Line #16 Trivia/WhoseLineIsItAnyway


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4	* AdoredByTheNetwork: An unusual case. ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'''s ratings were never that good, and ABC would almost certainly have canceled it, but it had two things going for it: a ''ridiculously'' low production cost for even a single taping, which over about 6 hours could produce anywhere from 3-4 shows, and it was going up against ratings juggernauts ''Series/{{Friends}}'' and, from 2000 onwards, ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' - in a rare moment of insight, ABC executives realized that nothing they could put on in that timeslot would do any better, really, so they might as well put something cheap on. Also, being one of the most unique and different shows on at the time would bring in at least some viewers, as well as the "anything but ''Friends''" crowd. This thought process was vindicated when it was replaced in the slot by ''Series/ThreatMatrix'', a much more expensive scripted drama that proved to be a near-historic bomb against the same competition and technically failed to outlive ''Whose Line?'' (which burned off a final handful of episodes in summer 2004).
5	* BannedEpisode:
6	** The "Creator/WilWheaton" episode was originally taped in early 2015 and was supposed to air the following summer, but instead was pre-empted. The episode didn't air until summer of 2017, although it was shown overseas. It's never been stated why the episode was pulled from airing, but some fans speculate it's because of the Helping Hands game where Will [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPQJVoHMTQE uses a prop gun like he's about to commit suicide]] at one point (he's supposed to be acting like a hostage-taker), and CW may have thought that humor was [[DudeNotFunny too dark for the show.]] Even Ryan remarks in-game, [[LampshadeHanging "That seems harsh."]]
7	** UP Network (which began airing reruns of the US version in 2017), tends to skip the Kathy Griffin episodes, due to the controversy surrounding her jokes about Donald Trump and the infamous ImpliedDeathThreat joke she made towards him. The fact that the network is aimed at conservative Christians, a group that is among the staunchest of Trump supporters, is most likely the major reason for this.
8	* BeamMeUpScotty: Whenever ''Star Wars'' is parodied or referenced, it's inevitable that the cast will say "Luke, I am your father" instead of the correct "No. ''I'' am your father."
9	* TheCastShowoff: Wayne was given a showcase game to display his musical talents (usually "Song Styles" or "Greatest Hits") in [[OnceAnEpisode virtually every episode]] of the US version. (He also sang the theme song to another ABC series at the time, ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders''.) This practice is actually OlderThanTheyThink; Creator/MikeMcShane got the same treatment during his run on the UK version (though his game was "Bartender"). Chip was also a regular in "Bartender" in the UK--it became "his" game when they moved to the US until they dropped it--but he usually sang along with Wayne as well, especially in "Greatest Hits".
10	* ColbertBump: Inverted, to an extent. Creator/StephenColbert's original appearance was in 1999, long before ''Series/TheColbertReport'' began and before ''Series/TheDailyShow'' really took off. Rather fittingly, Stephen played the anchor on "Weird Newscasters."
11	** The Scott Porter episode led to one for ''TabletopGame/HeroClix''.
12	* {{Corpsing}}: Generally the players try to keep a straight face during the skits, but sometimes they can't help but laugh. ''Some'' examples (with many more not documented yet):
13	** Greg is seen often laughing at either his costars' or, occasionally, his own jokes.
14	** When she's Colin's co-anchor on "Weird Newscasters," Kathy has a hard time not bursting out laughing at his improvised 'news'.
15	** Ryan struggling to keep a straight face in a playing of "Improbable Mission" with Ryan and Colin doing the laundry. Colin repeatedly used a "cat" as a tool to aid this task, which Ryan found amusing.
16	** During a playing of "Greatest Hits", Ryan quizzed Colin about what type of bird squawks the name of the next band. Colin, puzzled by the question, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKQ6eoXfBKU&t=68s guessed an arctic tern.]] Ryan, equally puzzled, asked what kind of sound an arctic tern makes. After thinking for a second, Colin squawked: "Music/BackstreetBoys!" Ryan lost it (as did the rest of the cast) [[note]]for the record, Ryan was actually talking about [[Music/TheWho an owl]][[/note]].
17	** Similarly, in another "Greatest Hits", Ryan asked Colin what he thought of when he hears "Ricky Ricardo and great cigars". Colin replied, "Tapioca". Ryan asked why, and Colin replied: "Well wasn't that his famous song? (singing) "Tapioca"! "Tapioca!"" Ryan tried desperately to stave off laughter and continue with the bit, but after two tries to finish his sentence, he broke down laughing for a good 30 seconds.
18	** Yet another Greatest Hits, [[http://youtu.be/ZtIQCV7_wsw#t=3m30s about lunch ladies]], featured another classic Ryan moment. Colin began to speak, but coughed. Ryan failed to maintain his composure while Colin said: "Here's a tip for all you announcers at home: Swallow before you speak." After this, Ryan got it together until Colin announced the title of the next song, "Don't Want Your Milk". Watch Ryan in this moment; he's desperately trying to refrain from smiling/laughing while Colin speaks.
19	** The game "Questionable Impressions" practically invites this trope, since the performers do such over-the-top (and occasionally, bad) impressions with the intent to crack up the opposing player. In one instance, Brad did an exaggerated, stutter-filled impression of Creator/JimmyStewart; Ryan knew he couldn't get through the scene without laughing and just let Brad have the "win".
20	** In a playing of "Sound Effects" where Colin was Ryan's heavily pregnant wife, Colin mimed pushing the baby back inside himself to climb down a ladder comfortably. At this, Ryan cracked up (as did pretty much everyone in the studio save for Colin), and Ryan continued to laugh even while asking if Colin was all right after the climb.
21	** The game of "Let's Make a Date", with Colin as someone "having secret affairs with Ryan and Wayne's shoes" and Ryan as "a comedian strapped to a bomb that counts down when the audience isn't laughing". Which leads to Colin pulling off one of Ryan's shoes when Ryan can't even ''move'', much less avoid giggling.
22	** During a playing of "If You Know What I Mean" about working out, Brad cracked up at his own double entendre, "Nothing like a 200 pound (snatch)[[note]]a weightlifting term[[/note]], if you know what I mean!"
23	** A playing of "Irish Drinking Song" went off the rails right from the start, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLH00_KLJjs when Drew mumbled a line]], and Ryan mocked his mumble. Wayne, the next in order, was too busy laughing to come up with the next line, as was Drew. To make them laugh even harder, Colin shouted "MEOW!" as his line, which was a RunningGag from the same episode. The resulting laughter from everybody was so immense that [[NotSoAboveItAll Laura Hall actually had to stop her piano-playing just to laugh]].
24	** Another Irish Drinking Song about pregnancy ''almost'' went off the rails, when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R476ZZxCWg Colin managed]] another RunningGag. Wayne ended the song trying to stifle his laughter, and Greg and Ryan had to stop.
25	** Colin is the master of causing this during Irish Drinking Song because of his dogged determination to finish the final chorus with enthusiasm.
26	** Apparently Irish Drinking Song makes the performers very prone to corpsing because it takes an intense amount of concentration, and when one of them laughs, it makes them all break up.
27	** Colin cracked up at his own blunder in a playing of "Changed Letter" where he started the game by flat out forgetting to not say the letter "B".
