----
* AdaptationDisplacement: Some of the games (even more in the UK version) will still make sense with just the audio - the only indication left of this show's ''radio'' origins.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: One editor of the now defunct "Dean's Line" episode guide wasn't as big a fan of the "Sound Effects" where two audience members provide the sound effects. When speaking of the first instance of this (the game where Ryan and Colin played cops who used a quacking elephant to distract robbers), he noted that [[TheHyena "Interestingly, Drew sits and cries after the game."]]
* ArchivePanic: It's a ''loooong'' series. The U.K. version ran from 1988 to 1998 (136 episodes), the first U.S. version ran from 1998 to 2007 (220 episodes), and the second U.S. version started in 2013 (183 episodes so far). If you're brand new to the franchise, it's going to take you quite a while to play catch-up.
* AwesomeEgo: Colin, fan favorite that he is, (jokingly) developed a bit of this as the American series progressed, which showed in his increasing indulgences. Of course, the audience just loved him that much more for it. Hell, he still has this:
-->'''[[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1icyyx/iama_colin_mochrie_of_whose_line_is_it_anyway/ Reddit user]]:''' Which cast member was the 2nd funniest?
-->'''Colin:''' [[BadassBoast All of them.]] ''(Which is also heartwarming [[FridgeBrilliance since he's saying everyone is]] '''[[FridgeBrilliance EQUALLY]]''' [[FridgeBrilliance good]].)''
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** After one sketch, Drew was joking with the cast, unaware of a stage hand hunching over his desk and refilling his cup with Pepsi. When he finally noticed her, the woman ran off. "Who the [[SoundEffectBleep bleep]] was that?" Drew asks. Capping it off with "More ale, wench!"
** One episode was edited in a special way: rather than just coming back from commercials with Drew welcoming the viewers back to the show, we see Wayne sneak over to Drew's desk and record, "My ass, my ass, my ass, my ass," into his tape recorder (that already had "One thousand points!" recorded on it) while he was off stage. Wayne then hurries back to his seat just before the audience is cued for applause.
** The episode where Drew gave away the one millionth point on the show, which unleashed a bunch of balloons from the ceiling while "The Stars and Stripes Forever" played. The celebration was short, came out of nowhere, and the balloons were cleaned up after the commercial.
* BrokenBase:
** US or UK version? And if you like the US version, which one? Certain sites, like Website/YouTube, are rife with comments like "X version is ''so'' much better." '''''God help you''''' if you enjoy both versions. The debate is so headache-inducing – [[FlameWar and can become so personal at times]] – that it's better to stay away from it all. And may God have mercy on your soul should you be a fan of any of the shows' [[TheScrappy Scrappies]].
** When Creator/TheCW brought the show back with Creator/AishaTyler as the new host, the fanbase was split all over again. Some fans miss Drew Carey and can't accept Aisha as the host, and others think Aisha's OneOfTheBoys-style of hosting is a breath of fresh air. Basically the same thing that happened when Drew Carey took over as host of the US version from Clive Anderson.
** Specific games can get this, too. Is the "Sound Effects" where Ryan provides sounds for Colin better, or the version where Ryan and Colin react to sounds made by two members of the audience? Both versions showcase the duo's talent for thinking on the spot in different ways, but some fans prefer Ryan's professionalism at sound effects to the amateur audience members.
** An episode in UK series 2 featured comedian Arthur Smith, who brought iconoclastic, fourth-wall-breaking (one could even say contrarian) humor to his performances. One side of the fandom found Arthur's chaotic energy refreshing and hilarious and thought he deserved another appearance; the other side were turned off by Arthur breaking improv rules and messing with the rest of the cast for fun.
** The "Wrong Name in Bed" Irish Drinking Song. There are fans who claim it's one of the US versions' funniest moments, if not the funniest because of Drew, Ryan and Colin derailing the skit. Those who don't agree say the cast constantly breaking down in laughter prevented the song from being enjoyable and that the intended topic never getting used was wasted potential.
** Since Creator/KathyGriffin herself has become a rather polarizing figure in general (for reasons we're '''not''' going to get into here), the four episodes where she was a performer have invited some pretty strong opinions.
* CargoShip: Ryan with [[https://youtu.be/qGTsSlgxeI0 the mobile boom cam on stage left]] (the audience's right).
