[hottip:*:Wayne's suggestion is a "smooth rap star blindfolded and handcuffed to the bed by his new girlfriend[,] gradually realizing the evening is going wrong", and Colin's is the equally long "deranged window dresser whose only friends are mannequins Ryan & Wayne who he has fun undressing & dressing after hours"]]
** It also got funny when the descriptions were read ''back'' to Drew, verbatim:
--->'''Drew:''' "Wayne, you are a Haitian man who's been unfaithful and is now the victim of a voodoo attack..."\\
Wayne: (AngryBlackMan on) "Why I gotta be the Haitian man who's been unfaithful and is now the victim of a voodoo attack?"
* DesertedIsland: In a "Weird Newscasters", Ryan played a man stranded on a deserted island.
* DeusExMachina: At the end of the infamous "Improbable Mission" with [[RunningGag the cat]], the burnoose that Ryan and Colin are supposed to be washing is accidentally set on fire and destroyed. There's a brief pause, and Colin says, "It's OK, I have an extra burnoose." and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z86EGt3GuPw mimes pulling one out of his pocket.]]
** Most segments of Improbable Mission utilize this trope pretty heavily throughout.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: pay close attention, Josie Lawrence, Tony Slattery and even Colin Mochrie tend to have these moments.
** Animal Porn. Colin has a DIJSTOL fail during a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMwHxLuqwpQ Greatest Hits skit]], saying that they'll get back to the "animal porn" in just a moment, then makes it even worse by ''naming'' the porn.[[note]]"Mary Had A Little Lamb", if you must know.[[/note]] The sketch goes OffTheRails for a long moment as everyone except him falls apart laughing.
--->'''Ryan:''' He's so happy! "We're watching animal porn!"
* DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready: Depending on the game, repeated suggestions may be rejected. Even so, there are four Blind Date hoedowns.
** The joke, "Two thongs don't make a right" comes up a few times in the series. Drew even took points away from Ryan for using it in one game.
* DiscriminateAndSwitch: Before a playing of "African Chant", Drew said that Wayne would be singing it, and the following exchange occurs:
-->'''Wayne''': Why ''I'' gotta do the African Chant?!\\
'''Drew''': Because Colin would just mess it up.
* DisorganizedOutlineSpeech:
** During a playing of the Millionaire Show game, Greg Proops accidentally messes up when giving out the multiple choice answers:
--->'''Greg:''' When you eat pig, it is called A: Pork, B: That farshtunken neighbor of mine, 3:... [Pause.] Sometimes I change from C to 3.
** Another playing of the same game has Colin listing the choices under A, C, C and D. Ryan does not let this go without comment.
** In yet another playing, Colin asks:
--->A compact disc is also known as: A) AA, B) CD, D)...er...C) BC, D)......ddddddD
** And in yet ANOTHER playing, Ryan asks his life line over the phone:
---> Is it A, C, D, or D?
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "Good Cop, Bad Cop", Colin (playing the bad cop) put Wayne in a dishwasher for a very trivial reason.
** In one "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad5Nw7uYZtQ Weird Newscasters]]" bit, Jeff-as-ChristopherWalken threatened to "put [his] foot in [an audience memeber's] throat" because they kept laughing during [[SoUnfunnyItsFunny his standup routine]].
* TheDitz: The contestant in "Let's Make a Date" is often (always?) portrayed as a ditz.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In the infamous "Living Scenery" with special guest Richard Simmons, Colin uses Richard as a jetski, which ends up looking a LOT like oral sex. Colin completes the gag by miming the lighting of a [[SmokingHotSex cigarette]] afterwards. [[OffTheRails To say the audience loses it is an understatement.]]
** This trope is invoked too many times to count during the course of this show, particularly during "Living Scenery" (see above) and "Props".
* DontExplainTheJoke: During a game of ''Hats''
-->'''Wayne:''' ''[wearing a hat with a rooster on it]'' My loving's so good it'll make your chicken run!\\
''[CollectiveGroan from the audience]''\\
'''Wayne:''' See, it's a [[WesternAnimation/ChickenRun movie]]!
** There's a Weird Newscasters where Colin is a bad stand-up comic:
--->'''Colin:''' Well, it seems that all the fish are dying. Could this be an act of Cod? (laughs) We've been having bad weather lately; it's raining... cats and dogs! I stepped in a poodle! (laughs and slaps knees) It's like puddle, but ''spelled differently!'' I've got 28 more minutes!\\
'''Brad:''' Ha, ha. Sure is quiet in the newsroom, isn't it?
** The ClosedCaptioning for the initial order of American episodes ruined all of the punchlines.
** This sometimes occurred in "Props":
--->'''Wayne''': (with a red two-pronged thing held over his head) Hahahaha, I am the dark one!\\
'''Colin''': Oh, ''devil''.
* DonutMessWithACop: Colin and Ryan mime eating donuts during the "Sound Effects" where they play cops. The audience members who provided their sound effects [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEAuxNNYKUU didn't make the appropriate chewing noises at first]], which Colin and Ryan naturally called attention to.
** One session of ''Hollywood Director'' even has Greg entering while yelling "DON'T MOVE! I have a sugar donut!"
* DoubleEntendre: This was pretty much the entire point of the game "Hats"/"Dating Service Video", as well as "If You Know What I Mean". Example: A "Scenes From a Hat" suggestion was "Things that your waitress says to you that can be misconstrued as sexual".
-->'''Wayne''': So who's got the big meat?\\
'''Colin''': The breasts are on special.
** Any "Scenes from a Hat" suggestion that follows the syntax "Things you can say about _____ but not about your girlfriend." Here's a classic:
--->'''Colin''': [''for "Things you can say to your dog, but not your girlfriend"''] Come!
* DoubleStandard: Both played straight and for laughs at the same time; during an "Infomercial" about face lifts, Ryan made a couple bald and "big head" jokes about Colin, to which the audience laughed. Colin then proceeded to make a joke about the size of Ryan's nose, to which the audience reacted more with sympathy. After the game, Colin lampshaded this:
-->'''Colin''': You notice all the melon jokes, the bald jokes, I make one nose joke, it's "OHHHH!"
* DrillSergeantNasty: Ryan, in the US version, ''twice'' on Weird Newscasters. Particularly memorable when he grabs three audience members to do pull-ups on the green-screen - the top of which got wrinkled and torn. The running gag for the show promptly became Ryan messing up the green screen.
** In a game called Reunion, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_p-gxkhPes Greg, Ryan and Colin are drill sergeants at a reunion]], and Greg acts most like this trope.
--->'''Greg Proops''': '''''ONLY TWO THINGS COME FROM OKLAHOMA! STEERS AND OTHER STEERS THAT LIKE THEM!!!'''''\\
'''Brad Sherwood''': '''''I JUST WANT TO STAND HERE AND STARE AT MY PRIVATES!!!'''''
* DrivenToSuicide: Ryan's character of Prince Charming in a "Weird Newscasters" skit hangs himself when he realizes that the glass slipper fits on Drew's foot. It even almost fit on an audience member's foot!
** That was pretty much a running gag for Ryan.
** Also happens in another "Weird Newscasters" where Wayne's character finds his girlfriend in the audience with another man. Distraught over her infidelity, he "jumps" to his death. Colin then makes the crack "This just in: Cheating girlfriends live longer than their boyfriends."
** In one Hoedown, Ryan sings something along the lines of "It's hard to think of something with a little twist/ If we do another Hoedown, I'll slit my [beep] wrists!"
* {{Eagleland}}: The UK version played around with Flavor 2 for several games like "[[ShapedLikeItself American Musical]]", "[[PissTakeRap Rap]]", and, of course, [[CountryMusic "Hoedown".]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: Before Tony Slattery's actual debut episode, he appeared as an audience member in the first episode after the pilot.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When it comes to the U.S. version's first season: Wayne absent in some episodes? Check. One-shot performers like Ian Gomez, Kathy Kinney, Patrick Bristow (in an unaired pilot which later aired as part of season 8), and Stephen Colbert? Check. Ryan still wearing short sleeve shirts and Greg still wearing vests? Check. No Linda Taylor or other back-up musicians? Check and mate.
** In the first few episodes, Drew would introduce the show by saying, "Welcome to ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?,'' the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter." He'd pause, and ''then'' the audience would laugh. And he wouldn't say "That's right, the points are just like...", either.
* EditedForSyndication: The U.K. version is edited for time when broadcast in America, due to more commercials on most U.S. stations.
* EffortlessAmazonianLift: Jane Tricker does it to Wayne. He embraces it.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: "Scenes From a Hat": "Little-known facts about our host, Drew Carey": Ryan said: "What kind of a middle name is Allison?"
** Which turned out to be an unintended MythologyGag to the UK version:
--->'''Clive:''' (taking suggestions for ''Singing Bartender) "...all right, Tony, you're angry about your middle name..."\\
'''Tony:''' "I ''am'', actually. It's ''Declan''."
* EmbarrassingNickname: Colin got nicknamed "Mr. Moo" and "Colin Moochrie" after an "Improbable Mission" where he was milked.
-->'''Drew''': He ''said'' he was sick of the bald jokes. Fine, Colin Moochrie, no more bald jokes.
** And speaking of bald jokes, Colin was given the identity "Captain Hair" in "Superheroes" to save a world in crisis: NO MORE ROGAINE!
--->'''Ryan (after the game):''' Of course, you know what that is in German, right? [[{{Pun}} Herr Hair!]]
** In one episode, Drew accidentally announced that the next game would be the game they just played. Greg gave him an unflattering nickname:
--->'''Greg''': Excuse me, Captain Alzheimer's? Go to the ''third'' card, Drew. Go to the ''third'' card.
* EnforcedMethodActing: Unavoidable, due to the improv nature of the show. Many of the reactions from the performers are unexpected. Just one of many examples: Colin seemed [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hl5BqYXeZc genuinely surprised when Ryan kissed him]] in the "Narrate" about The Maltese Burger.
** You can usually spot one guy who isn't Colin get caught unawares during Colin's "crap" declarations in ''Hollywood Director''.
*** Perhaps one of the best instances was when Chip jumped onto Ryan's back and Colin actually ''was'' yelling and wasn't just acting, since Ryan has a bad back.
** RichardSimmons' appearance on the show [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI7dLm-phro caught at least one guy by complete surprise.]]
* EntendreFailure: Used in nearly every playing of "If You Know What I Mean", to subvert the formula in the rest of the game: One of the performers will deliver a double entendre followed by the trademark "If you know what I mean", and another performer will reply with, "No, I don't know what you mean."
** Also worth noting: whenever this happens to Colin, he usually pantomimes [[DrinkingGame taking a shot]] (no matter where the action is located; he once did this in a scene set inside a locker room).
* {{Ephebophile}}: Drew pretends to be one on a couple occasions:
-->'''Drew''': Hey, did you know that teenagers, if they're hugged every day, they have better confidence and will do better in school? So parents, if you see me hugging your teenage daughter, I'm only trying to help.
** Another example:
--->'''Drew''': During the commercial break, did you hug your daughter? Because ''I'' did.
* EpicFail:
** One of the first playings of ''Three Headed Broadway Singer'' has Drew momentarily forgetting the one-word-at-a-time rule ("And take me on a...!"), and it went downhill from there, to the extent that ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNZe1MsCt0M it gets brought up in a later ep.]]''
*** In that later episode, David Hasselhoff turned this particular fail UpToEleven by using multiple words at once several times without realizing his mistake.
** Chip is responsible for the infamous "clothes in the dishwasher" mistake, and the lesser-known case where he inadvertently sang "professor" instead of "wrestler".
*** Speaking of Chip, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ene7qcKKOQ during a playing of "Let's Make a Date"]], he guessed Ryan's character to be "the farmer's daughter's father"; in other words, as Drew simplified for him: "The farmer".
---->'''Chip''': Do I even get ''one'' point for that?\\
'''Drew''': [[NoJustNoReaction No]].
** And Wayne forgetting one of his two lines during ''Two Line Vocabulary''.
--->'''Drew:''' "Do you want to keep a copy for your own reference...?"
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNv5Jj0Peq8 "Wait, that's not Close Encounters..."]]
*** Speaking of this, in a playing of "Film, TV & Theater Styles", the style was Three Stooges, but Ryan got mixed up and did an impression of Chico Marx instead.
---->'''Drew''': Three Stooges.\\
'''Ryan''': I know, I know!\\
'''Drew''': That was Marx Bros.\\
'''Ryan''': ''I KNOW, I KNOW!''
** Drew will occasionally call one of the performers a different name by accident, like when he called Wayne "Brad" before "Greatest Hits".
--->'''Ryan''': Hey, Clive's allowed to make mistakes.\\
'''Drew''': (to Ryan) I'm sorry, Greg.
** Drew also called Ryan "Colin" before "Newsflash":
--->'''Greg''': That's Ryan.\\
'''Drew''': Ryan. What'd I say?\\
'''Greg''': Colin.\\
'''Drew''': Oh, Ryan. Right right right.\\
'''Ryan''': [[TheDrewCareyShow It's better than "Lewis"]]; he's been calling me that for years.\\
'''Greg''': (to Drew) Wait a minute, let me get this straight: Are you [[JimCarrey Jim]], or [[Music/MariahCarey Mariah]]?