28	** Speaking of "Changed Letter", one playing had the contestants unable to say the letter "P"; they had to replace it with "G". Ryan began to crack up when Colin asked him if he'd like some "gog" to drink. This was exacerbated when Wayne added: "Soda gog and gickles??"
29	*** The cracking up started even earlier in the scene; when Ryan and Wayne entered the scene, Ryan asked, "Gerhaps we could join you?", but was instantly corrected by Brad, as he was supposed to say "gerhags". Ryan smiled wide as he corrected himself.
30	** Kathy Greenwood has been known to break character and smile/laugh in certain scenes. An example is in a playing of "Helping Hands" where she played an impatient customer being checked out by a rude clerk. At one point, Colin's hands roamed a little too close to her chest area, and she genuinely laughed at first, but then got back into character by being offended and accusing: "Hey what are you grabbing at?!"
31	** In a "Showstopping Number" about accountants, Wayne (playing the boss) smirked at his own line: "Now normally, I'd fire someone for their impudence, but..."
32	** In the "Greatest Hits" about songs of sci-fi, the second song ("Obi Wan Kenobi in the Flying Brown Robey", in the style of jitterbug) featured a moment when Colin tried to pick up Wayne for a dance move, but it ended up looking more like the two were humping. This caused Wayne to burst out laughing.
33	** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDU10TD85DM this]] round of ''Three-Headed Broadway Star'', Drew accidentally forgot the "one word at a time" rule, and almost completely fell apart laughing for the rest of the song. It got to the point where he could barely call out the cue to cut to a commercial break, prompting Ryan to do so instead.
34	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpdhRBbfb6o This]] round of ''Dead Bodies'', featuring Drew as the regular in the chair. Drew, playing a dead actor playing a lifeguard who just saved someone (and was doing a victory dance), can't stop laughing. And that is why Drew was rarely used in ''Dead Bodies''.
35	** In the "World's Worst" infomercial:
36	--->'''Ryan:''' Is your penis too small? Well- ''[cracks up]''
37	** One game of Secret from the revival contains an extremely rare moment of Colin completely losing character to stifle his laughter. Why was he laughing? [[http://www.cwtvpr.com/images/photos/thumbnail/2014/11/03/WL214A_0250b.jpg Because this was the prop]].
38	** In the "Greatest Hits" about doctors, during the song "Take Two and Call Me in the Morning", Wayne began laughing at Chip, for some reason. He was doubled-over when the song concluded.
39	--->'''Ryan:''' You know the year that song was written, they were quite heavy into the bottle.
40	** In the "Whose Line" parodying ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', Ryan briefly smiled and chuckled at his own line: "Put on your metal... dress."
41	** When providing examples of the World's Worst Priest or Rabbi, Drew did a stellar impression of Jerry Lewis as a rabbi; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaszW74MZEk it caused everyone - EVEN Colin - to lose it laughing.]] And when Greg inadvertently snorts for breath, it causes the wave to hit again.
42	** Wayne cracked himself up in this "Scenes from a Hat" suggestion:
43	---> '''Wayne:''' ''[singing]'' These words, they come so whimsically / I know your wife biblically, but please... ''[laughs]''
44	** When it happened to Drew during "Foreign Film Dub", his "dubber" Ryan played it up:
45	---> '''Ryan:''' Excuse me, I will sell you my--Ah ha ha ha, I will sell you my--Ho ho ho ho...
46	---> '''Colin:''' (for Jeff Davis) Excuse me?
47	---> '''Ryan:''' I will sell you--Oh, I'm not Spanish at all!
48	* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer:
49	** A rare example where an error was shown in an episode: Before one episode, Drew pulled out a newspaper that declared Colin was the host of the show and congratulated him.
50	---> '''Drew''': ''(to Colin)'' Don't you ever pull that stuff on me again!
51	** In the revival, Aisha Tyler states that special guest Chris Lee was part of the originating cast of ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''. While he did star in the show, he was part of the Chicago production, not the original Broadway cast.
52	* CreatorBacklash:
53	** Jim Sweeney admitted a few years ago on Website/MySpace that he never really cared much for the series. He explained that while it was fun to do, true improv should never be seen more than once, as would be the case for live shows. He said that Whose Line loses its quality if you watch reruns because you already know what's going to happen, and there's no spontaneity.
54	** Richard Vranch also has mixed feelings about ''Whose Line?'' He mostly feels he was wasted on the show as he too is an improviser, but he was only ever used for doing the music. He actually kept begging the producers during almost his entire run to let him be an actual performer for a few episodes, but they never did.
55	** Ryan Stiles has made no secret of his disdain for the hoedowns, openly mocking them on the show.
56	** Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie have said they don't watch their earliest appearances on the British edition because of how awkward and unfunny they were.
57	** Kathy Greenwood admitted she wasn't up to par in some of her appearances, revealing that she was a new mother and was thus exhausted during some of her tapings.
58	** Now that Colin's daughter is out as a trans woman, Colin has become a more vocal ally to the LGBTQIA community, and disowned any and every joke he ever made where someone being trans was a punchline.
59	** Creator/StephenColbert, who wasn't prepared for the show being so reliant on short-form improv, isn't exactly proud of his one taping. Luckily, bigger and better things were in the future for him.
60	* CreatorsPest: The Hoedowns. Ryan Stiles's hatred of them is the most notable, but Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, and Colin Mochrie have all mentioned their hatred of the game.
61	** Colin has also shown displeasure with Irish Drinking Songs, believing he is no good at musical games.
62	* {{Defictionalization}}: Of a sort. It was only a matter of time until someone compiled a bunch of Hoedowns together to make [[https://youtu.be/hcJsYFdke1o "A Very Special Three-Hour Hoedown"]].
63	* DeletedScene:
64	** 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.
65	** Parodied in-show with the game "Scenes Cut From a Movie".
66	* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: Actually touched on during the UK run during the World's Worst [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YEJS7qIT-4 "person to be president of the world during an intergalactic crisis"]], recorded just after the death of UsefulNotes/RichardNixon:
67	-->'''Clive:''' "It's topical ''now'', but it'll be great in six months' time when this goes out..."\
68	'''Tony:''' "But he'll still be ''dead!''"
69	* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/ColinMochrie revealed that the cast never made much money nor received residuals, but everyone stuck with the show for years out of friendship and their mutual love of improv comedy.
70	* DuelingShows: The ABC version aired against ''Series/{{Friends}}'', which the cast made frequent references to.
71	* EditedForSyndication: The U.K. version is edited for time when broadcast in America, due to more commercials on most U.S. stations.
72	* EnforcedMethodActing: Inevitable, due to the improvised nature of the show. Many of the reactions from the performers are unexpected.
73	** Just one of many examples: Colin seemed genuinely surprised when Ryan kissed him in the "Narrate" about The Maltese Burger.
74	** You can usually spot one guy who isn't Colin get caught unawares during Colin's "crap" declarations in ''Hollywood Director''.
75	** 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.
76	** Richard Simmons' appearance on the show [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI7dLm-phro caught Greg Proops by complete surprise.]]
77	** The Irish Drinking Song ends with Colin delivering the last line, which was usually a bizarre non-sequitur. It's a good thing it was the last line of the game because the other three guys would always break up in laughter.