** [[https://youtu.be/9Uu4jMPq7LE He's been cheating on her!]]
* CreatorsPet:
** John Sessions to this day is infamous for his self-indulgent improv and struggles in playing along with the others, but it's magnified by the fact that he was originally the ''centerpiece'' of the show -- he was a regular in series 1, and semi-regular in series 2 & 3. If you watch old playings of Authors, John sometimes gets nearly twice the time as the others.
** The Hoedown seemed like the skit version of this. Drew loved it (and so did the studio audience), to that point that he often called it his "favorite game in the whole wide world" and whenever Drew participated in a game at the end of the show, most of the time it would be a Hoedown. The others... not so much ('''''especially''''' Ryan). And they would joke about how much they hated it regularly.
* CrossesTheLineTwice:
** Colin coming up with "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as the title of the animal porn movie he was watching. Simultaneously dirty and hilarious.
** During a playing of "Hollywood Director" where Wayne and Ryan are motorists in a traffic accident and Brad plays a cop. As soon as Brad gets in, he says "LAPD, LAPD," and starts ''beating Wayne up''.
** In a game of "Party Quirks", Colin was someone who wasn't sure about the sex of the other performers, and was groping them to find out.
** "I didn't mean to cook your dog..."
** "You simply wait for traffic, then you ... ''push'' the old lady."
** Josie Lawrence once had to tend bar for Ryan in the UK version, where his prompt was that he was in love with his teddy bear. After all the sexual implications were laid out, Josie ends the scene by recommending, whenever Ryan gets urges to take the teddy to bed again, just [[BestialityIsDepraved using a neighbor's pet]].
** The "Slept With an Ugly Woman" Irish Drinking Song.
*** Ryan sings about spraying the woman with mace.
*** Wayne's lines about hitting the woman while running away, that she looked like Jamie Farr and that she used her to scare children.
*** Colin wraps the song with "It looked like someone had beat her."
** During a Halloween hoedown, Wayne sang about dressing up as a KKK member. This would have been controversial coming from anyone else.
* CultClassic: Maybe the show never quite achieved the mainstream rub the creators obviously wanted, but it still has a devoted following that's stuck with the ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' gang for many years. ABC's low expectations (and the show's low production cost) saved ''Whose Line'' - during ''Whose Line'''s first run, they were on opposite NBC's ratings juggernaut ''Series/{{Friends}}'', later joined by CBS and ''Series/{{Survivor}}''. ABC decided to put ''Whose Line'' opposite those shows because while they knew it would never beat those shows, it did have a dedicated fanbase.
* DesignatedMonkey: Besides maybe Colin, Drew was the person the panelists made fun of the most. Everything about him was basically fair game, from his weight to his glasses to his wealth to his lack of talent at improv to his perceived uselessness as the host. Wayne, Ryan and Greg in particular seemed to enjoy slamming him.
* EnsembleDarkHorse:
** Jeff Davis, a guest star in only a few episodes and the youngest comedian in the show, turned out to be extremely popular, not just for being able to keep up with the regulars with ease, but his boyish good looks got him quite the EstrogenBrigade. He later played a bigger part in ''Series/DrewCareysGreenScreenShow,'' which unfortunately did not last. Eventually, this led to him being the first fourth-seater in the 2013 revival, and became much more prominent from them on.
** Creator/MikeMcShane was one of the most talented of the UK show, but vanished following the show's move to the United States (and, reportedly, a violent back-stage argument with one of the producers). [=McShane=] appeared in a cameo on ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' and after having gastric bypass surgery and losing fifty pounds, became unrecognizable. However, he seems to have gained some back in his appearance in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode ''The Angels Take Manhattan''.
** The original music man of the series, Richard Vranch. He was a NiceGuy who was talented, charming and actually ''very'' good at improv, but alas, he was never allowed to perform onstage as a performer.
** Phil [=LaMarr=]'s material in UK series 10 (the "Hollywood" season) remains pretty popular with fans, thanks to his sheer enthusiasm and impeccable impressions (his Creator/JackNicholson is a highlight). There's ''still'' people who wish he'd gotten the call to do the US series proper.
** Among the new faces in the 2013 revival:
*** Gary Anthony Williams and his natural gusto and charisma proved an instant hit with fans.
*** Heather Anne Campbell already proved herself on ''Series/DrewCareysImprovAGanza,'' so her being on the revival series was highly anticipated. Many fans remain extremely fond of Heather's brand of silliness, even when an episode's editing [[AdvertisedExtra isn't too kind to her.]]