** In the episode where Drew actually kept track of the points:
--->'''Drew''': ...And 1,000 to Ryan. Er, Colin. 1,000 to Colin.\\
'''Colin''': (points to himself) Colin. (points to Ryan) Ryan.
** When trying to impress [[FanService two Playboy Bunnies]]:
--->'''Ryan:'''This is my shoe.\\
''[[TheWoobie (he's ignored)]]''
** A particularly epic meltdown [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXiUi0UsTk&t=6m10s here]], spreading from Wayne to ''the whole band''.
** Two words: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLH00_KLJjs Wrong Name]]. Drew fails so hard that it twists the fabric of time and space and becomes a Win.
** One mistake actually led to Brad ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liy0LZH0E_E getting chewed out for it]]'':
--->'''Drew:''' "So what was the 'Gary US Bonds' thing?"\\
'''Brad:''' "Didn't he go 'Do The Gator' during a song of his...?"\\
'''Drew:''' "''You didn't even know and you throw it out as a clue?'' Minus 500 points..."
** During a game of 'Narrate' Colin orders fries. Then he drinks them. The audience laughs and the look on his face when he realizes what he did is priceless.
** Before a playing of "Duet", Drew asked Katie, a woman from the audience, what her job was. She replied that she works at Hoagie Oagie. This exchange occurred:
--->'''Drew''': Do you work behind the counter, in front of the counter?\\
'''Katie''': Behind.\\
'''Drew''': Behind the counter, oh.\\
'''Ryan''': "In front of the counter". That would be a ''customer'', Drew. (audience laughs)
** A prop in the UK version's christmas special broke and throughout the sketch gradually deteriorated.
** In a playing of "Changed Letter", the performers couldn't say B; they had to say F. So what's Colin's first line? "Yeah, Brank?"
*** It should be clarified that Brad opened with ''"Fetty?"''. Most likely, Colin did that intentionally.
* EroticEating: Seen a couple times during "Helping Hands".
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffv3_aJPKhw "Thank god you've come... Seductive Eating Man!"]]
** Also [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY55NF1nySo unintentionally]] during Hats.
--->'''Drew:''' You know, I can watch you eat that banana aaaaaall night long.\\
'''Ryan:''' (stops eating)
** Colin's done the same "whole banana at once" act during one ''Questions Only'' set in a supermarket, and in ''Scenes from a Hat'' as his idea of a "talent segment you'll never see on Miss America".
* EveryEpisodeEnding: The players reading the credits in the style of the host's choosing. The first season of the U.S. version doesn't feature this, though, nor does the TV-themed episode later in the run; instead, the cast sings happy birthday to Sid Caesar.
* EverythingIsRacist:
** After announcing that the next game would be "African Chant" done by Wayne, Wayne stands up and says "Why ''I'' gotta do the African chant?"
** Another game's set up was that Ryan would be a gas station attendant, another player would be a customer, and Wayne would be a thief come to rob the place, prompting him to ask, "Why ''I'' gotta be the thief?"
--> '''Drew''': Y'know, maybe you should count your blessings; if this was NBC, [[MonochromeCasting you wouldn't even be on this show.]] (audience and Wayne laugh) Am I lyin'? If I'm lyin', call the co- OK, go ahead.
** Also, during the Tapioca playing of "Greatest Hits," Ryan asks Colin what sound a Blackbird makes, and Wayne walks into the shot and gives them a DeathGlare.
** Also, Colin's shout of "Damn rolling blackouts!" after a game prompted Wayne to get out of his chair and start [[{{Pun}} rolling around on the floor...]]
* EverythingsWorseWithBees: In the "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of the Beekeeper":
--->'''Ryan''': What comes to mind when I go... (buzzes)
--->'''Colin''': I go like this, "OH NO, I'M ALLERGIC!!!"
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Straightforward game names help them to stick in the fans' minds.
* ExactWords: In a playing of "Let's Make a Date" where Ryan was a horse whisperer, Ryan involved Drew in the sketch, pretending that Drew was a horse and miming feeding him. After the game, this exchange occurred:
-->'''Drew''': That's right: Ryan used to have two shows, before he called me a ''fat horse'' on national TV.\\
'''Ryan''': I don't think I used the words "fat horse."
* ExecutiveMeddling: Thankfully averted, though attempted. When the show was first pitched for ABC, the execs didn't want Colin Mochrie to be part of the cast, for fear that he would look too old next to the others (being bald and all). Drew and Ryan fought hard for him to stay, and he not only was in every single episode of the U.S. version but ended up being one of the audience favorites.
** One instance of meddling did occur in a playing of "Title Sequence", though: When Drew asked for the names of two unlikely roommates, he took the suggestions BillCosby and AdolfHitler. Almost instantly, a director came up to Drew and informed him that he had to use something else in place of Hitler. Drew reluctantly settled for "BillCosby and the Insurance Salesman". Amusingly, the remainder of the episode consisted of the cast mocking the director's decision by working in jabs about Hitler. In particular, Ryan's hoedown about directors (where he said the director of Whose Line "should sprout a moustache and move to Germany!") received [[Awesome/WhoseLineIsItAnyway a standing ovation]].
* ExpansionPackPast: Ryan's and Colin's pasts, as described in "Greatest Hits", are quite elaborate and often contradict each other (particularly their ages). Of course, this could be justified if they just happen to be playing new characters each time.
* {{Exposition}}: In the "Hollywood Director" where Ryan played a hunky pool boy:
-->'''Ryan''': (to Kathy Greenwood) Y'know, I was fired three weeks ago, but I still come and clean your pool.
* FacePalm: One of the rare times Colin breaks character. In the "Slept With an Ugly Woman" Irish Drinking Song, Colin gets the last line (as usual) and spits out "It looked like someone had beat her." As soon as he realizes [[UnfortunateImplications what]] [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud he just said,]] he facepalms. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xglZ8UTq5Fg He finishes the song with his hand still on his face.]]
** Also in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MsLSLpP2kQ this playing of Scenes from a Hat,]] Greg forces Colin to do a ScoobyDoo impression. [[BadImpressionists He fails.]] Next shot of Colin, he double-facepalms.
* FamousLastWords: During the "Weird Newscasters" where Ryan is about to die, Ryan sings a mock Hoedown and the last words of his character are: "...Before I do another, I'd rather be dead." Immediately after, he mimes having a heart attack.
* FanDisservice: the ''Newsflash'' games that involved [[spoiler:a '50s "gentleman's club", and a little-known but official "fat women" beauty contest in Thailand.]]
** Depending on who you ask, special guest Jayne Trcka was fan disservice, due to those bulging muscles.
* {{Fanservice}}: To whoever seats the hot chicks behind Drew's shoulders just to keep the show interesting when the camera cuts away from the players: we're onto you.
** Drew also often picks attractive women from the audience to be sung to by Wayne. If the woman is particularly hot, Ryan gets out of his seat to shake the woman's hand, even if he's not playing the game.
** One episode features Hugh Hefner along with two Playboy Playmates as guests.
** The Joanie Laurer (aka Chyna) episode certainly counts as fanservice as well, with Chyna wearing a knock off Wonder Woman outfit in her games. Another episode featured Neena and Veena the snake tamers/bellydancers, whose gyrating hips certainly were hypnotizing.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWk2W2lv1Q0 This]] game of Newsflash.
** For the ladies and maybe some fanboys, Creator/DavidHasselhoff in a full leather outfit straight out of Series/KnightRider.
** Wayne's outfits tend toward this, looking as snug as they do. His rather large butt also gets plenty of attention.
** Ryan tends to either mime taking his clothes off, or acting like a stripper or porn star.
* {{Feghoot}}: Colin Mochrie is prone to this during "Weird Newscasters".
* FiveFiveFive: From the episode with WhoopiGoldberg:
** Colin: "How am I doing? Phone 555-"
* FiveManBand: (out of the regular line-up):
** TheHero: The host Drew Carey
** TheLancer: [[TheAce Wayne]]
** TheBigGuy: Ryan
** TheSmartGuy: Colin
** TheChick: Laura Hall and Linda Taylor
*** Also:
**** TheHero: Drew
**** TheLancer: Ryan
**** TheSmartGuy: Greg
**** TheBigGuy: Brad/Wayne
**** TheChick: Colin and [[ThoseTwoGuys Laura and Linda]]
**** SixthRanger: Chip
**** GuestStarPartyMember: Jeff
* ForceFeeding: Occurs quite often in "Helping Hands". Usually it's Colin who will insert some disgusting food combination into Ryan's mouth, but occasionally the other player will do so as well, such as the episode with Florence Henderson: She stuffed a LOT of meat loaf into Ryan's mouth.
-->'''Ryan''': I had some [meat loaf] in my hair there! It was all the way down my throat!
* ForcefulKiss: Joanie Laurer gave a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMeFvY5IDGc really long kiss]] to both Colin and Ryan in "Dubbing". Colin's kiss was so long that Ryan looked at his watch during it.
* ForegoneConclusion: Ryan ends a line with "scary" or "hairy" during Hoedown? He's going to rhyme it with "Drew Carey".
* ForeignCussWord: On the US Whose Line, the players (well, more like Ryan) can get away with using the two-fingered "up yours" gesture without the censors blurring it. Like in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2woNhjWo4 this]] ''Two-Line Vocabulary''.
** Greg also managed to slip the ''Weird Newscaster'' name "Wink [[ADateWithRosiePalms Wank]]ley" past the US radar.
* ForeignRemake: No, not the US version: there was also a recent Russian remake, titled "Ни бе ни ме нехило" (Ni be ni me nekhilo) [[note]]The title is composed of several extremely complex puns and as such is impossible to translate[[/note]]. The host was pretty bad and the cast choice was just stupid[[hottip:**:Quartet I is an excellent comedy troupe, but scripted plays is what they are known for, they don't do improv]], and they did a twofer mistake in remaking a show unknown to Russian viewers ''and'' aggravating those who know about it by not even giving credit. Oh and to add insult to injury they immediately started relying on guest stars. The aforementioned ensured that the show died painfully despite heavy hype, after lasting only four episodes.
** Early 2000's there was a Dutch version as well. This one actually did pretty well, became it's channel's big name show, and put some (somewhat) obsecure Dutch comedians into the spotlight who then went on to have extensive TV carreers to this day. And it was called The Llama's. Why? [[TheUnreveal Why indeed]].
* FourMoreMeasures: Colin does this almost every time they play Hoedown in order to give himself more time to think.
* FourthWallGreeting: Parodied during "Scenes From a Hat": One of the suggestions was tapes that don't fly off the shelves at Blockbuster. Wayne comes on stage, mimes that he's taking a shower (or rubbing lotion on; it's rather vague), and says, "Oh hi there. I'm Drew Carey."
* FridgeLogic[=/=]ArtisticLicenseLogic - Always invoked and played for laughs, such as Colin somehow reporting from beyond the grave that rabid hamsters killed everyone in the US.[[invoked]]
** There's also a "Party Quirks" where Ryan played a hillbilly and stated that in his spare time, he sleeps with his brother mother. Played for laughs, of course, but thinking about it: How does that work, exactly?
*** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Easy-- his grandmother and (grand)father had his sister, who had a sex change/started cross dressing, and then (with the grand/father) had him.]] [[MemeticMutation Problem?]]
* FromBadToWorse: The premise of many "Sound Effects" scenes, where one calamity after another befalls the players.
* FrothyMugsOfWater: Averted in some Helping Hands sketches, where Ryan is exposed to real alcohol; Bartender is a completely straight example.
* TheFunInFuneral: The whole point of the game "Funeral". Also some suggestions in "Scenes From a Hat" and "Props" (with the latter featuring a recurring joke, "Today, we bury (insert big-breasted woman's name here)." when a breast-shaped prop is used).
* FunnyAfro: One "Questions With Wigs" featured Ryan entering the scene wearing a giant yellow afro, asking "What's happenin'?" in a surfer voice.
** Another episode had Drew putting on a purple afro after a game. Ryan said Drew looked like [[TheSimpsons Sideshow Bob]] with that afro on.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: It's often just as amusing to watch the performers who aren't participating in the games, as they often are seen dying of laughter while watching the games. An example is the "Showstopping Number" where Colin's last two lines are gibberish; Greg can be seen laughing hard in his chair.
** Just watch Wayne whenever he's in the background, period. An extreme example can be found during the infamous "burnoose/the cat!" edition of "Improbable Mission": at one point you can see [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z86EGt3GuPw Wayne actually leap out of his chair for a second because he's laughing so hard.]]
** Wayne also leaped out of his chair to gawk at Ryan kissing Florence Henderson.
* FunnyForeigner: In a playing of "Hollywood Director", Colin broke from his usual characterization by acting like an immigrated citizen. His first line in the scene was this:
-->'''Colin''': J'know, when I first come to this country with nothing but a hammer and a powerful laxative, I thought, "I wouldn't have to deal with this ''crup''!"
* GagBoobs: In "Props", whenever a prop is remotely similar to breasts, guess what it'll be used for?
-->'''Ryan''': (breast-like props are on the floor, standing upright) Today, we bury (Pamela Sue Anderson / Madonna).
* GagPenis: From imaginary ones to actual ones thanks to some of the Props. Ryan loves making jokes about these.
-->'''Colin''': Hello, I'm Quite Hung.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVW_hLn0cys Robin Williams.]]