78	** A less positive example: in the original UK version, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulC6Bq6S3ME there's an infamous Party Quirks]] where Tony Slattery looks completely dumbfounded by the whirlwind of quirks around him. Sadly, it's not because Mike and Ryan are being too obtuse: due to some serious mental struggles (such as undiagnosed bipolar disorder) compounded by a dependence on drugs and alcohol, Tony already wasn't at his best by this point, and was completely overstimulated during this game. Clive jokes afterward that they'll probably not have Tony on the show ever again, but in a cruel twist of fate, the producers would then fire Tony for real (Mike, Tony's comedy partner, would also be axed himself, which in turn would lead to Steve Frost walking away).
79	* ExecutiveMeddling:
80	** Dead Bodies, one of Colin's signature games, went through a period of being called Fainting Bodies, to appease the censors.
81	** During a playing of "Title Sequence", Drew asked for the names of two unlikely roommates; he took the suggestions Creator/BillCosby and UsefulNotes/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 "Bill Cosby 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]].
82	** Both Mike [=McShane=] and Tony Slattery have said that they were both effectively kicked off the show, because creator Dan Patterson was trying very hard to sell the show to US producers, to the point that he was caving to almost every demand to Americanize it, and Mike and Tony didn't appeal to most American executives. (Executives also wanted Colin out, but Ryan went to bat for him.)
83	** In one segment of the first US season's GagReel, Colin pretends to faint in the middle of a Hoedown verse. Since Colin has never been seen fainting after the UK version ended, he was likely told to stop doing it.
84	* FanCommunityNickname: Whosers.
85	* FandomNod: Before announcing the return of the Hoedown, Aisha acknowledged that the fans were waiting for it.
86	* FriendshipOnTheSet: Big time. The core American group have been best buds for ages, and it's the reason they've stuck together as long as they have despite the lack of residuals.
87	** Apparently, Ryan's kids call Colin "Uncle Colin." Awww.
88	** It was obvious how much Ryan and Colin loved seeing Josie Lawrence again when she flew out from the UK for one Drew-era taping (not to mention Wayne who's thrilled getting to meet her), but what you might not know is that Greg Proops and his wife let Josie stay at their house just for the occasion.
89	** Speaking of Greg, while he and Clive Anderson spent a good chunk of the UK series in a battle of wits, Greg made clear in interviews that he holds Clive in great esteem, and both considered each other {{Worthy Opponent}}s. After Drew Carey's run began, Greg briefly wound up back in the UK, and, of course, went right on ''Clive Anderson All Talk'' just to banter with his old friend some more.
90	* HostilityOnTheSet: Famously, John Sessions was not liked by much of the UK cast. Leading to a rather biting TakeThat in a Series 2 episode during "World's Worst Person To Be Stuck In A Lift With":
91	-->'''Paul Merton:''' Hello, my name is John Sessions.
92	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine:
93	** After Creator/PhilLaMarr and Debra Wilson appeared in the last UK season, we've had more ''Series/MadTV1995'' alumnus like Nicole Parker on ''Series/TrustUsWithYourLife'', and now Keegan Michael Key on the 2013 revival.
94	** Did you know Aisha Tyler and Gary Anthony Williams were both in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks''?
95	** Before appearing on ''Whose Line?'', Gary was in an indie comedy film called ''Take 22'', which also featured Archie Hahn from the British version.
96	** [[Music/OzzyOsbourne Jack Osbourne]] appeared here after being in ''Series/TrustUsWithYourLife'' once. Sadly they didn't get Kelly at the same time.
97	** Happens again when Aisha brings in Sheryl Underwood from her other show ''The Talk'' (of special note, another co-host from that show is Jack and Kelly's mom ''Sharon Osbourne''!)
98	** One time they get Creator/WendiMcLendonCovey, whom Ryan actually knows in RealLife, making this trope literal!
99	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes:
100	** U.K. version: Only the first two seasons have been released on DVD (and, ironically, only in the US), and there's been no news since.
101	** U.S. version: Zig-zagged. Repeats no longer air on ABC Family but are now on the UP Network, a network usually known for Christian programming (so much so it actually airs a content disclaimer before the show airs, bleeps even the mildest swears, and blurs "revealing" outfits), and the vast majority of the series hasn't been released on DVD and there's been no news of further DVD releases in several years. On the plus side, nearly every episode of the US version has been made available for streaming through the [[http://cwseed.com/shows/whose-line-is-it-anyway/ CW website.]][[labelnote:Note]]However, the CW Seed site is missing the following episodes: 1.04, 1.05, 1.07, 1.17, 2.11, 2.14, 2.23, 2.30, 3.09, 3.11, 3.15, 3.22, 3.24, 3.28, 3.35, 3.39, 4.07, 4.25, 4.26, 5.08, 5.10, 5.15, 5.19, 5.23, 5.25, 5.29, 6.06, 6.08, 7.08, 7.09, 7.20, 7.21, 8.02, 8.03, and 8.18, plus the one-hour "Best of Whose Line" special.[[/labelnote]] The series is also now available on Creator/HBOMax, though the same episodes that were absent on CW Seed are also missing on HBO Max.
102	** It's ''very'' difficult to locate an uncut copy of the UK Season 9 premiere episode from 1997. That episode included a playing of Newsflash, with a [[NakedPeopleAreFunny nudist colony]] as the subject. For years, Comedy Central and BBC America censored that game out, and that edited version is what most fans own a copy of. If you happen to have this episode with that game intact, hold on to it to help your fellow Whosers.
103	*** This episode is definitely available on Website/YouTube as of winter 2018.
104	* MissingEpisode:
105	** The entire second half of the eighth season has never seen the light of day on American television. Also, there's ''still'' enough unaired footage and material left to make at least another half-season.
106	** Poor Creator/PatrickBristow. He's a character actor you've probably seen in tons of stuff (''Film/{{Showgirls}}'', ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody,'' and other little bit parts to this day) and he had a reasonably good showing in the final, "Hollywood" season of the UK series, so he filmed a Drew-era taping with Brad, Ryan & Colin. Unfortunately, UsefulNotes/BillClinton chose the night that would have been Patrick's episode to make a public address, and Patrick's episode never aired. It took until season 8 - yes, ''eight years later'' - with the backlogged material from earlier tapings being shown, that we finally got to see Patrick in action, and it's unclear as to whether or not either of the two episodes with him are what was going to originally air.
107	** Averted with the fourth revival season, which starts off with a lot of unused stuff from the previous one.
108	** While Comedy Central aired all seasons of the U.K. version at some point or another, they gradually reduced airing of the earlier seasons. By the early 2000s, when CC would air Monday night marathons, they had limited themselves to showing pretty much just seasons 8-10 over and over.
109	** As mentioned in KeepCirculatingTheTapes above, 35 of the first U.S. series episodes are unavailable on both CW Seed and HBO Max, including the fan-favorite Robin Williams episode. It is unknown why they are absent, making it all the more frustrating.
110	* MissingTrailerScene:
111	** A clip of Wayne doing "Song Styles" with Creator/MaggieQ ''wasn't in the actual Maggie Q episode''.
112	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLvFAuhrWeU The original promo for the Robin Williams episode]] contained a clip from a playing of "Hats", with Robin referencing ''Mork & Mindy''. "Hats" wasn't played in the actual episode.