*** For behind-the-scenes reasons, Nyima Funk only got to do a couple of tapings with the cast. It's a shame, because fans immediately fell in love with her sharp wit, and how easily she kept pace with the main three, leaving her as a popular pick for the most underrated ''Whose Line'' alumni.
* FanNickname:
** To separate it from its British counterpart in discussions, fans dubbed the first American series "Drew's Line Is It Anyway?"
** Due to the way the stage is built, the four seats are on an elevated stage right in front of the actual floor, creating an area that one could hop down and then disappear from view by ducking low enough. The performers learned a long time ago to utilize this for certain gags, leading to the area being called the "mosh pit" (despite an actual mosh pit normally going ''in the front'').
* FirstInstallmentWins: ''The show itself'' - specifically, its American version. Every attempt at a CreatorDrivenSuccessor (''Series/DrewCareysGreenScreenShow'', ''Series/DrewCareysImprovaganza'' and ''Series/TrustUsWithYourLife'') never got a second season.
** Subverted with The CW revival, which ''did'' get more seasons ordered, but CW considers it a direct continuation of the original show: The set is largely unaltered, many of the games return, ''all'' of the regulars aside from Drew and many of the semi-regulars return (including the musicians), and most importantly, CW considers the first episode of the revival as being from season ''nine'' (the original run had eight seasons). The network has also bought the broadcast rights to the older seasons, aside from a couple of the celebrity episodes, and the entire package is available on their website as a single show.
* GatewaySeries: The show has introduced a lot of people to {{Improv}} comedy.
* GeniusBonus:
** In the first playing of "The Millionaire Show", Brad (portraying Regis Philbin) mentions, "I'm just happy to be anywhere without that Cathy Lee Crosby!" For the unaware, this is just a silly name mix-up, but for the film buffs out there, it's amusing that he mentioned the name of an [[Creator/CathyLeeCrosby actual actress]].
** The ''Hollywood Director'' with Wayne as a pig farmer. One of the apparently random names he makes up for his pigs is 'Szechuan', which is actually a subset of Chinese cuisine [[BlackComedy that usually has a lot of pork.]]
** In the "Scene to Rap" about ''Film/TheExorcist'', Ryan's verses were "I'm here to say, here to tell / I have come right straight from hell / I want your soul, gimme gimme / Why you do this to me Dimmy?" While "Dimmy" seems like a [[LeastRhymableWord nonsensical way to rhyme with "gimme"]], it's an actual quote from the film.
** Colin displays some knowledge of Greek mythology in one "Props":
-->'''Wayne''': Zeus! You keep your lightning bolts out of my yard!\\
'''Colin''': [[ReallyGetsAround Well, you keep your wife]] [[NeverMyFault out of my shorts!]]
* GrowingTheBeard: Everyone agrees this happened at ''some'' point. There are people who prefer the British show over the American one, and there are people who love Wayne Brady and hate Tony Slattery and Steve Frost.
** For the U.K. version itself, it's generally agreed that the show really started to find itself as John Sessions disappeared from the show. John, originally a regular in series 1, favored a more cerebral and well-read style of humor, and combined with his often self-indulgent performances, he seemed to amuse himself more than the audience (there's a reason he's often considered TheScrappy - see below). Gradually, and perhaps not coincidentally, as more and more performers showed up from across the pond, like Greg, Ryan and Colin, the show's humor became more universal and hit much better with audiences. Eventually, Ryan became a regular, followed by his partner Colin, and the rest is history.
** Colin himself took some time to come into his own as a performer, seeming a little more hesitant, until being ThoseTwoGuys with Ryan brought him out of his shell, giving us the absurdist goofball we know and love. It's best exemplified by his Hoedowns. It was a RunningGag in the U.K. version that Colin wouldn't finish a Hoedown, usually screaming or fainting. By the time the U.S. series debuted, he had improved ''immensely'', and his verses were often the highlights of the game, along with Ryan's.
** The tapings from season 1 of Drew Carey's version (some of which got spread out over later seasons, notable by Colin having brown hair and the lack of credit readings) may seem a little stiff in comparison to the rest of the series. Drew needed a little time to establish himself as a different host than Clive Anderson, and it was really season 2 when cast and crew settled into the goofy spirit that characterized this era of the show. One episode that really set the tone for the show is season 2's famous "Africa is a country" episode, which solidified the playful ribbing between host and cast members, and their love of {{Running Gag}}s (it says a lot that to ''this day,'' people [[NeverLiveItDown still won't let Drew forget that incident]]).
