Line #19 Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway


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4	[[quoteright:300:[[VisualPun https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whose_line_is_it_anyway.jpg]]]]
5	[-[[caption-width-right:300:The cast of the first American series. Spiraling in clockwise from top left: Chip Esten, Creator/GregProops, Brad Sherwood, Linda Taylor, Creator/ColinMochrie, Creator/RyanStiles, Laura Hall, Creator/WayneBrady, and Creator/DrewCarey.]]-]
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7	->''"Welcome to ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', the show where everything's made up and the [[ThePointsMeanNothing points don't matter]]; that's right, the points are like [[Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability notability on TV Tropes]]."''
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9	''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', also known as ''Whose Line?'' for short, is a successful {{Improv}}[=/=]SketchComedy[=/=]PanelShow that originated on British radio before moving to Creator/Channel4 for a ten-year run. Clive Anderson hosted the show, in which four improvisational comics took suggestions from the audience to act out hilarious unscripted scenes. The performers could change radically with each episode, and because of the nature of the show, they could cobble together upwards of four episodes worth of material from one filming session (which also explains how the American version could air as many as 39 episodes each season).
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11	An American version was created for [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]] with Drew Carey as host that ran eight seasons from 1998 to 2007 (filming actually stopped in 2001 during the show's fourth season, though they filmed so much material in that period that four more seasons aired after filming stopped, the last two of which aired on [[Creator/{{Freeform}} ABC Family]]). Because of the wider broadcasting of American television, this show is better known than the British original. In the US, the British version was an early staple of Creator/ComedyCentral, back in the earlier portion of the 1990s. Creator/RyanStiles and Creator/ColinMochrie were regular performers on the British version (who between them gave us much HoYay) and on this version they appeared in every episode. Ryan and Drew (who worked together on ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'') also provided the show with an ample supply of FoeRomanceSubtext. From the second season onwards, Wayne Brady was added to the regular line-up, which essentially launched his career. The fourth player varied, the most common performers being Brad Sherwood, Creator/GregProops, Jeff Davis, Kathy Greenwood or Chip Esten. Throughout the run, Laura Hall and Linda Taylor would provide musical accompaniment, becoming regular [[AccidentalPun players]] themselves as the show would feature at least one musical game with Wayne (and occasionally Chip, Brad or others), and one Hoedown or Irish Drinking Song.
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13	The shift from mostly rotating players to mostly regulars with an occasional guest - which began in the later British series and became the standard for the American version - made the show's format less 'experimental' and more formulaic, yet at the same time led to the players being more familiar with each others' foibles and led to richer humour. One example of how this changed the show is that in early series the quirks in ''Party Quirks'', the personas in ''Let's Make a Date'' and so on were very simple and one-dimensional (e.g. "a sperm"), while in later British series and especially the American version they became comically complex and specific (e.g. "horse whisperer calming and mounting the others who he thinks are wild stallions"), as the players knew each other well enough to discern more details in their performances.
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15	Very much subject to a BrokenBase, although the most you'll see these days are a few remarks about how they like or dislike which version or which host.
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17	Despite this, many people on both sides find the two shows [[Funny/WhoseLineIsItAnyway hilarious]].
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19	Another improv show, ''Drew Carey's Green Screen Show'', ran for a season on the old [[Creator/TheWB WB]] channel. A second show featuring the cast and crew of ''Whose Line Is It Anyway'' (minus Wayne Brady, but with Brady's ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'' sidekick Jonathan Mangum), ''Series/DrewCareysImprovAGanza'', premiered in Spring 2011 on Creator/{{GSN}}. And some of the guys (aided by host Fred Willard) got back together in 2012 on ABC with ''Series/TrustUsWithYourLife'', a celebrity-based version of the improv game "Day In The Life", where the celebrity tells stories from their life, and the improvisers take it from there. (It is currently on hiatus, rumored canceled, and currently sits in limbo.)
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21	A {{revival}} of the show began airing on Creator/TheCW on July 16, 2013. Due to Drew Carey's hosting commitments on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'', this version is hosted by Aisha Tyler, but apart from that, a revamped set, a few new games, and some new performers, the format is largely the same, with Colin, Ryan, and Wayne as regular performers and a rotating "fourth-seat," which includes some of the familiar fourth-seat performers as well as fresh faces. Laura and Linda also reprise their roles as the show's musicians. The only major difference in the show's format is that the CW version has special celebrity guests on nearly every episode to help out with a couple games and the credits reading. The revival aired twelve seasons as of 2023, but then Colin Mochrie announced that the twentieth season in 2023 would be the show's last. However, this turned out to be false, as The CW renewed the show for a twenty-first season in May 2023. Mochrie clarified his comments in a February 2023 interview that he and the other cast never received fair compensation, residuals, or much publicizing from the network, and also said that if the show continues past season twenty it "probably won't be with this cast", thus indicating a possibility that the American version will finally see him, Ryan Stiles, and/or Wayne Brady replaced as the main performers for the first time in its history.
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23	As to the show itself, if you don't feel like hunting through cable channels and if you're in either Britain or America, you can watch the UK run legally on [[http://www.channel4.com/programmes/whose-line-is-it-anyway/4od All 4]] or [[http://www.hulu.com/whose-line-is-it-anyway-uk Hulu]] (albeit with ad breaks, and Creator/{{Hulu}} currently only offers the last two seasons). If you're in the US, you can watch every episode of both the first American version and the revival on [[http://cwseed.com/shows/whose-line-is-it-anyway/ CW Seed]] (the CW's comedy division); new episodes are posted the day after they air.
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25	!! "Welcome to the ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' series page, where everything's made up, and the tropes don't matter."[[note]]''That's right, the tropes are like article adjectives when listing alphabetically!''[[/note]]
26	[[index]]
27	* WhoseLine/TropesAToC
28	* WhoseLine/TropesDToI
29	* WhoseLine/TropesJToR
30	* WhoseLine/TropesSToZ
31	[[/index]]
32	----
33	''As I tally up the points, it appears that Ryan and Colin are this week's winners... the prize for winning is to read the credits in a style of my choosing. Ryan and Colin, I'd like you to read the credits InTheStyleOf [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]] and Creator/MichaelBay at a BBQ party. It remains to me now to thank our regular contributors, you the Internet for reading this, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Richard Vranch on the piano]], this is TV Tropes saying goodnight, goodnight.''
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Context Series / WhoseLineIsItAnyway