113	* OneForTheMoneyOneForTheArt: Colin Mochrie is a proud Canadian. His income from this show allows him to go back home and take lower-paying jobs in Canadian productions and try to give them a boost because US and UK audiences might come across them while looking through his filmography.
114	* OutOfHolidayEpisode: A Valentine's Day episode originally aired on August 7, 2004, about as far away from Valentine's Day as you can get.
115	* OutOfOrder: During the show's initial network broadcast, Season Seven was the ''only'' season where the episodes were actually aired in order, otherwise, the other seasons were broadcasted so out of order that by after Season Three's original run, episodes from Seasons Four, Five, and Six were being mixed up something awful.
116	* PlayingAgainstType:
117	** Mike often did female roles, long before Colin became known for it.
118	** Speaking of Colin, you do ''not'' cast the balding middle-aged man as the ''romantic female lead''. [[NauseaFuel One can only]] [[RuleOfFunny wonder why]].
119	** Ryan's known for not being a huge fan of Hoedowns, or being much for singing games in general, so imagine everyone's surprise on one fateful CW episode when ''Greg'' takes Colin's side in Greatest Hits, and Ryan is called to sing with Wayne!
120	* ProducedByCastMember: Given the success of ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', as well as their clout, both Creator/DrewCarey and Creator/RyanStiles were executive producers on the original U.S. version of the show. Later still, with the revival of the U.S. version, ''all three'' of the regular performers (Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady) each receive individual executive producer credits.
121	* PropRecycling: The 2013 revival has the plasma screen and ''Sideways Scene'' set pulled directly from ''Series/FastAndLoose''[=/=]''Series/TrustUsWithYourLife''.
122	* RealitySubtext: Mike returned for one last appearance in UK season 9, and during "Weird Newscasters" his character was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNlWorEUx6c "fired and it's his last day at work".]]
123	* RealSongThemeTune: The radio series was introduced by a version of George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm".
124	* RecycledScript: Particularly in the 7th and 8th seasons, it was not uncommon for the show to present alternate versions of the same scenes with different dialogue, recycling the intro for the game in question. For instance, the Greatest Hits about "Songs of the International Spy" was first done in season 4, only to return again in season 8, using unused footage to craft a different scene of the same subject.
125	* {{Rerun}}: The U.K. version saw reruns on Comedy Central and BBC America, while the U.S. version was rerun on ABC Family.
126	* [[HeAlsoDid She Also Did]]: Aisha Tyler was a panelist on ''Series/TheTalk'' from 2011 to 2017.
127	* StarMakingRole: This program essentially launched Wayne Brady's career.
128	* SleeperHit: The U.S. version wasn't expected to be a huge hit; after all, it aired opposite of ratings juggernaut ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Nevertheless, ''Whose Line'' gained unexpected popularity. ABC didn't really have a major reason to remove it from the schedule if it received at least modest ratings, given its relatively low production costs.
129	* StreisandEffect:
130	** The Cosby/Hitler incident. When the sketch was prohibited right there on the stage (Hitler had to be changed to "insurance salesman"), the cast retaliated by bringing up Hitler as much as they could during the rest of the episode to make sure it was difficult to edit around.
131	** Similarly, whenever Drew warns the performers not to come near his desk (usually during "Weird Newscasters", "Party Quirks" or "Let's Make a Date"), it's near impossible to resist.
132	* ThrowItIn:
133	** Some games were repeated because of some technical mistake like the music synthesizer suddenly doubling its tempo. Wayne's bemused attempts to keep up were too funny to leave out of the official version.
134	** After the playing of "Show-Stopping Number" set in a factory, Drew threw to commercial, but instead of fading to black like usual, the camera kept rolling while Drew laughed hard at the skit he just watched. This "bonus footage" goes on for a good fifteen seconds.
135	** "Irish Drinking Song" is usually played with all four guys just standing around and maybe waving their mugs, but in the revival series, Gary Anthony Williams apparently decided to liven it up by dancing around like it was a church revival. For all intents and purposes, it worked.
136	** Done ''literally'' in one "Song Styles" with NFL player Vernon Davis - Ryan knots up a handkerchief into a flag to throw onto the stage for Wayne to deal with.
137	* {{Typecasting}}: Colin Mochrie has a varied career in his native Canada, but he's known almost exclusively as an improv comedian to UK and US audiences through this show.
138	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
139	** Drew Carey merely wanted to produce the show, after learning about Ryan Stiles and Kathy Kinney's improv background in ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' and finding the UK version. The network wasn't interested until Drew offered to host, giving the show significant name recognition.
140	** Creator/SteveCarell, Creator/SteveMartin, and Mike Myers auditioned for the British version but were turned down.
141	** Wayne Brady said in a radio interview that he really hoped for Creator/StephenColbert to become a semi-regular 4th Seater like Greg and Brad, but the producers were not impressed by his one appearance.
142	** According to Creator/StephenFry, ''Creator/EmmaThompson'' auditioned for ''Whose Line'', but was turned down. However, the producers didn't turn her down because they didn't think she was funny. She was turned down because Fry had already brought over Tony Slattery, Hugh Laurie (for the radio version), and Peter Cook (all old friends of Fry's from Cambridge), and the producers didn't want people to think they were only letting people associated with Fry to be on the show. Fry has stated this is one of the reasons he quit ''Whose Line'' after the first televised season.
143	** Anytime that a suggestion isn't used in Film, TV & Theater Styles, whether it be excised in the editing room or simply not selected by Drew. Can also occur in other games as well- one Greatest Hits had Drew ''almost'' use the suggestion Songs of Amsterdam, only to go with the safer Songs of Paris at the last second.
144	** Nearly all of the episodes in the first U.S. series featured Ryan, Colin, and Wayne, leaving only one rotating seat. This meant certain regular performers never worked together on that series. For example, Creator/GregProops never worked with Kathy Greenwood; Brad Sherwood never worked with Chip Esten, etc. Ryan and Wayne each missing a taping in the CW series allowed some rare opportunities for Jeff Davis to work with Greg and Brad.
145	** If Phil Lamarr (who appeared a couple times towards the end of the UK run) had become a regular performer on the show instead of Wayne Brady. Reportedly, while Phil got a fairly good reception from the producers, they simply liked Wayne more.
146	** Brad Sherwood appeared on a couple episodes of the New York tapings of the UK series, and while he thought he aced it, the producers decided to move on without him. The reason Brad wound up back in the producers' sights towards the end of the UK run was because he'd been on the show a couple times before, and they asked for his help auditioning new American performers (they were deep into trying to sell the show to an American network by this point). Whoever auditioned, we never got to see them, because Brad himself wound up impressing the producers all over again, and they gave him a [[MyGreatestSecondChance second chance]] in some UK tapings. Brad, of course, stole the show, and the rest is history.
147	** During the season 3 tapings during Drew's era, they tried a new game called Appraisal, where Wayne, Colin & Ryan bring on random props for Greg to appraise, but the game never aired.
148	** According to fan reports, when Creator/KathyGriffin did her Drew-era taping, she insisted on doing a singing game, and got to sing with Wayne during Greatest Hits! We can only speculate as to why, despite ''four'' episodes coming from this taping, this game was never broadcast.