** The 2013 series: While the first season was funny as usual, many fans noted that one of the highlights from the first U.S. series (the performers good-naturedly ribbing the host) was absent. By season 2, this aspect was put back in. Also, there were certain episodes with no guest stars, a throwback which delighted some fans who thought guest stars were an unnecessary gimmick. And, the return of classic ''Whose Line'' performers (Greg Proops, Chip Esten) and certain games that hadn't been played in a while ("Showstopping Number") were welcome as well.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** In 1990, Chris Langham, actor, comedian and former writer for ''Series/TheMuppetShow,'' made his only appearance on the program, alongside John Sessions, Sandi Toksvig and Mike [=McShane=]. Probably for the best it was just the one, as it's already an episode very uncomfortable to revisit with knowledge of Langham's child pornography conviction in 2007.
** One suggestion in Scenes From a Hat was, "Bad times to tell her you don't care." Wayne's joke was miming flipping through TV channels before doing an uncaring, "Yeah, I love you too." Drew then remarks, "Scenes from Wayne's real life." This joke isn't so funny anymore since Wayne got divorced.
*** Even worse, one suggestion in the 2013 revival was [[https://youtu.be/8Yik06Sg_RU "Songs that celebrate divorce"]]. ''Wayne went up first.''
*** Again in the 2014 season, from Wayne as the sportscaster "going through an entire relationship" with Aisha, down to the breakup phase, to an Irish Drinking Song about divorce (a suggestion they've had before, by the way).
*** During a hoedown, Drew did a verse about Wayne's wife being out with him at 3 AM.
*** Don't forget about the time Wayne's wedding ring flew off his finger...
** "[[https://youtu.be/xltRkKDEoKE Hey, I didn't mean to cook your dog.]] But hey, these things [[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/11/16/2010-11-16_target_hero_dog_who_saved_50_soldiers_in_afghanistan_mistakenly_put_to_death_in_.html just happen..."]]
** In a game of Let's Make a Date, Ryan Stiles played TV's Series/CrocodileHunter. At one point, he "dies" after clutching his chest and falling over.
** In the UK version Season 8 episode 6, a game of Sound Effects with Ryan making noises for Colin ends with gunfire. Clive comments, "It's a crazy country, America. Even meeting a date turns into a mass shooting." That was 1996. America's problem with mass shootings has skyrocketed since then...
*** In one playing of Helping Hands, Ryan plays a clown and Drew plays a birthday boy. Ryan jokes, "You see the gun up my sleeve I'm gonna use on you?" The episode aired two months before the Columbine school shooting, so Ryan's quip about threatening to shoot a kid would be in terrible taste today.
** In the original British radio program, Clive asked Creator/StephenFry to "be a manic depressive". This was seven years before Stephen was diagnosed with manic-depressive disorder.
** After a disastrous game of Party Quirks in which Tony failed to guess Ryan's very obvious quirk, Clive remarked "I don't think we'll have [Tony] on the show ever again." This actually did turn out to be Tony Slattery's last performance ever, as he was fired and removed from the show after that episode.
** In the UK version, on a 1994 episode, they had the game "Bartender" when Greg was singing about how he was trying to forget about his taxes. Chip suggests he should drive a car bomb into the I.R.S. Extremely unfunny when the very next year Timothy [=McVeigh=] caused the Oklahoma City Bombing with a car bomb because of hatred against the American government.
** In one playing of Weird Newscasters, Ryan was to do the weather as "Siegfried and Roy whose act is going dangerously wrong." In October of 2003, Roy was mauled by one of their male white tigers, Montecore, during a performance in Las Vegas. Also, shortly before that incident, a Greatest Hits game had Colin promising to return to ''[[Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon Crouching Tiger, Screaming Siegfried and Roy]]''.
** One Hoedown about getting pulled over had Drew end his verse with "they don't give no ticket to a rich celebrity". Who would predict that [[MemeticMutation celebrity mugshots after arrests for driving violations would actually become a thing?]]
** Creator/RobinWilliams jokingly asking himself "I have a career. What the hell am I doing?" during ''Scenes from a Hat'' is harder to watch in light of his suicide.