** Ryan's verse from the 100th episode:
--->Colin says he's hung the best, that I just can't see\\
I've known him for a long time, and it cannot be\\
He says he's got a big penis, but that's not a lock\\
'Cause I have to tell you right now: mine's tucked in my sock
** One Scenes from a Hat was "How the naked Fridays policy worked out at your office":
--->'''Wayne''': Limbo, anyone? ''(*buzz!*)''\\
'''Greg:''' ''(following something along the ground, looks up)'' Colin?!\\
'''Colin:''' ''(waves)'' Hi. ''(*buzz!*)''\\
'''Ryan:''' ''(pressing imaginary button)'' My boss will see you now.\\
'''Colin:''' Well, take your finger off my dick. (Ryan grabs the imaginary penis and ''wraps it over Colin's shoulder'')
** A playing of "Party Quirks" had Ryan as an activities leader of a nudist camp. He used his extra long imaginary penis for ''everything'', from ringing the doorbell to using it as a sundial to using it as a jump rope to using it for the target in horseshoe throwing.
* {{Gainaxing}}: Mimed with hands by the male cast whenever {{Baywatch}} or XenaWarriorPrincess had to be parodied.
* GenrePopularizer: While there have been sketch comedy shows on TV before ''Whose Line'', none quite followed this show's format, so it stood out. Drew even lampshaded this in one episode:
-->'''Drew''': Welcome back to "Whose Line is it Anyway", the show that the Emmys just don't have a category for.
* GetOut: In a playing of "Action Replay" where Wayne and Kathy Greenwood played a couple having an argument:
-->'''Wayne''': Y'know, five years of marriage to you... it's too much.\\
'''Kathy''': Then ''[[HairTriggerTemper GET OUTTA HERE!!!]]''
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Pretty much the whole point of ''If You Know What I Mean''. Ironically, the crap that ''doesn't'' get past the radar has drawn some of the biggest laughs.
-->[[MediumAwareness "That's never gonna make it to air, if you know what I mean..."]]
** Though that one refers to Brad saying "two-hundred pound snatch", which actually ''made it to air'' the first time and was bleeped out on all subsequent airings. The reason it made it to air is because a "snatch" is a legitimate name for a weightlifting exercise, which Brad helpfully mimes right after he says it.
** From ''Scenes from a Hat'', the recurring "Things you can say about X but not your girlfriend" suggestion, and some one-time ideas like "Things that sound dirty, but aren't", which the players went to town with.
*** BreadEggsMilkSquick: "Things you can say about the food you eat, but not your girlfriend."
--->'''Greg''': Mmm! [[Funny/WhoseLineIsItAnyway My God, this is juicy!]]
** One that has surprisingly never been censored initially has "Things you can say to your dog but not your girlfriend" and Colin stands forward, positions himself as though talking to a dog and says "Come!"
*** And he doesn't just SAY it, he makes the "C'mere" gesture with his hand.
** ''Changed Letter'' would also be perverted into this at times. "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RNaHaFccmE Wayne's got a fig old futt!]]"
--->"Nice genis."\\
"You weren't out shooting any... ''male deer''?"
** During a playing of Film, TV & Theater Styles, the next style was "horror". Ryan looked at Kathy and said, "You mean you two aren't married? You whore.", playing up the fact that "whore" and "horror" sound so much alike if you don't enunciate. Amazingly, "whore" was left uncensored.
*** Perhaps because of this, a later playing of "Greatest Hits" had Drew heavily enunciate "Songs of Horror", to which Ryan and Colin exaggerated to the point of absurdity.
--> '''Colin''': Are you saying that every song on this compilation has to do with ''hor''-ror??
** On at least one occasion, Drew was able to flip off Ryan, using his blazer as a cover.
** Possibly the most blatant case ever was during one session of ''Hollywood Director'' where the first suggestion was "do it like you're [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything college girls going wild at Mardi Gras]]". [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpQc2gVK3vc&t=0m39s The end result]] was certainly BrainBleach-worthy.
** Greg during a 'Scenes From a Hat' round for 'Anecdotes dogs would tell if they appeared on talk shows': "Yeah, I'm Drew Carey's dog. And, uh, you know, right around eleven o'clock he breaks out the peanut butter and I know what's comin'!" This one actually made it to air, surprisingly enough (assuming you get what it's referring to.)
** This example, from a "Hollywood Director" where Ryan played a gas station attendant:
--->'''Ryan''': Would you like me to fill 'er up?\\
'''Kathy Greenwood''': (impatiently) I've said ''yes'' to that question ''fifteen'' times!\\
'''Ryan''': How 'bout the ''car''?
* GlobalIgnorance: Colin and Ryan are less than thrilled to do a "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of Norway", because they apparently don't know much about the subject (Colin remarks: "We're screwed."). They lampshade this during the banter:
-->'''Ryan''': Norway: A country far, far away! A country where ''many'' songs have been written about it! And the subjects, ''oh''! They flow like water from the Norweigan... the area where the water flows!\\
'''Colin''': We've come up with 15,000 songs all about Norway. [[TakeThatUs I bet you can't even come up with THREE.]] But ''we've'' come up with 15,000!
** In another "Greatest Hits", the subject was Rome. There was this tidbit:
--->'''Ryan''': We've assembled forty songs on thirty [=CDs=], all about the city of Rome, "the city of love". Is it?\\
'''Colin''': It could be.\\
'''Ryan''': It is ''now''!
* GoingPostal: During the one playing of "Survival Show", Wayne's character threatens to go postal on Ryan and Colin by miming taking out a shotgun after they refuse to sing along with him. Appropriately enough, the scene took place in a post office.
* GoodNewsBadNews: A scene in "Scenes From a Hat" had Greg [[TakeThat going for the jugular]]:
-->'''Greg''': Merry Christmas! I got you a present! (Wayne pretends to open it) It's {{Geppetto}} on DVD!
** Subverted by Greg after Drew had an annoyed look on his face: "The bad news was it was Christmas."
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: In a "Foreign Film Dub" with Swedish as the language, Drew slips in English words amidst his fake Swedish (plus an acronym consisting entirely of names):
-->'''Drew''': Farda farda '''Ikea''', farda farda... '''unbelievable prices'''!
* GroinAttack: One "Weird Newscasters" had Ryan as someone who was hit in the crotch with a football.
** During one "Let's Make A Date," Wayne's quirk involves him being handcuffed to Colin. In all the running around Colin has to do for his persona (a 40's gangster in a failed bank robbery), [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JoUjcqkjEI#t=222s Wayne accidentally slams his crotch into a stool]]. This, and the face he makes, sets the audience off.
** And there's a ''Newsflash'' where the footage was of skateboarders wiping out and landing on railings crotch-first.
* HairTriggerTemper: Done in a few "Helping Hands". This example, where Ryan played an Italian deli owner, was done primarily so Colin could vigorously shake the soda in his hands:
-->'''Drew''': Would you like some wine-\\
'''Ryan''': HEY! What's the matter with you? I gotta shake my fist in anger at you! Be quiet, I shake-a my fist in anger at you!\\
'''Drew''': No, have some chianti!\\
'''Ryan''': You be quiet, I tell ya, you be quiet! (shouts gibberish)\\
'''Drew''': Papa, why you gotta argue?? (Ryan opens the soda, and predictably it spurts all over Colin's hands)
* HalloweenEpisode: The US version had one of these.
* HamToHamCombat: Oh so very much.
* HandWave: Generally, the solutions to the problems in "Superheroes" are either glossed over entirely or given some sort of quick fix.
** Done literally in a session of ''Sound Effects'', with Colin and Ryan as [[StarWars Jedi pilots.]] Thanks to one lightsaber sound coming up too soon, Ryan mimes his own leg getting chopped off by accident. [[AWizardDidIt Guess how Colin rectifies it.]]
* HandsOnApproach: Performed by Ryan on Kathy Griffin during "Hollywood Director" when he played a "hunky golf pro".
* HangoverSensitivity: The premise of the short-lived game "Really Bad Hangover". Probably due to being extremely similar to "Sound Effects", it was only played once.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Colin, during a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0OrNdDoHrA&t=4m0s "Greatest Hits of Women"]]:
-->'''Ryan:''' "I don't know about you, but I love 'em."\\
'''Colin:''' "I love 'em... more! ...I'm not insecure about my sexual identity! I LOVE WOMEN!" (shifty eyes) [[EasyAmnesia "Sleep." (taps Ryan's head) "You will forget I ever said that. Awake."]]
** Ryan in one ''Weird Newscasters'' is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCdkV8MOcDQ "desperately trying to quell rumors that he's gay."]]
** In a "Greatest Hits" about songs of the doctor:
--->'''Ryan:''' You know, I guess you've figured out by now that Colin and I like to take in a lot of theater. And there's nothing we like more than showtunes.\\
'''Colin:''' Nothin'! (begins to make a hand gesture but stops)\\
'''Ryan:''' That's... sorry?\\
'''Colin:''' No... yeah yeah, we love...\\
'''Ryan:''' No no, you look like you've got something urgent to say!\\
'''Colin:''' No, no we love showtunes. ''I'm married.''
** After a commercial break, Drew said, "And listen, for the thousands of you that have written in, ''no'', Colin and Ryan are ''not'' a couple." Wayne is puzzled: "...Really??" Drew added: "A couple of ''what'', that's what I'd like to know!" During "Greatest Hits":
--> '''Colin''': As long as there's been doctors, there's been people singing about them.
--> '''Ryan''': By the way, we're ''not'' a couple. (audience laughs)
--> '''Colin''': (to Ryan, murmuring) ...When did ''that'' happen?
--> '''Ryan''': (to Colin, murmuring) [[SubvertedTrope Shut up...]]
* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: Done deliberately in "Action Replay" so that the second pair of performers (usually Ryan and Colin) don't know what the first performers did for a scene and have to make up their own. An amusing RunningGag is how Colin or Ryan often wince and say "Ow!" when they bring the headphones close to their ears, due to how loud the music coming out of them is.
* HereWeGoAgain: Occasionally happens if Drew accidentally says that the next game is the same game they just got done playing. The performers often pretend to start the entire scene again. One time, Colin and Ryan just pointed and laughed.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: You can't have Colin Mochrie without Ryan Stiles!
** Ryan appeared without Colin in earlier British episodes, and while a competent enough player alone, there was no hint of the hilarity they would achieve together.
** Colin has only ever appeared in one episode without Ryan, which also happened to be his first appearance on the show.
* HilariousOuttakes: Since the program tapes in four-hour blocks, they can edit some of the more flavorful ones out, but they will keep many of them (and even have special "Too Hot for Whose Line" episodes with some).
** Surprisingly, one U.K. Hoedown about giving birth left in Greg's aborted first try, despite that his second try was much more successful.
--> '''Greg''': You know, failing is one of the major parts of television.
* HintDropping: Games of "Greatest Hits" usually feature Ryan trying to prompt Colin into guessing what the next music style will be. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it... doesn't, leading to instances like the one in which Ryan asked Colin what he likes to put on his chips:
-->'''Colin''': Why, a little bit of paper.\\
'''Ryan''': Say the paper is a little bland, what would you put on it to spice it up?\\
'''Colin''': Salt.\\
'''Ryan''': ...sa. Salsa!
** Hint dropping is also very common in "Moving People", since the people from the audience often neglect to move the characters' heads. This was particularly prominent in a playing where the style was ''The Lone Ranger'' and audience member Joe never moved Ryan's head until the very end. Of course, Ryan (whose head faced towards the ground) poked fun at this the whole time:
--->'''Ryan''': (as Tonto) You know I will not look at anything besides this spot on ground!\\
'''Ryan''': Me hope it's not too far from spot on ground.\\
'''Ryan''': Look! Me block spot on ground with hand!\\
'''Ryan''': Me try to move head with own hand but won't help!\\
'''Ryan''': Some day, I hope to see world...\\
'''Ryan''': (hands moved) I imagine it's so beautiful over there!
* HomeGame: During a "Scenes From a Hat", Greg pretended to be a door-to-door salesman selling the home version of Whose Line is it Anyway?. No such game actually exists, however.
** One game of ''Party Quirks'' starts with Chip as the host claiming to have this home game, "it came with an inflatable Drew doll!"
*** Probably because they thought no one would ever pay for something they could pretty much make at home for next-to-nothing. There are plenty of people who still have "Whose Line" parties today.
* HollywoodCalifornia: The taping site for the last UK season and the American run. The cast takes full advantage by mentioning the LAPD, the traffic in the area, and the woefully bad Los Angeles Dodgers.
* HollywoodSilencer: One session of Sound Effects got this memorable example.
-->'''Colin:''' I am going to cock my gun.\\
([[SpecialEffectsFailure Beat]])\\
'''Colin:''' Oh, it's got a silencer.
* HongKongDub: Parodied in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9e_1VqPlFY this]] Hollywood Director, among other skits.
** Unavoidable in "Film Dub", due to the players not seeing the footage beforehand. A few playings of "Film Dub" even featured Eastern films, such as one in the U.K. version where the scene was a barber shop... despite being set in a karate dojo.
* HostileShowTakeover: One of Ryan's more memorable "Weird Newscasters" quirks was that he was a mercenary on a mission to replace everyone on the show.