149	* WordOfGod:
150	** In the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMwe9kduGNI Party Quirks]]" where Ryan played a guy who noticed a hole in the wall which gave him a full view of the women's locker room, a good chunk of the skit was merely Greg and Ryan with their faces up close to the camera, pretending to look into the locker room. Colin revealed that because of this, he and Wayne were stuck just waiting in the background with nothing to do, as Greg wasn't paying attention to them (and thus, couldn't guess their quirks). To combat boredom (and also to give the audience something else to laugh at), Colin and Wayne mimed playing cards. You can catch a brief glimpse of this when Ryan and Greg get out of the way of the camera for a second.
151	** In an interview with Colin, he once mentioned he and Wayne had met some fans the day before a taping. This included a nice older lady named Lee, who remarked on what a "nice Christian boy" Wayne was. Fast-forward to the taping, and Lee is the lucky lady chosen for a game of Song Styles. And the style Wayne must sing to her as? Singing strip-o-gram. The game itself is hilarious, but the real fun is watching in the background as the normally calm Colin loses it repeatedly as Wayne's song gets more and more inappropriate, since he knows about Lee's comment from the day before.
152	** In an interview with Debra [=McGrath=] (Colin's wife), she mentions auditioning for the U.S. version of the show, when the producers were looking for another female performer to fill the void left behind by Denny Siegel, though ultimately was rejected (partly to avoid the obvious nepotism of having both Colin and his wife appearing on the show). She and Colin both then suggested the producers audition Kathy Greenwood, which they did, but she too was rejected, so Colin and Deb kept badgering the producers into hiring Kathy until they reluctantly gave in, and although Kathy's second audition passed muster, the producers decided to keep her from participating in certain games, like Hoedown, or Irish Drinking Song.
153	* WrittenByCastMember: In the early years of the UK series, performer Ron West (who would later go on to fame as Strudwick on ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'') did a few episodes. Despite some capable performances, his way with improv never fully gelled on the show, either during the John Sessions era, or with the likes of Ryan and Greg. However, near the end of the UK run, he'd return to the show behind the scenes, on the creative team (as in, coming up with quirks for the cast to play in games like Party Quirks and Let's Make A Date), and stay throughout the entirety of the Drew Carey version. It's been said that a lot of the darker, more twisted quirks are his doing.
154	[[/folder]]
155
156	[[folder:Format]]
157	!!List of games on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'':
158
159	!!!'''Two Players'''
160	* ''Expert'': From the UK run. The audience picks an obscure subject, then one player acts as the interviewer speaking to the other player, the '[[KnowNothingKnowItAll expert]]' on the subject.
161	** This simplistic format also spawned similar games like ''Interview'' (the audience names a fictional character to be interviewed) and ''Book Writer'' (the audience names an obscure subject that the 'interviewee' has authored a book on).
162	* ''Expert Translation'': also from the UK run but not to be confused with ''Expert'' above. Using the same concept behind ''Foreign Film Dub'' (see below), the audience is poached for a foreign language and an obscure subject instead, and one player is the 'expert from overseas', lecturing about the subject as the other player 'translates' for him.
163	* ''Explanation'': again from the UK run. Two players are given a subject to explain or discuss from the audience, but as predetermined characters - Kirk teaching Spock how to use a toaster, or 2 preschool kids explaining God, etc.
164	** Its predecessor was named ''Couples'' instead, with the difference that 1. the players were just given a generic/mundane situation, and 2. they acted as ''more than one pair of characters'', called out with each buzz, giving them about one line each before switching.
165	* ''Film-Noir'': Performers act out a Film Noir scene at a location picked out by the audience.
166	** Sometimes known by its original name ''Narrate''.
167	* ''Impossible Mission'' / ''Mission Improbable'': Performers spoof an ImpossibleMission for a mundane task.
168	** Technically a three-player game, but the third one just provides the voice of the self-destructing tape at the beginning, [[NonActionGuy and does nothing for the rest of it]].
169	* ''Infomercial'': Performers spoof home shopping infomercials, using a box of props to try and sell a "miracle product" to cure a personal problem suggested by the audience.
170	** The UK version of this game, named ''Home Shopping'' instead, involves just two props and a nonexistent one suggested by the audience. Performers had to make up whatever function they were intended for.
171	* ''Moving People'': Two players are expected to act out a scene with one major handicap - they do not move at all unless moved by two audience members.
172	* ''Scene With An Audience Member'': two players and one randomly picked audience member act out a scene. Two of the playings featured the audience members improvising with the performers, but the other two featured pre-written lines for the audience member, similar to "Whose Line", and were cued to say them by Ryan or Colin. You'd think this was a wish-fulfillment game of sorts, but the game fell flat after four sessions because of some nasty stage fright on the audience members' part.
173	* ''Secret'': Two players act out a generic drama scene, but the audience has designated, along with the setting, a 'location' where something has been kept secret - one player chances upon it halfway through the scene, whereupon the action centres around 'it'.
174	** The revival series updates this to Mk II, by introducing ''a physical prop'' as the secret, hidden in a convenient box before TheReveal.
175	* ''Sound Effects'': This game went through several different formats.
176	** One player performs a scene silently, while a second provides sound effects (included dialogue-ish sounds) from off-stage. These relied mainly on how the player doing sound effects reacted to the performer's miming, and how the performer reacted to the impromptu sound effect. In the US-run it almost always involved Colin on mime and Ryan on mic, leading to a series of [[RunningGag re-used gags]]: for example, Colin's vehicle ("played" by Ryan) ''always'' failed to start... only for it to kick into gear once he gave up and careen off, forcing a desperate chase.
177	** A variant done in the late UK run had two or three performers act out a scene as normal... except that random sound effects would play without warning. This possibly led to the third variant...
178	** Two players enact a scene given to them by the host; they are allowed dialogue and may requisition sound effects from the people with the microphones: two ''members of the audience'', picked just before the game. Typically, the audience members' contributions are not on cue or even halfway relevant, allowing the game to go OffTheRails in spectacularly amusing fashion. For instance, it once resulted in a [[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I2_thHqiYsE quacking elephant]].
179	* ''Whose Line'': Performers do a scene inserting random lines as provided by audience members; sometimes an audience member is brought in, with all their lines being the random ones.
180	** Has a UK predecessor, ''Every Other Line'' - one player acts out the scene however he likes while responding to the other, who's been given a book with a page chosen and every other line highlighted, and can only read from it for the whole thing.
181
182	!!!'''Three Players'''
183	* ''(90-Second) Alphabet'': Each performer's sentence must start with successive letters of the alphabet, ending on the letter of the alphabet it started with. "Xavier Hollander" probably got more exposure from this game than any other show in the past ten years. Usually time-limited to around 90 seconds.) The UK version usually only had two players, while the American version had three.
184	* ''[[OfCorpseHesAlive Dead Bodies]]'': Two players (and one audience member or guest) have to play dead as the third, usually Colin, must not only move the other players around but voice all their dialogue. Rather similar to Moving People (see above).
185	* ''Dubbing'': Not to be confused with Film Dub below. An audience member or special guest is roped in to participate in a scene, with the twist that only two of the players help him/her along while the third provides all of his/her dialogue.
186	* ''Film Dub'': Performers [[GagDub replace the soundtrack of an old movie]].
187	* ''Helping Hands'': Two performers act out a scene, but one performer cannot use their hands. A third performer stands behind that performer and becomes their "hands". Later UK episodes added foodstuffs and other props that render all actors CoveredInGunge thanks to the awkwardness of the gimmick.
188	* ''Hey You Down There'': An AffectionateParody of those 1950s workplace instructional safety videos. Two players (who say nothing the whole time) act out a scene while responding to the third player, who acts as the chirpy narrator.
189	* ''Motown Group'': Three performers sing a verse each, usually based on a job e.g. "Do The Firefighter". One performer (usually Wayne) gets an extra verse at the end explaining how to do the dance.
190	** Variation: ''Doo-Wop'' seems identical to ''Motown'' on the surface, but 1. the style of singing is different and 2. the audience is poached for a name and a hobby, which is [[DeathAsComedy immediately spun into an unusual cause of death]] for the players to sing about.
191	** Another variation: ''Boogie Woogie Sisters'', also identical to ''Motown'' except for a style change, and as the game name suggests, the players sing as a girl group.
192	* ''Multiple Personalities'': Three performers act out a scene, but are assigned with three small items: whoever holds each item must act as an impression of a random character attached to it (whoever is holding the water bottle is Creator/JohnWayne, whoever holds the telescope is Music/MichaelJackson, etc.) This one seems designed to test each actor's range.
193	** Made even more hilarious by the fact that [[CompositeCharacter one person usually ends up holding at least 2 of the items]] at the end (example Ryan is both Creator/JohnWayne and Franchise/ScoobyDoo at the same time)
194	** This one was Retooled from an emotion-centered one (much like ''Film, TV & Theater Styles'' below), except that there are only two items between the three players.
195	* ''Newsflash'': One performer stands in front of a green screen and acts as the "man on the street", responding to comments made by two other performers in an attempt to guess what scene is being played behind him (he isn't able to see it himself, only the other actors and the audience).
196	* ''Old Job, New Job'': Two performers start by acting out a scene centered around a certain job (either as workers or customers, or both), then the third man comes in, also a worker, but hasn't shaken off the habits from his previous job (which is usually suggested by the audience). HilarityEnsues, of course.
197	** Variation: ''Three of A Kind'' had ''all three'' performers acting like they hadn't shaken off their old habits.
198	*** ''Further'' variation: ''Reunion'' sets up a scenario where all three performers meet up for a reunion, while - you guessed it - still riddled with the old habits of whatever job they'd been together in. It ends with an attempt by all players to sing the same AlmaMaterSong, which later spawns the ''All in One Voice'' game.
199	* ''Quick Change'': [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant not about costumes in any way]]. Two performers act out a generic scene, but the third can call out 'Change' ([[JerkAss as many times as he likes]]) and force whoever is speaking to [[VerbalBackspace think up a replacement line for what he just said]].
200	** Variation: ''New Choice'' had the third offstage performer able to call out "New choice!", equivalent to "Change!", in addition to "Previous choice!" / "Same choice!" to make someone repeat themselves.
201	* ''Stand, Sit, Bend'' / ''Stand, Sit, Lie'': Performers act out a scene given to them, but one has to be standing, one has to be sitting, and one has to be lying down (or bending over); whenever one performer changes their position, the other actors have to change accordingly. Bending or leaning players often end up in a CaptainMorganPose.
202	* ''Three-Headed Broadway Star'': [[MultipleHeadCase Three performers sing a "hit Broadway song" one word at a time.]]
203	* ''Two-Line Vocabulary'': Performers act out a scene, but two of them can only say two specific lines given to them by the host (the third can speak freely).
204	* ''What's in the Bag?'': Introduced in the CW reboot. The love child of ''Infomercial'' and ''GoodCopBadCop'' - Three performers act out a scene; two of the performers are each provided with a purse from an audience member, and they have to take out items from the bag to use on the third.
205	* ''Mixed Messages'': Introduced in the 5th revival season. This one's the love child of ''Two-Line Vocabulary'' and ''Playbook[=/=]Every Other Line[=/=]Whose Line'', with three players acting out a scene while two of them get all their dialogue from the texts of two audience volunteers.
206
207	!!!'''Four Players'''
208	* ''Action Replay'': Two players are given a scene to play straight, while the other two, their hearing shielded with earphones, have only the first pair's movements to go by as they try to repeat the entire thing, substituting with their own dialogue.
209	* ''African Chant'': As Song Styles, with one player as the lead "chanter" and the others backing him up. A bit on the edge between good and bad taste.
210	* ''All In One Voice'': The audience is poached for a song title: split into two pairs, the players have to improvise said song while singing back and forth, each pair singing together as one each time. One of the hardest games.
211	* ''Audition'': From the UK version. After the audience is asked to make up a title for a musical, one player is designated as the producer while the other three 'audition' for parts in the musical that he makes up for them, sometimes including musical numbers.
212	* ''Authors'': From the UK version, the audience suggests a title for a novel and the players take turns to narrate this 'tale' in the style of their favourite authors, or subgenre of literature like ''Literature/DickAndJane'' children's books or magazine articles. Even air hostess manuals and [[BlindIdiotTranslation mistranslated]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuWkdjgfzc8&feature=fvw porn.]]
213	** Variant: ''Remote Control'', where TV shows instead of novels are the focus, the audience suggests a generic subject instead of making up a book title, and the players went in random order.
214	* ''Awards Show'': An AffectionateParody of awards ceremonies - two players are the award presenters of a specially themed awards show, while the other two are nominees sitting in the audience, whe step up to receive the award later on. The game starts with the camera randomly picking audience members for the 'presenters' to make up names and whatever they were nominated for, before settling on the 'winners'.
215	* ''Bartender'': two or three performers approach the fourth, singing about some subject sugested by the audience, and the 'bartender' sings his advice back to them. This one began in the UK series as ''Prison Visitor'' (criminal sings to visitor about their crimes) then later became ''Psychiatrist'' (patient sings to doctor about their mental problems) until they finally settled on a bar as the setting.
216	* ''Courtroom Scene'': after the audience suggests a trivial crime, one player is the judge, one is the public prosecutor and the remaining two are the witnesses called in to testify, with the addition of some random hats for them to form their acts around.
217	* ''Daytime Talk Show'': An AffectionateParody of, what else, daytime talk shows, particularly [[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]. Rather than some pressing issue, the audience suggests a known fairy tale to base the 'talk show' around: one player is the host, two are the interviewees and the fourth is placed in the audience, posing questions to the interviewees.
218	* ''Fashion Models'': An AffectionateParody of fashion shows. The audience suggests a random profession or some other theme, then one player gets to be the commentator while the other three strut up and down the stage, one at a time, then together all holding to the topic at hand.
219	* ''Fixed Expressions'': From the UK version. All four performers act out a scene, played straight apart from having to keep the same randomly-assigned facial expressions the whole time, regardless of how the scene plays out. Notably one of the ''hardest'' games.
220	* ''Foreign Film Dub'': Two performers act out a scene in a [[Main.AsLongAsItSoundsForeign "foreign language"]] (anywhere from Hebrew to Klingon to ''Canadian'') and are translated by the other two performers.
221	* ''Forward/Rewind'': Introduced in the CW reboot. Four performers act out a scene that periodically alternates between rewinding (regressing through their previous lines and actions) and going forward (repeating their reversed actions in the proper order).