** This trope was referenced in an "Infomercial" about going sober. Colin put a wind-up lighter in Ryan's mouth and Drew interrupted the sketch to warn them that it was a lighter and could set Ryan's mouth on fire. After Colin removed the lighter, Ryan guilt-tripped Colin: " ''Someone'' wants their own show."
* HoYay: Deliberately invoked, to the point where Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie being a couple was one of the American series' longest running gags. See [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxkxG3DF4k this bit]] with Richard Simmons, notable for being one of the only times over both the show's runs that Colin [[{{Corpsing}} breaks character]]. [[invoked]]
** [[AThreesomeIsManly A Foursome Is Manly]]
** Ryan and Colin have kissed several times throughout the shows run.
*** To the point where Colin knew the feel of Ryan's lips on his head as opposed to somebody else's.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyvbC4F2bk&feature=sub Behold]] a collection of Whose Line HoYay.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw22_gAmA74 Colin wants to be Ryan's Wife]]
** [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday "By the way, we're not a couple!"]] "...When did that happen-" [-"SHUT UP."-]
** Robin Williams, completely turning the skit homoerotic: "Oh, 'work hard, work hard'. '''Last night you didn't say that.'''"
*** "I WANT IT TO BE FILLED WITH '''''LUST!'''''" -to Robin- ''"[[CampGay You remember!]]"''
** ''Song Titles'' would often wind up like this due to the limited nature of [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment song titles.]]
** Subverted when Drew makes a comment about WLIIA being the show where one can never be too rich or too gay and all four male contestents point to their wedding bands. Drew then quips he's never known a married gay man.
** A suggestion in "Scenes From a Hat" was "when a kiss is completely out of line", and the result was hilarious.
--> '''Wayne''': Your kid's been beatin' up my kid! (Colin kisses him)
** After a commercial break once, Drew said: "Welcome back to ''Whose Line is it Anyway'', the show with the most same sex mouth-to-mouth kissing in the history of television."
* HowManyFingers: Said after the "Party Quirks" where Ryan broke the neon light on Drew's desk with his head. Ryan answered "four", and Drew said it was close enough. Then, Ryan asked the same question while giving Drew the finger.
* HumansAreBastards: During "Scenes From a Hat", one of the suggestions was "Things that make the audience boo". Ryan's example was miming pushing an old lady into oncoming traffic. While some boos were heard, there were also a lot of laughs and applause. Ryan seemed genuinely surprised at the mixed reaction.
* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: The "If You Know What I Mean" game.
* HurricaneOfPuns: When Colin is the main anchor in "Weird Newscasters", he frequently puns a familiar saying, often with a [[OverlyPrepreparedGag complicated set-up]] to the pun. Examples: "You can lead a whore to water, but you can't make her think", "This may be the first recorded incidence of a knick-knack paddy whack", etc. And that's not even counting his punny anchor names.
** Subverted at one point: "Hello, I'm [[BiggusDickus Quite Hung.]]"
** Another example:
--->'''Colin:''' Bars across America were saddened today by the death of Dr. Joseph Lowenstein. The famous doctor who, as a sideline, would make exotic drinks from wood sap, died suddenly today. This is one patron who is really gonna miss that hickory daiquiri doc.
** An even longer one is the flower-selling monks:
--->'''Colin:''' Famous Playboy Hugh Hefner successfully managed to stop an order of monks from operating a business on his property. The police forced the friars to close down their stall, which was outside the Playboy mansion, where they had been selling flowers. Said one friar, "Well, if it was anyone else we could've gotten away from it, but unfortunately, only Hugh can prevent florist friars."
** Or this one:
--->'''Colin:''' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer dead at 53. (audience reacts) I know, it is sad. Over Barcelona today the famed reindeer was hit by a flock of seagulls and a 747. Eyewitnesses report that the [[MyFairLady reindeer in Spain was hit mainly by the plane.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: One "Scenes From a Hat" suggestion was unlikely lounge songs, and Chip sang: "Cannibalism... cannibalism..."
* IdiosyncraticWipes: only for the end-of-season Clip Shows in the UK run.
* IfIHadANickel: A running gag.
-->'''Drew''': Boy, if I had a nickel for every time someone said that to me...\\
'''Ryan''': You'd have a dime.
** Mixed with DoubleEntendre after the "Infomercial" where Colin stuck a lighter in Ryan's mouth:
--> '''Drew''': Well, he was putting it right in your mouth and he was about to crank it, and I was like "Whoa!""\\
'''Ryan''': If I had a nickel for every time that's happened!
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: One skit had Ryan (Jim Bowey) accidentally shoot Colin (Davey Crocket) because he thought his gun was empty.
* ImpersonationParadox: Ryan's John Wayne, which got more and more exaggerated the more he did it. Also Colin's Humphrey Bogart, where he added constant mouth twitches that I don't think Bogart did.
** Anybody who imitated Jimmy Stewart exaggerated his VerbalTic to the point where he stammered for [[OverlyLongGag a really long time]] before finishing the sentence normally. Jimmy Stewart may have had a slight stutter in the movies, but he was never ''this'' bad. Of course, this exaggeration is played for laughs:
--> '''Ryan''': Now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now, wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh, why don't we build some sort of ''fire''??
* IncestIsRelative: In the Hoedown about family reunions, Colin claimed that he enjoyed them, as they gave him an opportunity to pick up chicks.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Noted actor Peter Cook appeared on an early episode of the UK version. Apparently, someone had taken him out for a drink to "loosen up," before the show began. He is quite clearly drunk throughout the episode. [[FacePalm This didn't improve things.]]
** It happens in a game of "Bartender", where Wayne's quirk is being in love with Chip. Cue him entering the bar and locking the door, looking over his shoulder at Chip in a suggestive manner.
--->'''Chip''': I think ''I'' need the drink.
* IneffectualDeathThreats: Drew has remarked more than once to Wayne and Ryan before "Weird Newscasters" that if they come near his desk to include him in a skit, he'll kill them. That didn't stop either from doing so anyway, though, such as in an episode when Ryan was a weatherman who used bodies as weather maps, and pointed to Drew's crotch, indicating to boaters that there was a "small craft warning".
* InfoDump: More common in the earlier seasons of the show when the games had to be explained to the audience in greater detail because they were new back then. One particular instance of a long-winded explanation was at the start of "Number of Words", where Drew not only had to explain that each performer could only use a certain number of words, but had to explain the scene, and assign the number of words for each performer. After all that, he said, "Did you get all that? Because I'm not repeating it!"
** Lampshaded in a later episode before "Greatest Hits". Drew gets the topic that the cast has to make songs about, and goes into laborious detail about the concept of the game. Ryan interrupts: "We've all played the game before, Drew."
* InherentlyFunnyWords: Why the non-[[{{Pun}} punny]] names in ''Newscasters'' get laughs from the audience.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNj3Cjz5M7E&t=2m26s Invoked here.]]
* InnocentInnuendo: During a playing of "Hats", Wayne is wearing a taxi hat and tells the customer, "That'll be $12.50." The audience reacts like expected, and Wayne says, "For the TAXI CAB RIDE! You guys are horrible!"
* InsaneProprietor: Drew has more than once given points in the style of a proprietor who's overstocked on points and has to unload them.
* InstrumentalThemeTune: For both the U.K. and U.S. versions.
* InsultMisfire: A variant, during a ''Greatest Hits'' about presidents, as Colin "thought" Ryan was talking about himself:
-->'''Colin''': You know, a few years back, there was a new wave of music. And I was first to get my metaphorical surfboard and go on that new wave.\\
'''Ryan''': Ooh! That's a big word for a Canadian.\\
'''Colin''': Yeah. If you want, I can talk slower.
* IntercourseWithYou: About half of the songs take this direction. It shold be noted that "Song Styles" and "Duets" didn't become like this until ''after'' it switched to picking audience members in UK season 10.
* TheInternetIsForPorn: During the "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of Hockey", Colin remarked: "And on this CD compilation, we have more hits than a porn website!"
* {{Irony}}: In the "salute to American TV" episode:
-->'''Drew''': Tonight, Whose Line salutes great American television. Kinda ironic, isn't it?
** At the beginning of World's Worst:
--->'''Wayne''': You're going to be giving examples of the world's worst television program\\
'''Drew''': The world's worst television program...really?
** From the British version, in which the "Worst television program" also turned up.
--->'''Tony:''' Look, it's that show where Clive patronizes people from all over the world!\\
'''Clive Anderson:''' [[InsultMisfire Don't bring Clive James into this.]]
* IslandHelpMessage: In a "Weird Newscasters", Ryan played a man stranded on a desert island, and mimed doing this when a plane came overhead. Amusingly, he first wrote "Hep" but then added an "L" in there.
** One game of ''Props'' in the UK version involved a V-shaped prop, prompting Ryan to suggest spelling out "'''V'''ery Much Help Is Needed" instead.
* IsThisThingOn: During a game of "Hats", Greg had a bunny mask on and said, "I'm not into protection." The audience barely reacted, and Drew suggested he do it again because they probably didn't hear him. Greg then delivered a hilarious retort: "Oh could no one hear me? Maybe it's because of this (bleep)ing mask I'm wearing."
** One suggestion in ''Scenes from the Hat'' is simply [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrTPKFBq570 "I Didn't Know The Mike Was On."]]
** "Newsflash" frequently opens with the people who aren't going to be standing in front of the screen (so, usually the ones who aren't Colin) swapping off-colour jokes, discussing embarrassing personal problems, or flirting, before "realising" the camera is rolling.
* ItDoesntMeanAnything: During a "Hollywood Director" where Ryan and Greg were rival bikers having a drag race, the theme switched to loving the feel of carpet on their skin. Wayne (who was playing Greg's boyfriend) crawled on top of Greg, who was lying down, and Greg wrapped one of his legs around Wayne before being buzzed out. After the game, Drew remarked how [[HoYay homoerotic Greg straddling Wayne was]].
-->'''Wayne''': It was for the scene, dude.\\
'''Ryan''': Hey Drew, what happens on the show stays on the show.\\
'''Greg''': Gee whiz, Drew, don't you remember my audition?
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: To be expected when you've got British and American players working together, but some rare cases include Clive [[ItMakesSenseInContext pronouncing 'urinals' in a way that only Clive pronounces 'urinals']]; and Ryan and Colin pronouncing 'route' in two different fashions ([[ThrowItIn Wayne worked both of them into his song after that]].)
-->'''Greg:''' "[[TakeThat ...and when we say 'naff git' we mean 'Clive Anderson'!]]"
** In a playing of "Greatest Hits", Colin mentions that Little Richard used to pronounce his name "Little Rishahrd".
** In a "Hoedown", Ryan pronounced "creature" as "cre-cheer" in order to rhyme with the previous line's word ("fear") properly.
** From a US Scenes from a Hat, where the scene was "Rejected themes for restaurants":
--->'''Josie:''' Hello, and welcome to Dead Cats, 109 recipes that you can do with your pussy!\\
'''Drew:''' I don't know if they told you, but... in America, we can only get away with that if we pronounce it "pus-SAY".
** During a Newsflash, Greg pronounced Colin's name as "Colen Moechrie".
** In the famous "Whose Line" set at The Alamo, Colin said he'd rather be wrestling a "bar". Ryan: "A "bar"?" Colin: "A ''bear''."
----
* DarkSecret: The premise of "Secret". Of course, being a comedy show, the secrets are always silly and ridiculous, like one of the characters wanting to make sperm bank [=ATMs=].
* ADateWithRosiePalms: One "Hoedown" about marriage ended with Ryan singing he's glad he's married, because it sure beats sitting around and pulling on his own penis.
** In a deleted scene on the [=DVDs=], Ryan lampshaded the fact that it's hard to do a "Hoedown" about puberty without mentioning masturbation.
--->"I like to pull my penis, I do it all the time..."
** In a "World's Worst" about the worst person to share a lifeboat with, Drew said, "OK, lemme show you one more way I like to masturbate."
** "I've been cheating on you WITH MY OTHER HAND!"
** In the "affair hoedown," both Wayne and Drew mention masturbating
--->'''Wayne:''' "This affair has got me, its hold on me is mighty. No, it isn't with a woman, my affair is with Righty.\\
'''Drew:''' "What I've discovered is an affair to remember, I'm thinking about Ms. June while I'm looking at Ms. November.
* DeadGuyPuppet: An occasional gag, most commonly with Ryan Stiles and/or Scenes From A Hat.
-->'''Drew''': "Things not to do at a funeral..."
** Not to mention that there is a whole round involving this.
* DeadpanSnarker: Clive Anderson, host of the British version. Colin also tends to be one due to how he never breaks character, thus rarely even smiles at his jokes or others' when he performs, though like everyone else on the show, he's also a LargeHam on other occasions.
* DealWithTheDevil: During a "Weird Newscasters" where Ryan ventured into Hell, he went up to Drew Carey and said, "THIS is how you got two shows..."
* DeathGlare: Colin Mochrie, of all people, gives one to Ryan when he makes a Nazi Captain Hair joke at his expense.
* DeletedScene: All of seasons 7 and 8 of the U.S. version are merely cobbled together from old footage not used in previous episodes. As the tapings can take 2-3 hours, it's easy to get a half hour of footage multiple times from them. That said, there are also deleted scenes and games on the season 1 DVD sets, which didn't appear in any proper episodes.