222	* ''[[TheFunInFuneral Funeral]]'': Three or four players enact a funeral service, and the audience is poached for a name and a hobby, which is [[DeathAsComedy immediately spun into an unusual cause of death]]. The difficult part comes up when all three players have to make up a tribute song and sing it all together on the spot.
223	* ''Game Show'': the audience makes up a silly name for a game show, and the players act it out, with one as the host and the others as contestants. Usually structured as a three-round affair.
224	* ''Hats[=/=]Dating Service Video'': Split into teams of two, each team is given a box of hats to wear for gag scenes; this was almost always "the world's worst dating service video." Very often a HurricaneOfPuns.
225	** Variant: ''Dating Profiles'', introduced in the CW revival. Basically ''Hats'' without the hats. The background screen displayed animated heart graphics.
226	* ''Hoedown'': Performers sing a four-verse country-style song on a topic given by the host (usually chosen from audience suggestions), one verse at a time. One of Drew Carey's favorite games in the US version, possibly because he was halfway decent at it, which led to the others [[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wMY90_NNdxo getting rather sick of it.]]
227	** This one notably [[AdaptationDisplacement began in the UK version in various different forms]], mutating through ''Rap'' (not Scene to Rap), ''Marching Song'', and ''Gospel'' formats before settling into the well-known Hoedown groove we all know (a bit too well).
228	* ''Hollywood Director'': Three performers act out a scene, while the other performer acts as a director to stop the scene periodically and make odd suggestions on how to improve the scene. ("Do it like you're all ______!")
229	* ''Irish Drinking Song'': Performers sing an Irish drinking song, one line at a time.
230	* ''Let's Make a Date'': A dating show, with one player playing whatever they want. The other three are given cards, for example, "[[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Russian Gunman with Extreme Violent Tendencies]]" or "[[Webcomic/GirlGenius Mad Scientist Looking for a Test Subject]]" or something else silly, and they play out what's on the card, leaving the fourth player to guess who they are.
231	* ''Millionaire Show'': Only in the original American version, the performers act out a parody of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', their characters holding to a theme. Unlike the real game show, however, there are only two lifelines and one of them is a helper in the audience (one of the performers) instead of polling the entire audience.
232	* ''(American) Musical'': Possibly the most elaborate UK game. One audience member is interviewed, giving his name and occupation and hobbies, etc, which are then depicted as a stage musical for the players to act out, complete with the improvising of up to 4 different songs.
233	* ''Musical Film Review'': From the UK version. A title is picked at random from an almanac of movies, after which one player, acting as film reviewer, must make up a synopsis of the movie and musical numbers for the other three to enact out.
234	** This one was sprung from the same concept as the UK game ''Musical Directors'', except that the audience is poached for a title and the players are divided into two pairs: one pair is the brainstorming team behind the stage musical that the other pair must act (and sing) out.
235	* ''News Report'': From the UK version. Holding to the subject of some popular children's tale or mundane event, the performers are split into two pairs: one pair portrays the in-studio news anchor and an expert on the subject, while the other pair are 'in the field', a reporter and a 'random' interviewee.
236	* ''Number of Words'': A scene is performed, but each performer can only speak sentences using a set number of words. This usually includes someone who can only say one-word sentences.
237	* ''Panel Show'': From the UK version. The audience suggests a topic to discuss, after which the players, with the help of some wigs and hats, act as random characters on a panel show discussing the topic.
238	* ''Party Quirks'': One performer hosts a party and tries to guess the others' secret quirks (for example, "thinks (s)he is _____", an impression of someone/something famous, or some ridiculously elaborate character/situation).
239	* ''Press Conference'': Three players act as reporters, one player acts as someone who has just made a huge announcement. Using the questions of the reporters, who are told what is going on, the player who called the press conference has to guess who he is and what he's announcing.
240	* ''Props'': Split into teams of two, each team is given a bizarre prop that must be used as the subject of a gag every time they are buzzed in.
241	* ''Questions Only'': A scene is performed where performers can speak only in questions. If they fail to, they are buzzed out.
242	** ''Questionable Impressions'': As Questions Only, except the performers also have to do an impression of a famous person (real or fictional, dead or alive).
243	*** ''Questions With Hats'': Pretty much self-explanatory.
244	*** ''Questions With Wigs''
245	* ''Scene to Rap'': Performers act out a scene, rapping every bit of dialog.
246	* ''Scenes from a Hat'': Situations, suggested by the audience, are picked randomly from a hat (such as "inappropriate things to say to someone on their deathbed"). Easily one of the most popular games.
247	** Variation: ''Scenes Cut From The Movies'', dedicated to movie parodies, and the audience is poached for movie titles at first.
248	* ''Song Titles'': Like Questions Only, a scene is performed where performers can only speak using full song titles. If they fail to (either by not coming up with one, or using one that the host believes is bogus), they are buzzed out.
249	* ''Sports Commentators'': Two performers act out some regular, mundane activity, while the other two give [[MundaneMadeAwesome a blow-by-blow account of the action as it happens.]] Colin and Ryan were known to ''[[SeriousBusiness turn the mundane activity into a raging competition anyway.]]'' It gets complicated as the commentators can rewind the acting by calling out 'let's look at that again'.
250	* ''Storyteller'': From the UK series. The audience is asked to make up a title of a story and AnAesop that may or may not go with it, then one player takes the role of [[DepravedKidsShowHost a children's storyteller]], making up the tale that the other three players act out, while making sure to lead up to the aesop... [[SpoofAesop more or less.]]
251	* ''Superheroes'': The audience gives one player a [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway strange superhero name]]. He starts the scene, dealing with an odd (yet thematic) crisis. Each other player enters the scene one at a time, given their own odd codename by the most recent player to have entered. The last player "solves" the crisis somehow, and each of the players proceed to leave in the opposite order that they came in.
252	* ''Tag'': From the UK series. Two players start the game by acting out a scene, but at any time one of the other two can call 'Tag', freezing the action, then replace one of the onstage pair, and lead the scene in a completely unrelated direction depending on whatever poses they'd been frozen in - and sometimes regardless of [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything what it actually looks like]].
253	* ''Telethon'': More of a TakeThat than an AffectionateParody of TV charity drives; the audience is poached for a suggestion of "people you wouldn't normally raise money for", then two players act as either hosts both, or one host and one of the "beneficiaries", while the other two sing the fundraising charity theme as whichever celebs they can muster up.
254	* ''That'll Be Charlie Now'': Three performers waiting for "Charlie", a friend of theirs, start describing him to the best of their ability - the fourth player enters portraying 'Charlie', and displaying every detail of their description to the best of ''his'' ability. Which usually involves having [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot all kinds of weird habits at once.]]
255	** An alternate version, merely named ''Here (S)He Comes Now'', divides the performers down the middle into two pairs instead (two people describing two late arrivals).
256	** Variation: ''Make A Monster'', introduced for a Halloween episode in the US run, has the first pair as Dr. Frankenstein and Igor instead, and they make up the weird habits that the other two players must display by 'attaching' body parts that [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed belonged to known celebs or characters previously]].
257	* ''Theme Restaurant'': The performers act out a scene at a specifically-themed restaurant, two performers as patrons, the other two as waiters.
258	* ''Title Sequence'': The audience is poached for a name of a famous person and some profession - then two of the players have to sing the title theme of a '70s sitcom, [[WunzaPlot "(Name of Person) and the (Person In Said Profession)"]], while the other two act it out..