** Parodied in-show with the game "Scenes Cut From a Movie".
* DemotedToExtra: variation, semi-regular players from the UK version like Ron West and Jimmy Mulville would later be credited under staff.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Ryan, during a playing of "Greatest Hits":
-->'''Ryan''': I remember a protest song out of the '60s that I had on a record.. in the '60s.\\
'''Colin''': Wow! What kind of strange coincidence is that!
** "... and ''is'' WhoopiGoldberg: WhoopiGoldberg!"
** In a UK Hoedown, Colin's first line was:
--->'''Colin''': Every night I go to sleep, I go to sleep each night...
** In a "Greatest Hits" about race car drivers:
--->'''Colin''': Oh, I love race cars and I love race car drivers; I love songs about race cars and race car driving!
** A Drew example: "Let's go on to a game called "Film Dub", shall we, it's a game called... "Film Dub", okay?" Right before the game began, Greg teased him about it:
--->'''Greg''': What's this game called?\\
'''Drew''': "Film Dub".
** In the "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of the Marine Corps":
--->'''Colin''': Folk music has been a part of my life, and in fact, a part of my blood. It's been a part of my life, my life's blood!
** In the Greatest Hits about songs of horror, one of the songs was called "Devil, There's A Devil, Whoa Devil, Whoa, That's A Devil".
* DescriptionPorn: As the U.S. version went on, the "Let's Make a Date" and "Party Quirks" descriptions got longer and more elaborate. This was occasionally {{lampshaded}}, such as when Ryan looked at his watch partway through Drew reading Jeff the right answer, or when Greg actually looked at Wayne's quirk on the card after the game and said:
-->'''Greg''': OH MY GOD! There's two paragraphs of text on this!\\
'''Drew''': They're all awfully detailed.\\
'''Greg''': This is the Bhagavad Gita, there's 50,000 chapters! (laughs) I didn't realize we were reading the whole Kabbalah.
** The ''Let's Make A Date'' playing in question can be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ujVFM_mKs here]]. [[hottip:*:Wayne's suggestion is a "smooth rap star blindfolded and handcuffed to the bed by his new girlfriend[,] gradually realizing the evening is going wrong", and Colin's is the equally long "deranged window dresser whose only friends are mannequins Ryan & Wayne who he has fun undressing & dressing after hours"]]
** It also got funny when the descriptions were read ''back'' to Drew, verbatim:
--->'''Drew:''' "Wayne, you are a Haitian man who's been unfaithful and is now the victim of a voodoo attack..."\\
Wayne: (AngryBlackMan on) "Why I gotta be the Haitian man who's been unfaithful and is now the victim of a voodoo attack?"
* DesertedIsland: In a "Weird Newscasters", Ryan played a man stranded on a deserted island.
* DeusExMachina: At the end of the infamous "Improbable Mission" with [[RunningGag the cat]], the burnoose that Ryan and Colin are supposed to be washing is accidentally set on fire and destroyed. There's a brief pause, and Colin says, "It's OK, I have an extra burnoose." and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z86EGt3GuPw mimes pulling one out of his pocket.]]
** Most segments of Improbable Mission utilize this trope pretty heavily throughout.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: pay close attention, Josie Lawrence, Tony Slattery and even Colin Mochrie tend to have these moments.
** Animal Porn. Colin has a DIJSTOL fail during a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMwHxLuqwpQ Greatest Hits skit]], saying that they'll get back to the "animal porn" in just a moment, then makes it even worse by ''naming'' the porn.[[note]]"Mary Had A Little Lamb", if you must know.[[/note]] The sketch goes OffTheRails for a long moment as everyone except him falls apart laughing.
--->'''Ryan:''' He's so happy! "We're watching animal porn!"
* DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready: Depending on the game, repeated suggestions may be rejected. Even so, there are four Blind Date hoedowns.
** The joke, "Two thongs don't make a right" comes up a few times in the series. Drew even took points away from Ryan for using it in one game.
* DiscriminateAndSwitch: Before a playing of "African Chant", Drew said that Wayne would be singing it, and the following exchange occurs:
-->'''Wayne''': Why ''I'' gotta do the African Chant?!\\
'''Drew''': Because Colin would just mess it up.
* DisorganizedOutlineSpeech:
** During a playing of the Millionaire Show game, Greg Proops accidentally messes up when giving out the multiple choice answers:
--->'''Greg:''' When you eat pig, it is called A: Pork, B: That farshtunken neighbor of mine, 3:... [Pause.] Sometimes I change from C to 3.
** Another playing of the same game has Colin listing the choices under A, C, C and D. Ryan does not let this go without comment.
** In yet another playing, Colin asks:
--->A compact disc is also known as: A) AA, B) CD, D)...er...C) BC, D)......ddddddD
** And in yet ANOTHER playing, Ryan asks his life line over the phone:
---> Is it A, C, D, or D?
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "Good Cop, Bad Cop", Colin (playing the bad cop) put Wayne in a dishwasher for a very trivial reason.
** In one "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad5Nw7uYZtQ Weird Newscasters]]" bit, Jeff-as-ChristopherWalken threatened to "put [his] foot in [an audience memeber's] throat" because they kept laughing during [[SoUnfunnyItsFunny his standup routine]].
* TheDitz: The contestant in "Let's Make a Date" is often (always?) portrayed as a ditz.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In the infamous "Living Scenery" with special guest Richard Simmons, Colin uses Richard as a jetski, which ends up looking a LOT like oral sex. Colin completes the gag by miming the lighting of a [[SmokingHotSex cigarette]] afterwards. [[OffTheRails To say the audience loses it is an understatement.]]
** This trope is invoked too many times to count during the course of this show, particularly during "Living Scenery" (see above) and "Props".
* DontExplainTheJoke: During a game of ''Hats''
-->'''Wayne:''' ''[wearing a hat with a rooster on it]'' My loving's so good it'll make your chicken run!\\
''[CollectiveGroan from the audience]''\\
'''Wayne:''' See, it's a [[WesternAnimation/ChickenRun movie]]!
** There's a Weird Newscasters where Colin is a bad stand-up comic:
--->'''Colin:''' Well, it seems that all the fish are dying. Could this be an act of Cod? (laughs) We've been having bad weather lately; it's raining... cats and dogs! I stepped in a poodle! (laughs and slaps knees) It's like puddle, but ''spelled differently!'' I've got 28 more minutes!\\
'''Brad:''' Ha, ha. Sure is quiet in the newsroom, isn't it?
** The ClosedCaptioning for the initial order of American episodes ruined all of the punchlines.
** This sometimes occurred in "Props":
--->'''Wayne''': (with a red two-pronged thing held over his head) Hahahaha, I am the dark one!\\
'''Colin''': Oh, ''devil''.
* DonutMessWithACop: Colin and Ryan mime eating donuts during the "Sound Effects" where they play cops. The audience members who provided their sound effects [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEAuxNNYKUU didn't make the appropriate chewing noises at first]], which Colin and Ryan naturally called attention to.
** One session of ''Hollywood Director'' even has Greg entering while yelling "DON'T MOVE! I have a sugar donut!"
* DoubleEntendre: This was pretty much the entire point of the game "Hats"/"Dating Service Video", as well as "If You Know What I Mean". Example: A "Scenes From a Hat" suggestion was "Things that your waitress says to you that can be misconstrued as sexual".
-->'''Wayne''': So who's got the big meat?\\
'''Colin''': The breasts are on special.
** Any "Scenes from a Hat" suggestion that follows the syntax "Things you can say about _____ but not about your girlfriend." Here's a classic:
--->'''Colin''': [''for "Things you can say to your dog, but not your girlfriend"''] Come!
* DoubleStandard: Both played straight and for laughs at the same time; during an "Infomercial" about face lifts, Ryan made a couple bald and "big head" jokes about Colin, to which the audience laughed. Colin then proceeded to make a joke about the size of Ryan's nose, to which the audience reacted more with sympathy. After the game, Colin lampshaded this:
-->'''Colin''': You notice all the melon jokes, the bald jokes, I make one nose joke, it's "OHHHH!"
* DrillSergeantNasty: Ryan, in the US version, ''twice'' on Weird Newscasters. Particularly memorable when he grabs three audience members to do pull-ups on the green-screen - the top of which got wrinkled and torn. The running gag for the show promptly became Ryan messing up the green screen.
** In a game called Reunion, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_p-gxkhPes Greg, Ryan and Colin are drill sergeants at a reunion]], and Greg acts most like this trope.
--->'''Greg Proops''': '''''ONLY TWO THINGS COME FROM OKLAHOMA! STEERS AND OTHER STEERS THAT LIKE THEM!!!'''''\\
'''Brad Sherwood''': '''''I JUST WANT TO STAND HERE AND STARE AT MY PRIVATES!!!'''''
* DrivenToSuicide: Ryan's character of Prince Charming in a "Weird Newscasters" skit hangs himself when he realizes that the glass slipper fits on Drew's foot. It even almost fit on an audience member's foot!
** That was pretty much a running gag for Ryan.
** Also happens in another "Weird Newscasters" where Wayne's character finds his girlfriend in the audience with another man. Distraught over her infidelity, he "jumps" to his death. Colin then makes the crack "This just in: Cheating girlfriends live longer than their boyfriends."
** In one Hoedown, Ryan sings something along the lines of "It's hard to think of something with a little twist/ If we do another Hoedown, I'll slit my [beep] wrists!"
* {{Eagleland}}: The UK version played around with Flavor 2 for several games like "[[ShapedLikeItself American Musical]]", "[[PissTakeRap Rap]]", and, of course, [[CountryMusic "Hoedown".]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: Before Tony Slattery's actual debut episode, he appeared as an audience member in the first episode after the pilot.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When it comes to the U.S. version's first season: Wayne absent in some episodes? Check. One-shot performers like Ian Gomez, Kathy Kinney, Patrick Bristow (in an unaired pilot which later aired as part of season 8), and Stephen Colbert? Check. Ryan still wearing short sleeve shirts and Greg still wearing vests? Check. No Linda Taylor or other back-up musicians? Check and mate.
** In the first few episodes, Drew would introduce the show by saying, "Welcome to ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?,'' the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter." He'd pause, and ''then'' the audience would laugh. And he wouldn't say "That's right, the points are just like...", either.
* EditedForSyndication: The U.K. version is edited for time when broadcast in America, due to more commercials on most U.S. stations.
* EffortlessAmazonianLift: Jane Tricker does it to Wayne. He embraces it.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: "Scenes From a Hat": "Little-known facts about our host, Drew Carey": Ryan said: "What kind of a middle name is Allison?"
** Which turned out to be an unintended MythologyGag to the UK version:
--->'''Clive:''' (taking suggestions for ''Singing Bartender) "...all right, Tony, you're angry about your middle name..."\\
'''Tony:''' "I ''am'', actually. It's ''Declan''."
* EmbarrassingNickname: Colin got nicknamed "Mr. Moo" and "Colin Moochrie" after an "Improbable Mission" where he was milked.
-->'''Drew''': He ''said'' he was sick of the bald jokes. Fine, Colin Moochrie, no more bald jokes.
** And speaking of bald jokes, Colin was given the identity "Captain Hair" in "Superheroes" to save a world in crisis: NO MORE ROGAINE!
--->'''Ryan (after the game):''' Of course, you know what that is in German, right? [[{{Pun}} Herr Hair!]]
** In one episode, Drew accidentally announced that the next game would be the game they just played. Greg gave him an unflattering nickname:
--->'''Greg''': Excuse me, Captain Alzheimer's? Go to the ''third'' card, Drew. Go to the ''third'' card.
* EnforcedMethodActing: Unavoidable, due to the improv nature of the show. Many of the reactions from the performers are unexpected. Just one of many examples: Colin seemed [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hl5BqYXeZc genuinely surprised when Ryan kissed him]] in the "Narrate" about The Maltese Burger.
** You can usually spot one guy who isn't Colin get caught unawares during Colin's "crap" declarations in ''Hollywood Director''.
*** Perhaps one of the best instances was when Chip jumped onto Ryan's back and Colin actually ''was'' yelling and wasn't just acting, since Ryan has a bad back.
** RichardSimmons' appearance on the show [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI7dLm-phro caught at least one guy by complete surprise.]]
* EntendreFailure: Used in nearly every playing of "If You Know What I Mean", to subvert the formula in the rest of the game: One of the performers will deliver a double entendre followed by the trademark "If you know what I mean", and another performer will reply with, "No, I don't know what you mean."
** Also worth noting: whenever this happens to Colin, he usually pantomimes [[DrinkingGame taking a shot]] (no matter where the action is located; he once did this in a scene set inside a locker room).
* {{Ephebophile}}: Drew pretends to be one on a couple occasions:
-->'''Drew''': Hey, did you know that teenagers, if they're hugged every day, they have better confidence and will do better in school? So parents, if you see me hugging your teenage daughter, I'm only trying to help.
** Another example:
--->'''Drew''': During the commercial break, did you hug your daughter? Because ''I'' did.
* EpicFail:
** One of the first playings of ''Three Headed Broadway Singer'' has Drew momentarily forgetting the one-word-at-a-time rule ("And take me on a...!"), and it went downhill from there, to the extent that ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNZe1MsCt0M it gets brought up in a later ep.]]''
*** In that later episode, David Hasselhoff turned this particular fail UpToEleven by using multiple words at once several times without realizing his mistake.
** Chip is responsible for the infamous "clothes in the dishwasher" mistake, and the lesser-known case where he inadvertently sang "professor" instead of "wrestler".
*** Speaking of Chip, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ene7qcKKOQ during a playing of "Let's Make a Date"]], he guessed Ryan's character to be "the farmer's daughter's father"; in other words, as Drew simplified for him: "The farmer".
---->'''Chip''': Do I even get ''one'' point for that?\\
'''Drew''': [[NoJustNoReaction No]].
** And Wayne forgetting one of his two lines during ''Two Line Vocabulary''.
--->'''Drew:''' "Do you want to keep a copy for your own reference...?"
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNv5Jj0Peq8 "Wait, that's not Close Encounters..."]]
*** Speaking of this, in a playing of "Film, TV & Theater Styles", the style was Three Stooges, but Ryan got mixed up and did an impression of Chico Marx instead.
---->'''Drew''': Three Stooges.\\
'''Ryan''': I know, I know!\\
'''Drew''': That was Marx Bros.\\
'''Ryan''': ''I KNOW, I KNOW!''
** Drew will occasionally call one of the performers a different name by accident, like when he called Wayne "Brad" before "Greatest Hits".
--->'''Ryan''': Hey, Clive's allowed to make mistakes.\\
'''Drew''': (to Ryan) I'm sorry, Greg.
** Drew also called Ryan "Colin" before "Newsflash":
--->'''Greg''': That's Ryan.\\
'''Drew''': Ryan. What'd I say?\\
'''Greg''': Colin.\\
'''Drew''': Oh, Ryan. Right right right.\\
'''Ryan''': [[TheDrewCareyShow It's better than "Lewis"]]; he's been calling me that for years.\\
'''Greg''': (to Drew) Wait a minute, let me get this straight: Are you [[JimCarrey Jim]], or [[Music/MariahCarey Mariah]]?
** In the episode where Drew actually kept track of the points:
--->'''Drew''': ...And 1,000 to Ryan. Er, Colin. 1,000 to Colin.\\
'''Colin''': (points to himself) Colin. (points to Ryan) Ryan.
** When trying to impress [[FanService two Playboy Bunnies]]:
--->'''Ryan:'''This is my shoe.\\
''[[TheWoobie (he's ignored)]]''
** A particularly epic meltdown [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXiUi0UsTk&t=6m10s here]], spreading from Wayne to ''the whole band''.
** Two words: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLH00_KLJjs Wrong Name]]. Drew fails so hard that it twists the fabric of time and space and becomes a Win.
** One mistake actually led to Brad ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liy0LZH0E_E getting chewed out for it]]'':
--->'''Drew:''' "So what was the 'Gary US Bonds' thing?"\\
'''Brad:''' "Didn't he go 'Do The Gator' during a song of his...?"\\
'''Drew:''' "''You didn't even know and you throw it out as a clue?'' Minus 500 points..."
** During a game of 'Narrate' Colin orders fries. Then he drinks them. The audience laughs and the look on his face when he realizes what he did is priceless.
** Before a playing of "Duet", Drew asked Katie, a woman from the audience, what her job was. She replied that she works at Hoagie Oagie. This exchange occurred:
--->'''Drew''': Do you work behind the counter, in front of the counter?\\
'''Katie''': Behind.\\
'''Drew''': Behind the counter, oh.\\
'''Ryan''': "In front of the counter". That would be a ''customer'', Drew. (audience laughs)
** A prop in the UK version's christmas special broke and throughout the sketch gradually deteriorated.
** In a playing of "Changed Letter", the performers couldn't say B; they had to say F. So what's Colin's first line? "Yeah, Brank?"
*** It should be clarified that Brad opened with ''"Fetty?"''. Most likely, Colin did that intentionally.
* EroticEating: Seen a couple times during "Helping Hands".
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffv3_aJPKhw "Thank god you've come... Seductive Eating Man!"]]
** Also [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY55NF1nySo unintentionally]] during Hats.
--->'''Drew:''' You know, I can watch you eat that banana aaaaaall night long.\\
'''Ryan:''' (stops eating)
** Colin's done the same "whole banana at once" act during one ''Questions Only'' set in a supermarket, and in ''Scenes from a Hat'' as his idea of a "talent segment you'll never see on Miss America".
* EveryEpisodeEnding: The players reading the credits in the style of the host's choosing. The first season of the U.S. version doesn't feature this, though, nor does the TV-themed episode later in the run; instead, the cast sings happy birthday to Sid Caesar.
* EverythingIsRacist:
** After announcing that the next game would be "African Chant" done by Wayne, Wayne stands up and says "Why ''I'' gotta do the African chant?"
** Another game's set up was that Ryan would be a gas station attendant, another player would be a customer, and Wayne would be a thief come to rob the place, prompting him to ask, "Why ''I'' gotta be the thief?"
--> '''Drew''': Y'know, maybe you should count your blessings; if this was NBC, [[MonochromeCasting you wouldn't even be on this show.]] (audience and Wayne laugh) Am I lyin'? If I'm lyin', call the co- OK, go ahead.
** Also, during the Tapioca playing of "Greatest Hits," Ryan asks Colin what sound a Blackbird makes, and Wayne walks into the shot and gives them a DeathGlare.
** Also, Colin's shout of "Damn rolling blackouts!" after a game prompted Wayne to get out of his chair and start [[{{Pun}} rolling around on the floor...]]
* EverythingsWorseWithBees: In the "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of the Beekeeper":
--->'''Ryan''': What comes to mind when I go... (buzzes)
--->'''Colin''': I go like this, "OH NO, I'M ALLERGIC!!!"
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Straightforward game names help them to stick in the fans' minds.
* ExactWords: In a playing of "Let's Make a Date" where Ryan was a horse whisperer, Ryan involved Drew in the sketch, pretending that Drew was a horse and miming feeding him. After the game, this exchange occurred:
-->'''Drew''': That's right: Ryan used to have two shows, before he called me a ''fat horse'' on national TV.\\
'''Ryan''': I don't think I used the words "fat horse."
* ExecutiveMeddling: Thankfully averted, though attempted. When the show was first pitched for ABC, the execs didn't want Colin Mochrie to be part of the cast, for fear that he would look too old next to the others (being bald and all). Drew and Ryan fought hard for him to stay, and he not only was in every single episode of the U.S. version but ended up being one of the audience favorites.
** One instance of meddling did occur in a playing of "Title Sequence", though: When Drew asked for the names of two unlikely roommates, he took the suggestions BillCosby and AdolfHitler. Almost instantly, a director came up to Drew and informed him that he had to use something else in place of Hitler. Drew reluctantly settled for "BillCosby and the Insurance Salesman". Amusingly, the remainder of the episode consisted of the cast mocking the director's decision by working in jabs about Hitler. In particular, Ryan's hoedown about directors (where he said the director of Whose Line "should sprout a moustache and move to Germany!") received [[Awesome/WhoseLineIsItAnyway a standing ovation]].
* ExpansionPackPast: Ryan's and Colin's pasts, as described in "Greatest Hits", are quite elaborate and often contradict each other (particularly their ages). Of course, this could be justified if they just happen to be playing new characters each time.
* {{Exposition}}: In the "Hollywood Director" where Ryan played a hunky pool boy:
-->'''Ryan''': (to Kathy Greenwood) Y'know, I was fired three weeks ago, but I still come and clean your pool.
* FacePalm: One of the rare times Colin breaks character. In the "Slept With an Ugly Woman" Irish Drinking Song, Colin gets the last line (as usual) and spits out "It looked like someone had beat her." As soon as he realizes [[UnfortunateImplications what]] [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud he just said,]] he facepalms. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xglZ8UTq5Fg He finishes the song with his hand still on his face.]]
** Also in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MsLSLpP2kQ this playing of Scenes from a Hat,]] Greg forces Colin to do a ScoobyDoo impression. [[BadImpressionists He fails.]] Next shot of Colin, he double-facepalms.
* FamousLastWords: During the "Weird Newscasters" where Ryan is about to die, Ryan sings a mock Hoedown and the last words of his character are: "...Before I do another, I'd rather be dead." Immediately after, he mimes having a heart attack.
* FanDisservice: the ''Newsflash'' games that involved [[spoiler:a '50s "gentleman's club", and a little-known but official "fat women" beauty contest in Thailand.]]
** Depending on who you ask, special guest Jayne Trcka was fan disservice, due to those bulging muscles.
* {{Fanservice}}: To whoever seats the hot chicks behind Drew's shoulders just to keep the show interesting when the camera cuts away from the players: we're onto you.
** Drew also often picks attractive women from the audience to be sung to by Wayne. If the woman is particularly hot, Ryan gets out of his seat to shake the woman's hand, even if he's not playing the game.
** One episode features Hugh Hefner along with two Playboy Playmates as guests.
** The Joanie Laurer (aka Chyna) episode certainly counts as fanservice as well, with Chyna wearing a knock off Wonder Woman outfit in her games. Another episode featured Neena and Veena the snake tamers/bellydancers, whose gyrating hips certainly were hypnotizing.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWk2W2lv1Q0 This]] game of Newsflash.
** For the ladies and maybe some fanboys, Creator/DavidHasselhoff in a full leather outfit straight out of Series/KnightRider.
** Wayne's outfits tend toward this, looking as snug as they do. His rather large butt also gets plenty of attention.
** Ryan tends to either mime taking his clothes off, or acting like a stripper or porn star.
* {{Feghoot}}: Colin Mochrie is prone to this during "Weird Newscasters".
* FiveFiveFive: From the episode with WhoopiGoldberg:
** Colin: "How am I doing? Phone 555-"
* FiveManBand: (out of the regular line-up):
** TheHero: The host Drew Carey
** TheLancer: [[TheAce Wayne]]
** TheBigGuy: Ryan
** TheSmartGuy: Colin
** TheChick: Laura Hall and Linda Taylor
*** Also:
**** TheHero: Drew
**** TheLancer: Ryan
**** TheSmartGuy: Greg
**** TheBigGuy: Brad/Wayne
**** TheChick: Colin and [[ThoseTwoGuys Laura and Linda]]
**** SixthRanger: Chip
**** GuestStarPartyMember: Jeff
* ForceFeeding: Occurs quite often in "Helping Hands". Usually it's Colin who will insert some disgusting food combination into Ryan's mouth, but occasionally the other player will do so as well, such as the episode with Florence Henderson: She stuffed a LOT of meat loaf into Ryan's mouth.
-->'''Ryan''': I had some [meat loaf] in my hair there! It was all the way down my throat!
* ForcefulKiss: Joanie Laurer gave a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMeFvY5IDGc really long kiss]] to both Colin and Ryan in "Dubbing". Colin's kiss was so long that Ryan looked at his watch during it.
* ForegoneConclusion: Ryan ends a line with "scary" or "hairy" during Hoedown? He's going to rhyme it with "Drew Carey".
* ForeignCussWord: On the US Whose Line, the players (well, more like Ryan) can get away with using the two-fingered "up yours" gesture without the censors blurring it. Like in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2woNhjWo4 this]] ''Two-Line Vocabulary''.
** Greg also managed to slip the ''Weird Newscaster'' name "Wink [[ADateWithRosiePalms Wank]]ley" past the US radar.
* ForeignRemake: No, not the US version: there was also a recent Russian remake, titled "Ни бе ни ме нехило" (Ni be ni me nekhilo) [[note]]The title is composed of several extremely complex puns and as such is impossible to translate[[/note]]. The host was pretty bad and the cast choice was just stupid[[hottip:**:Quartet I is an excellent comedy troupe, but scripted plays is what they are known for, they don't do improv]], and they did a twofer mistake in remaking a show unknown to Russian viewers ''and'' aggravating those who know about it by not even giving credit. Oh and to add insult to injury they immediately started relying on guest stars. The aforementioned ensured that the show died painfully despite heavy hype, after lasting only four episodes.
** Early 2000's there was a Dutch version as well. This one actually did pretty well, became it's channel's big name show, and put some (somewhat) obsecure Dutch comedians into the spotlight who then went on to have extensive TV carreers to this day. And it was called The Llama's. Why? [[TheUnreveal Why indeed]].
* FourMoreMeasures: Colin does this almost every time they play Hoedown in order to give himself more time to think.
* FourthWallGreeting: Parodied during "Scenes From a Hat": One of the suggestions was tapes that don't fly off the shelves at Blockbuster. Wayne comes on stage, mimes that he's taking a shower (or rubbing lotion on; it's rather vague), and says, "Oh hi there. I'm Drew Carey."
* FridgeLogic[=/=]ArtisticLicenseLogic - Always invoked and played for laughs, such as Colin somehow reporting from beyond the grave that rabid hamsters killed everyone in the US.[[invoked]]
** There's also a "Party Quirks" where Ryan played a hillbilly and stated that in his spare time, he sleeps with his brother mother. Played for laughs, of course, but thinking about it: How does that work, exactly?
*** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Easy-- his grandmother and (grand)father had his sister, who had a sex change/started cross dressing, and then (with the grand/father) had him.]] [[MemeticMutation Problem?]]
* FromBadToWorse: The premise of many "Sound Effects" scenes, where one calamity after another befalls the players.