259	* ''Wedding'': Someone from the audience joins the performers while acting out a wedding party.
260	* ''[[KentBrockmanNews Weird Newscasters]]'': The performers act out the news, as two anchors, sports, and weather. One character acts normally; [[BunnyEarsLawyer the others all have a strange quirk, identity, or situation]].
261	* ''World's Worst'': Performers gave examples of the World's Worst [something] (as given by Clive/Drew). In the US version, usually was crossed with Hats and was a dating service.
262
263	!!!'''Variable'''
264	* ''Animals'': Two or three players act out a generic drama scene, with the twist that they are all acting as animals; usually they're all the same animal but sometimes one is a different species.
265	* ''Backwards Scene'': A scene played BackToFront.
266	* ''Changing Letter'' / ''Letter Changes'': Players act out a generic scene but must replace [[strike:a]]o cert[[strike:a]]oin letter with some other one in [[strike:a]]oll their di[[strike:a]]ologue. One of the hardest games.
267	* ''Film, (TV,) and Theatre Styles'': Performers act out a scene provided by the host, using various genres as given by the audience (SoapOpera, Creator/WilliamShakespeare, ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'', ''Literature/HarryPotter'', [[RuleThirtyFour Porno]], etc.).
268	** Variation: The UK version had ''Emotion Option'', where Clive would buzz in with a different prevalent emotion for the scene each time.
269	* ''Greatest Hits'': Performers hawk a new compilation album; two are the barkers, and a third (and sometimes fourth) sings the songs.
270	* ''If You Know What I Mean'': Performers act out a scene in which everything said is a [[UnusualEuphemism double entendre]], ending every line with some variant on "If you know what I mean..."
271	* ''Living Scenery'': Split into teams of two (sometimes with a special guest replacing one player) and then act out a skit where one team are the "living props" for the other team. One of the best skits featured [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ_lXJTaT5g Richard Simmons]]. HilarityEnsues.
272	* ''Picture'': One of the most uniquely UK games yet, this involves two or three players filling the cut-out faces of a large painting. They must enact their scene with regards to whatever the painting might be of.
273	* ''Scene To Music'': Two or three performers act out a scene that starts normally, then a randomly-picked piece of background music would start playing, upon which the performers would [[{{Leitmotif}} adjust the portrayal according to the music]].
274	* ''Show-Stopping Number'': The performers act out a scene normally, but each time the host presses the buzzer, the performer who said the last line of dialog up to then has to sing a musical number based on that line of dialog.
275	* ''Sideways Scene'': Introduced in the CW reboot. Performers go backstage to perform a scene while lying down on a specially-painted floor. Alongside ''that'' difficulty, occasionally Aisha buzzes in with a new style for them to act out, similar to Film, TV & Theatre Styles.
276	* ''Song Styles / Duets'': One or more performers sing in a particular style, originally about a household object, then UK season 10 introduced the better-known Mk. II variant where they sing about an audience member. Sometimes any remaining performers would be roped in to act as backup dancers.
277
278	!!!'''One-time test games''':
279	* ''Ballad Of'': A US exclusive game. Basically the same as ''Duets'' but in a specific Western style, as the name would indicate. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsIg9MztnLI&t=8m40s As seen here.]]
280	* ''Gangsta Rap'': A US exclusive game. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Two performers rap about an audience member. Probably nixed because "Song Styles" and "Duet" pretty much cover whatever genre is needed, so having a game devoted to one style is redundant.
281	* ''GoodCopBadCop'': A US exclusive game. Using the premise of Old Job, New Job, one performer acts normally while the other two question him, but their old habits are essentially [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a good-cop-bad-cop routine]].
282	* ''Ice Skaters'': A US exclusive game. Two players act out a mundane activity [[MundaneMadeAwesome in the form of a figure skating routine]]. Believed to be aborted after [[spoiler: the first game ended in Ryan's GameBreakingInjury.]]
283	* ''Interrogation'': A UK exclusive game, and only played once. Two of the performers would be the cops, and the third performer would be the suspect they're interrogating. It was similar in format to "Press Conference", in that the third performer had to guess what they were arrested for, based on hints by the other two. The one playing concerned Ryan mooning the Queen of England.
284	* ''Meet the Family'': A US exclusive game. Wayne and Kathy Greenwood, who are engaged, prepare to meet Kathy's parents, played by Ryan (the mother) and Colin (the father). Both have quirks, though: Ryan played a dominatrix and Colin played Dustin Hoffman's character in ''Film/RainMan''.
285	* ''Really Bad Hangover'': A US exclusive game. A unique variant of ''Sound Effects'' involving all four players. One pair acts out the scene while the other pair provides sound effects through microphones with the echo level deliberately jacked up.
286	* ''[[ThatRemindsMeOfASong Remember That Song]]'': From the UK version. A cross between ''Greatest Hits'' and ''Show-Stopping Number'', where the players act out a scene that includes musical numbers they make up about themselves when another player determines what style.
287	* ''Survival Show'': A US exclusive game. A parody of Series/{{Survivor}}, with one player taking the role of Jeff Probst with the other three as 'survivors' in a randomly-chosen environment. The one playing had the scene of a post office, with Greg as the host.
288	* ''Video Player'': A UK exclusive game, where a movie is randomly chosen from a book, and three players act out parts of the film, while one player holds the remote and controls what part of the film they're watching. Watch Greg proctor the only playing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJaLsC3gPUQ here.]]
289	* ''What Are You Trying To Say?'': A US exclusive game. Two players act out an ordinary scene, but take turns [[BerserkButton getting wildly offended by innocuous comments.]] Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6DTwVQrTfw here]].
290
291	!!!'''Winner(s)'''
292	* There were two variations on what the winner did, both exclusive to their individual versions:
293	** In the British version, the winner would be declared arbitrarily after the last game was played. They would then have to read the credits in the style of host Clive Anderson's choosing after he signed the program off.
294	** In the American version, Drew Carey would switch out with one of the contestants and play the last game of the show (Drew would switch back out and make the cast read the credits in the style of his choosing). That contestant was the winner, and occasionally would be tasked with controlling the bell or buzzer should the need arise in the game they were playing.
295	*** The second American version would either follow what the UK version did, or just let all the players join the special guest in reading the credits.
296
297	!!'''Point Totals'''
298	If you're curious, these are the point totals for 1998 to 2006, as tabulated by xMrChuckles on Reddit:
299	* Wayne Brady: 50,072,587,425
300	* Ryan Stiles: 11,113,372,791.5
301	* Colin Mochrie: 3,012,399,040.5
302	* Chip Esten: 2,004,047,000
303	* Greg Proops: 1,001,122,117
304	* Brad Sherwood: 1,071,980.5
305	* Denny Segal: 1,059,560
306	* Karen Maruyama: 1,004,450
307	* Kathy Greenwood: 59,810
308	* Stephen Colbert: 12,000
309	* Kathy Griffin: 5,000
310	* Ian Gomez: 4,000
311	* Jeff Davis: 3,300
312	* Josie Lawrence: 3000
313	* Whoopi Goldberg: 2,500
314	* Patrick Bristow: 1,000
315	* Robin Williams: 1,000
316	* Kathy Kinney: 50
317	[[/folder]]

Context Trivia / WhoseLineIsItAnyway