* FrothyMugsOfWater: Averted in some Helping Hands sketches, where Ryan is exposed to real alcohol; Bartender is a completely straight example.
* TheFunInFuneral: The whole point of the game "Funeral". Also some suggestions in "Scenes From a Hat" and "Props" (with the latter featuring a recurring joke, "Today, we bury (insert big-breasted woman's name here)." when a breast-shaped prop is used).
* FunnyAfro: One "Questions With Wigs" featured Ryan entering the scene wearing a giant yellow afro, asking "What's happenin'?" in a surfer voice.
** Another episode had Drew putting on a purple afro after a game. Ryan said Drew looked like [[TheSimpsons Sideshow Bob]] with that afro on.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: It's often just as amusing to watch the performers who aren't participating in the games, as they often are seen dying of laughter while watching the games. An example is the "Showstopping Number" where Colin's last two lines are gibberish; Greg can be seen laughing hard in his chair.
** Just watch Wayne whenever he's in the background, period. An extreme example can be found during the infamous "burnoose/the cat!" edition of "Improbable Mission": at one point you can see [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z86EGt3GuPw Wayne actually leap out of his chair for a second because he's laughing so hard.]]
** Wayne also leaped out of his chair to gawk at Ryan kissing Florence Henderson.
* FunnyForeigner: In a playing of "Hollywood Director", Colin broke from his usual characterization by acting like an immigrated citizen. His first line in the scene was this:
-->'''Colin''': J'know, when I first come to this country with nothing but a hammer and a powerful laxative, I thought, "I wouldn't have to deal with this ''crup''!"
* GagBoobs: In "Props", whenever a prop is remotely similar to breasts, guess what it'll be used for?
-->'''Ryan''': (breast-like props are on the floor, standing upright) Today, we bury (Pamela Sue Anderson / Madonna).
* GagPenis: From imaginary ones to actual ones thanks to some of the Props. Ryan loves making jokes about these.
-->'''Colin''': Hello, I'm Quite Hung.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVW_hLn0cys Robin Williams.]]
** Ryan's verse from the 100th episode:
--->Colin says he's hung the best, that I just can't see\\
I've known him for a long time, and it cannot be\\
He says he's got a big penis, but that's not a lock\\
'Cause I have to tell you right now: mine's tucked in my sock
** One Scenes from a Hat was "How the naked Fridays policy worked out at your office":
--->'''Wayne''': Limbo, anyone? ''(*buzz!*)''\\
'''Greg:''' ''(following something along the ground, looks up)'' Colin?!\\
'''Colin:''' ''(waves)'' Hi. ''(*buzz!*)''\\
'''Ryan:''' ''(pressing imaginary button)'' My boss will see you now.\\
'''Colin:''' Well, take your finger off my dick. (Ryan grabs the imaginary penis and ''wraps it over Colin's shoulder'')
** A playing of "Party Quirks" had Ryan as an activities leader of a nudist camp. He used his extra long imaginary penis for ''everything'', from ringing the doorbell to using it as a sundial to using it as a jump rope to using it for the target in horseshoe throwing.
* {{Gainaxing}}: Mimed with hands by the male cast whenever {{Baywatch}} or XenaWarriorPrincess had to be parodied.
* GenrePopularizer: While there have been sketch comedy shows on TV before ''Whose Line'', none quite followed this show's format, so it stood out. Drew even lampshaded this in one episode:
-->'''Drew''': Welcome back to "Whose Line is it Anyway", the show that the Emmys just don't have a category for.
* GetOut: In a playing of "Action Replay" where Wayne and Kathy Greenwood played a couple having an argument:
-->'''Wayne''': Y'know, five years of marriage to you... it's too much.\\
'''Kathy''': Then ''[[HairTriggerTemper GET OUTTA HERE!!!]]''
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Pretty much the whole point of ''If You Know What I Mean''. Ironically, the crap that ''doesn't'' get past the radar has drawn some of the biggest laughs.
-->[[MediumAwareness "That's never gonna make it to air, if you know what I mean..."]]
** Though that one refers to Brad saying "two-hundred pound snatch", which actually ''made it to air'' the first time and was bleeped out on all subsequent airings. The reason it made it to air is because a "snatch" is a legitimate name for a weightlifting exercise, which Brad helpfully mimes right after he says it.
** From ''Scenes from a Hat'', the recurring "Things you can say about X but not your girlfriend" suggestion, and some one-time ideas like "Things that sound dirty, but aren't", which the players went to town with.
*** BreadEggsMilkSquick: "Things you can say about the food you eat, but not your girlfriend."
--->'''Greg''': Mmm! [[Funny/WhoseLineIsItAnyway My God, this is juicy!]]
** One that has surprisingly never been censored initially has "Things you can say to your dog but not your girlfriend" and Colin stands forward, positions himself as though talking to a dog and says "Come!"
*** And he doesn't just SAY it, he makes the "C'mere" gesture with his hand.
** ''Changed Letter'' would also be perverted into this at times. "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RNaHaFccmE Wayne's got a fig old futt!]]"
--->"Nice genis."\\
"You weren't out shooting any... ''male deer''?"
** During a playing of Film, TV & Theater Styles, the next style was "horror". Ryan looked at Kathy and said, "You mean you two aren't married? You whore.", playing up the fact that "whore" and "horror" sound so much alike if you don't enunciate. Amazingly, "whore" was left uncensored.
*** Perhaps because of this, a later playing of "Greatest Hits" had Drew heavily enunciate "Songs of Horror", to which Ryan and Colin exaggerated to the point of absurdity.
--> '''Colin''': Are you saying that every song on this compilation has to do with ''hor''-ror??
** On at least one occasion, Drew was able to flip off Ryan, using his blazer as a cover.
** Possibly the most blatant case ever was during one session of ''Hollywood Director'' where the first suggestion was "do it like you're [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything college girls going wild at Mardi Gras]]". [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpQc2gVK3vc&t=0m39s The end result]] was certainly BrainBleach-worthy.
** Greg during a 'Scenes From a Hat' round for 'Anecdotes dogs would tell if they appeared on talk shows': "Yeah, I'm Drew Carey's dog. And, uh, you know, right around eleven o'clock he breaks out the peanut butter and I know what's comin'!" This one actually made it to air, surprisingly enough (assuming you get what it's referring to.)
** This example, from a "Hollywood Director" where Ryan played a gas station attendant:
--->'''Ryan''': Would you like me to fill 'er up?\\
'''Kathy Greenwood''': (impatiently) I've said ''yes'' to that question ''fifteen'' times!\\
'''Ryan''': How 'bout the ''car''?
* GlobalIgnorance: Colin and Ryan are less than thrilled to do a "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of Norway", because they apparently don't know much about the subject (Colin remarks: "We're screwed."). They lampshade this during the banter:
-->'''Ryan''': Norway: A country far, far away! A country where ''many'' songs have been written about it! And the subjects, ''oh''! They flow like water from the Norweigan... the area where the water flows!\\
'''Colin''': We've come up with 15,000 songs all about Norway. [[TakeThatUs I bet you can't even come up with THREE.]] But ''we've'' come up with 15,000!
** In another "Greatest Hits", the subject was Rome. There was this tidbit:
--->'''Ryan''': We've assembled forty songs on thirty [=CDs=], all about the city of Rome, "the city of love". Is it?\\
'''Colin''': It could be.\\
'''Ryan''': It is ''now''!
* GoingPostal: During the one playing of "Survival Show", Wayne's character threatens to go postal on Ryan and Colin by miming taking out a shotgun after they refuse to sing along with him. Appropriately enough, the scene took place in a post office.
* GoodNewsBadNews: A scene in "Scenes From a Hat" had Greg [[TakeThat going for the jugular]]:
-->'''Greg''': Merry Christmas! I got you a present! (Wayne pretends to open it) It's {{Geppetto}} on DVD!
** Subverted by Greg after Drew had an annoyed look on his face: "The bad news was it was Christmas."
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: In a "Foreign Film Dub" with Swedish as the language, Drew slips in English words amidst his fake Swedish (plus an acronym consisting entirely of names):
-->'''Drew''': Farda farda '''Ikea''', farda farda... '''unbelievable prices'''!
* GroinAttack: One "Weird Newscasters" had Ryan as someone who was hit in the crotch with a football.
** During one "Let's Make A Date," Wayne's quirk involves him being handcuffed to Colin. In all the running around Colin has to do for his persona (a 40's gangster in a failed bank robbery), [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JoUjcqkjEI#t=222s Wayne accidentally slams his crotch into a stool]]. This, and the face he makes, sets the audience off.
** And there's a ''Newsflash'' where the footage was of skateboarders wiping out and landing on railings crotch-first.
* HairTriggerTemper: Done in a few "Helping Hands". This example, where Ryan played an Italian deli owner, was done primarily so Colin could vigorously shake the soda in his hands:
-->'''Drew''': Would you like some wine-\\
'''Ryan''': HEY! What's the matter with you? I gotta shake my fist in anger at you! Be quiet, I shake-a my fist in anger at you!\\
'''Drew''': No, have some chianti!\\
'''Ryan''': You be quiet, I tell ya, you be quiet! (shouts gibberish)\\
'''Drew''': Papa, why you gotta argue?? (Ryan opens the soda, and predictably it spurts all over Colin's hands)
* HalloweenEpisode: The US version had one of these.
* HamToHamCombat: Oh so very much.
* HandWave: Generally, the solutions to the problems in "Superheroes" are either glossed over entirely or given some sort of quick fix.
** Done literally in a session of ''Sound Effects'', with Colin and Ryan as [[StarWars Jedi pilots.]] Thanks to one lightsaber sound coming up too soon, Ryan mimes his own leg getting chopped off by accident. [[AWizardDidIt Guess how Colin rectifies it.]]
* HandsOnApproach: Performed by Ryan on Kathy Griffin during "Hollywood Director" when he played a "hunky golf pro".
* HangoverSensitivity: The premise of the short-lived game "Really Bad Hangover". Probably due to being extremely similar to "Sound Effects", it was only played once.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Colin, during a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0OrNdDoHrA&t=4m0s "Greatest Hits of Women"]]:
-->'''Ryan:''' "I don't know about you, but I love 'em."\\
'''Colin:''' "I love 'em... more! ...I'm not insecure about my sexual identity! I LOVE WOMEN!" (shifty eyes) [[EasyAmnesia "Sleep." (taps Ryan's head) "You will forget I ever said that. Awake."]]
** Ryan in one ''Weird Newscasters'' is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCdkV8MOcDQ "desperately trying to quell rumors that he's gay."]]
** In a "Greatest Hits" about songs of the doctor:
--->'''Ryan:''' You know, I guess you've figured out by now that Colin and I like to take in a lot of theater. And there's nothing we like more than showtunes.\\
'''Colin:''' Nothin'! (begins to make a hand gesture but stops)\\
'''Ryan:''' That's... sorry?\\
'''Colin:''' No... yeah yeah, we love...\\
'''Ryan:''' No no, you look like you've got something urgent to say!\\
'''Colin:''' No, no we love showtunes. ''I'm married.''
** After a commercial break, Drew said, "And listen, for the thousands of you that have written in, ''no'', Colin and Ryan are ''not'' a couple." Wayne is puzzled: "...Really??" Drew added: "A couple of ''what'', that's what I'd like to know!" During "Greatest Hits":
--> '''Colin''': As long as there's been doctors, there's been people singing about them.
--> '''Ryan''': By the way, we're ''not'' a couple. (audience laughs)
--> '''Colin''': (to Ryan, murmuring) ...When did ''that'' happen?
--> '''Ryan''': (to Colin, murmuring) [[SubvertedTrope Shut up...]]
* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: Done deliberately in "Action Replay" so that the second pair of performers (usually Ryan and Colin) don't know what the first performers did for a scene and have to make up their own. An amusing RunningGag is how Colin or Ryan often wince and say "Ow!" when they bring the headphones close to their ears, due to how loud the music coming out of them is.
* HereWeGoAgain: Occasionally happens if Drew accidentally says that the next game is the same game they just got done playing. The performers often pretend to start the entire scene again. One time, Colin and Ryan just pointed and laughed.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: You can't have Colin Mochrie without Ryan Stiles!
** Ryan appeared without Colin in earlier British episodes, and while a competent enough player alone, there was no hint of the hilarity they would achieve together.
** Colin has only ever appeared in one episode without Ryan, which also happened to be his first appearance on the show.
* HilariousOuttakes: Since the program tapes in four-hour blocks, they can edit some of the more flavorful ones out, but they will keep many of them (and even have special "Too Hot for Whose Line" episodes with some).
** Surprisingly, one U.K. Hoedown about giving birth left in Greg's aborted first try, despite that his second try was much more successful.
--> '''Greg''': You know, failing is one of the major parts of television.
* HintDropping: Games of "Greatest Hits" usually feature Ryan trying to prompt Colin into guessing what the next music style will be. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it... doesn't, leading to instances like the one in which Ryan asked Colin what he likes to put on his chips:
-->'''Colin''': Why, a little bit of paper.\\
'''Ryan''': Say the paper is a little bland, what would you put on it to spice it up?\\
'''Colin''': Salt.\\
'''Ryan''': ...sa. Salsa!
** Hint dropping is also very common in "Moving People", since the people from the audience often neglect to move the characters' heads. This was particularly prominent in a playing where the style was ''The Lone Ranger'' and audience member Joe never moved Ryan's head until the very end. Of course, Ryan (whose head faced towards the ground) poked fun at this the whole time:
--->'''Ryan''': (as Tonto) You know I will not look at anything besides this spot on ground!\\
'''Ryan''': Me hope it's not too far from spot on ground.\\
'''Ryan''': Look! Me block spot on ground with hand!\\
'''Ryan''': Me try to move head with own hand but won't help!\\
'''Ryan''': Some day, I hope to see world...\\
'''Ryan''': (hands moved) I imagine it's so beautiful over there!
* HomeGame: During a "Scenes From a Hat", Greg pretended to be a door-to-door salesman selling the home version of Whose Line is it Anyway?. No such game actually exists, however.
** One game of ''Party Quirks'' starts with Chip as the host claiming to have this home game, "it came with an inflatable Drew doll!"
*** Probably because they thought no one would ever pay for something they could pretty much make at home for next-to-nothing. There are plenty of people who still have "Whose Line" parties today.
* HollywoodCalifornia: The taping site for the last UK season and the American run. The cast takes full advantage by mentioning the LAPD, the traffic in the area, and the woefully bad Los Angeles Dodgers.
* HollywoodSilencer: One session of Sound Effects got this memorable example.
-->'''Colin:''' I am going to cock my gun.\\
([[SpecialEffectsFailure Beat]])\\
'''Colin:''' Oh, it's got a silencer.
* HongKongDub: Parodied in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9e_1VqPlFY this]] Hollywood Director, among other skits.
** Unavoidable in "Film Dub", due to the players not seeing the footage beforehand. A few playings of "Film Dub" even featured Eastern films, such as one in the U.K. version where the scene was a barber shop... despite being set in a karate dojo.
* HostileShowTakeover: One of Ryan's more memorable "Weird Newscasters" quirks was that he was a mercenary on a mission to replace everyone on the show.
** This trope was referenced in an "Infomercial" about going sober. Colin put a wind-up lighter in Ryan's mouth and Drew interrupted the sketch to warn them that it was a lighter and could set Ryan's mouth on fire. After Colin removed the lighter, Ryan guilt-tripped Colin: " ''Someone'' wants their own show."
* HoYay: Deliberately invoked, to the point where Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie being a couple was one of the American series' longest running gags. See [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxkxG3DF4k this bit]] with Richard Simmons, notable for being one of the only times over both the show's runs that Colin [[{{Corpsing}} breaks character]]. [[invoked]]
** [[AThreesomeIsManly A Foursome Is Manly]]
** Ryan and Colin have kissed several times throughout the shows run.
*** To the point where Colin knew the feel of Ryan's lips on his head as opposed to somebody else's.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyvbC4F2bk&feature=sub Behold]] a collection of Whose Line HoYay.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw22_gAmA74 Colin wants to be Ryan's Wife]]
** [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday "By the way, we're not a couple!"]] "...When did that happen-" [-"SHUT UP."-]
** Robin Williams, completely turning the skit homoerotic: "Oh, 'work hard, work hard'. '''Last night you didn't say that.'''"
*** "I WANT IT TO BE FILLED WITH '''''LUST!'''''" -to Robin- ''"[[CampGay You remember!]]"''
** ''Song Titles'' would often wind up like this due to the limited nature of [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment song titles.]]
** Subverted when Drew makes a comment about WLIIA being the show where one can never be too rich or too gay and all four male contestents point to their wedding bands. Drew then quips he's never known a married gay man.
** A suggestion in "Scenes From a Hat" was "when a kiss is completely out of line", and the result was hilarious.
--> '''Wayne''': Your kid's been beatin' up my kid! (Colin kisses him)
** After a commercial break once, Drew said: "Welcome back to ''Whose Line is it Anyway'', the show with the most same sex mouth-to-mouth kissing in the history of television."
* HowManyFingers: Said after the "Party Quirks" where Ryan broke the neon light on Drew's desk with his head. Ryan answered "four", and Drew said it was close enough. Then, Ryan asked the same question while giving Drew the finger.
* HumansAreBastards: During "Scenes From a Hat", one of the suggestions was "Things that make the audience boo". Ryan's example was miming pushing an old lady into oncoming traffic. While some boos were heard, there were also a lot of laughs and applause. Ryan seemed genuinely surprised at the mixed reaction.
* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: The "If You Know What I Mean" game.
* HurricaneOfPuns: When Colin is the main anchor in "Weird Newscasters", he frequently puns a familiar saying, often with a [[OverlyPrepreparedGag complicated set-up]] to the pun. Examples: "You can lead a whore to water, but you can't make her think", "This may be the first recorded incidence of a knick-knack paddy whack", etc. And that's not even counting his punny anchor names.
** Subverted at one point: "Hello, I'm [[BiggusDickus Quite Hung.]]"
** Another example:
--->'''Colin:''' Bars across America were saddened today by the death of Dr. Joseph Lowenstein. The famous doctor who, as a sideline, would make exotic drinks from wood sap, died suddenly today. This is one patron who is really gonna miss that hickory daiquiri doc.
** An even longer one is the flower-selling monks:
--->'''Colin:''' Famous Playboy Hugh Hefner successfully managed to stop an order of monks from operating a business on his property. The police forced the friars to close down their stall, which was outside the Playboy mansion, where they had been selling flowers. Said one friar, "Well, if it was anyone else we could've gotten away from it, but unfortunately, only Hugh can prevent florist friars."
** Or this one:
--->'''Colin:''' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer dead at 53. (audience reacts) I know, it is sad. Over Barcelona today the famed reindeer was hit by a flock of seagulls and a 747. Eyewitnesses report that the [[MyFairLady reindeer in Spain was hit mainly by the plane.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: One "Scenes From a Hat" suggestion was unlikely lounge songs, and Chip sang: "Cannibalism... cannibalism..."
* IdiosyncraticWipes: only for the end-of-season Clip Shows in the UK run.
* IfIHadANickel: A running gag.
-->'''Drew''': Boy, if I had a nickel for every time someone said that to me...\\
'''Ryan''': You'd have a dime.
** Mixed with DoubleEntendre after the "Infomercial" where Colin stuck a lighter in Ryan's mouth:
--> '''Drew''': Well, he was putting it right in your mouth and he was about to crank it, and I was like "Whoa!""\\
'''Ryan''': If I had a nickel for every time that's happened!
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: One skit had Ryan (Jim Bowey) accidentally shoot Colin (Davey Crocket) because he thought his gun was empty.
* ImpersonationParadox: Ryan's John Wayne, which got more and more exaggerated the more he did it. Also Colin's Humphrey Bogart, where he added constant mouth twitches that I don't think Bogart did.
** Anybody who imitated Jimmy Stewart exaggerated his VerbalTic to the point where he stammered for [[OverlyLongGag a really long time]] before finishing the sentence normally. Jimmy Stewart may have had a slight stutter in the movies, but he was never ''this'' bad. Of course, this exaggeration is played for laughs:
--> '''Ryan''': Now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now, wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh, why don't we build some sort of ''fire''??
* IncestIsRelative: In the Hoedown about family reunions, Colin claimed that he enjoyed them, as they gave him an opportunity to pick up chicks.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Noted actor Peter Cook appeared on an early episode of the UK version. Apparently, someone had taken him out for a drink to "loosen up," before the show began. He is quite clearly drunk throughout the episode. [[FacePalm This didn't improve things.]]
** It happens in a game of "Bartender", where Wayne's quirk is being in love with Chip. Cue him entering the bar and locking the door, looking over his shoulder at Chip in a suggestive manner.
--->'''Chip''': I think ''I'' need the drink.
* IneffectualDeathThreats: Drew has remarked more than once to Wayne and Ryan before "Weird Newscasters" that if they come near his desk to include him in a skit, he'll kill them. That didn't stop either from doing so anyway, though, such as in an episode when Ryan was a weatherman who used bodies as weather maps, and pointed to Drew's crotch, indicating to boaters that there was a "small craft warning".
* InfoDump: More common in the earlier seasons of the show when the games had to be explained to the audience in greater detail because they were new back then. One particular instance of a long-winded explanation was at the start of "Number of Words", where Drew not only had to explain that each performer could only use a certain number of words, but had to explain the scene, and assign the number of words for each performer. After all that, he said, "Did you get all that? Because I'm not repeating it!"
** Lampshaded in a later episode before "Greatest Hits". Drew gets the topic that the cast has to make songs about, and goes into laborious detail about the concept of the game. Ryan interrupts: "We've all played the game before, Drew."
* InherentlyFunnyWords: Why the non-[[{{Pun}} punny]] names in ''Newscasters'' get laughs from the audience.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNj3Cjz5M7E&t=2m26s Invoked here.]]
* InnocentInnuendo: During a playing of "Hats", Wayne is wearing a taxi hat and tells the customer, "That'll be $12.50." The audience reacts like expected, and Wayne says, "For the TAXI CAB RIDE! You guys are horrible!"
* InsaneProprietor: Drew has more than once given points in the style of a proprietor who's overstocked on points and has to unload them.
* InstrumentalThemeTune: For both the U.K. and U.S. versions.
* InsultMisfire: A variant, during a ''Greatest Hits'' about presidents, as Colin "thought" Ryan was talking about himself:
-->'''Colin''': You know, a few years back, there was a new wave of music. And I was first to get my metaphorical surfboard and go on that new wave.\\
'''Ryan''': Ooh! That's a big word for a Canadian.\\
'''Colin''': Yeah. If you want, I can talk slower.
* IntercourseWithYou: About half of the songs take this direction. It shold be noted that "Song Styles" and "Duets" didn't become like this until ''after'' it switched to picking audience members in UK season 10.
* TheInternetIsForPorn: During the "Greatest Hits" about "Songs of Hockey", Colin remarked: "And on this CD compilation, we have more hits than a porn website!"
* {{Irony}}: In the "salute to American TV" episode:
-->'''Drew''': Tonight, Whose Line salutes great American television. Kinda ironic, isn't it?
** At the beginning of World's Worst:
--->'''Wayne''': You're going to be giving examples of the world's worst television program\\
'''Drew''': The world's worst television program...really?
** From the British version, in which the "Worst television program" also turned up.
--->'''Tony:''' Look, it's that show where Clive patronizes people from all over the world!\\
'''Clive Anderson:''' [[InsultMisfire Don't bring Clive James into this.]]
* IslandHelpMessage: In a "Weird Newscasters", Ryan played a man stranded on a desert island, and mimed doing this when a plane came overhead. Amusingly, he first wrote "Hep" but then added an "L" in there.
** One game of ''Props'' in the UK version involved a V-shaped prop, prompting Ryan to suggest spelling out "'''V'''ery Much Help Is Needed" instead.
* IsThisThingOn: During a game of "Hats", Greg had a bunny mask on and said, "I'm not into protection." The audience barely reacted, and Drew suggested he do it again because they probably didn't hear him. Greg then delivered a hilarious retort: "Oh could no one hear me? Maybe it's because of this (bleep)ing mask I'm wearing."
** One suggestion in ''Scenes from the Hat'' is simply [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrTPKFBq570 "I Didn't Know The Mike Was On."]]
** "Newsflash" frequently opens with the people who aren't going to be standing in front of the screen (so, usually the ones who aren't Colin) swapping off-colour jokes, discussing embarrassing personal problems, or flirting, before "realising" the camera is rolling.
* ItDoesntMeanAnything: During a "Hollywood Director" where Ryan and Greg were rival bikers having a drag race, the theme switched to loving the feel of carpet on their skin. Wayne (who was playing Greg's boyfriend) crawled on top of Greg, who was lying down, and Greg wrapped one of his legs around Wayne before being buzzed out. After the game, Drew remarked how [[HoYay homoerotic Greg straddling Wayne was]].
-->'''Wayne''': It was for the scene, dude.\\
'''Ryan''': Hey Drew, what happens on the show stays on the show.\\
'''Greg''': Gee whiz, Drew, don't you remember my audition?
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: To be expected when you've got British and American players working together, but some rare cases include Clive [[ItMakesSenseInContext pronouncing 'urinals' in a way that only Clive pronounces 'urinals']]; and Ryan and Colin pronouncing 'route' in two different fashions ([[ThrowItIn Wayne worked both of them into his song after that]].)
-->'''Greg:''' "[[TakeThat ...and when we say 'naff git' we mean 'Clive Anderson'!]]"
** In a playing of "Greatest Hits", Colin mentions that Little Richard used to pronounce his name "Little Rishahrd".
** In a "Hoedown", Ryan pronounced "creature" as "cre-cheer" in order to rhyme with the previous line's word ("fear") properly.
** From a US Scenes from a Hat, where the scene was "Rejected themes for restaurants":
--->'''Josie:''' Hello, and welcome to Dead Cats, 109 recipes that you can do with your pussy!\\
'''Drew:''' I don't know if they told you, but... in America, we can only get away with that if we pronounce it "pus-SAY".
** During a Newsflash, Greg pronounced Colin's name as "Colen Moechrie".
** In the famous "Whose Line" set at The Alamo, Colin said he'd rather be wrestling a "bar". Ryan: "A "bar"?" Colin: "A ''bear''."
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