** The second episode of the CW reboot features Creator/KevinMcHale from ''Series/{{Glee}}'' as the celebrity guest. While it was probably exciting at the taping, the episode proper ended up airing ''three days'' after ''Glee'' star Creator/CoryMonteith's death. Even worse... Wayne joked about getting a role in that show. Now that they're a man down...
** The second revival season has a game of "Helping Hands" where Ryan accused Creator/MichaelWeatherly of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' of using a forged passport - at about the same time that the disappearance of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370]] was attributed to at least two passengers slipping aboard on stolen passports.
** It was a more innocent time when the worst joke that could be made about Bill Cosby was his sponsoring Jell-o. However, ever since he got numerous accusations of sexual assault, those light-weight Cosby jokes really [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece date the show]].
*** One could argue this makes the infamously cut "Cosby and Hitler" Title Sequence game even ''more'' inappropriate.
*** The revival managed to have a Cosby reference, with Keegan-Michael Key in the role of the Big Bad Wolf from Red Riding Hood, a role that's often been interpreted as an allusion to date rape.
** There was the "Scene To Rap" about getting hit by a tsunami that was long before the Christmas 2005 disaster made people realize how serious those can be.
** The biggest example has to be on the British version before Princess Diana died; they did a small joke about her getting divorced in a Hoedown, and they did "Let's Make A Date" with one man pretending to be her, as an eye-batting ditz.
*** Similarly, on the UK version, they did a game of "Let's Make A Date", where Caroline was supposed to be Sarah Ferguson. She says as a hint she eats a lot and the public pays for it. Greg guesses she's supposed to be Princess Diana. Clive tells him if it was Diana it would involve eating and throwing up everything. There's no way you could do jokes about her being bulimic after she died, only a year after that episode first aired.
** Creator/KathyGriffin's first game of Hollywood Director has her adopting a SensualSlavs accent as the trophy wife of an elderly billionaire (Wayne). It's a little funny that she predicted UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump and Melania... but not so much after [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/kathy-griffins-beheaded-trump-picture her even more cutting statement against Trump]].
** A particularly short-range one when ''Scenes from a Hat'' does [[https://youtu.be/CMrFI68BnWE "If all TV shows were performed by incredibly angry people"]], leading to Colin as a newscaster who outright screams "EVERYTHING IS SH**!" Probably meant to be that guy from ''{{Film/Network}}'', but it should be noted that this was shown rather early in the now memetic Annus Horribilis of 2016.
** The RunningGag of Colin playing female characters could be viewed this way after his real-life daughter came out as trans.
*** Crude jokes about transgender people were pretty common in the 1990s, from ''Film/AceVentura'' to ''Series/MadTV,'' and this show was no different. They come across even more mean-spirited now that we know Colin's daughter is trans, and Colin has made no secret about being ashamed of ever doing these jokes.
*** A game of Narrate from the UK version involved ''Ryan'' playing the woman for once. As soon as the scene gets started, he clarifies that it "had only been three days since the operation." Then, when he opens the door for Colin-
--->'''Colin:''' Something answered the door.
** One World's Worst game covered Oscar acceptance speeches, which led to Colin going "you don't know how many b*tts I've had my d*ck up just to get this". By 2018, sexual harassment in the upper echelons of the entertainment industry was revealed to be ''rampant''.
** During the World’s Worst in season 4, episode 8 of the UK version (World’s Worst person to be a parent), Archie Hahn made a joke about a gay couple adopting a baby. Needless to say, the joke has NOT aged well.
** One ''Scenes From a Hat'' skit entitled "Shortest Book Ever Written" has Wayne say "The Life and Times of Gary Coleman". Gary Coleman died in 2010 at the young age of 42, so needless to say, this joke has aged about as well as year-old milk.
** One "Scenes From a Hat" skit had Greg Proops mocking Creator/AlexTrebek during the scene "People you wish would just shut up". Proops got a round of applause at the time, but after Trebek's diagnosis with stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2019 and his later death, many Website/YouTube comments point out how retroactively tasteless the joke is now, with some even calling for the scene to be cut from reruns.
** All the Monica Lewinsky jokes in the first U.S. series ''really'' have not aged well, both for [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece dating the show]] and because they're just mean-spirited (calling her fat, ugly, etc.).
** The UK version had [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iVesqCeJwwU The Excessive Drinking Hoedown]] featuring Tony Slattery as a reluctant participant. In 2019, Tony has mentioned in interviews that he has been struggling with alcoholism for many years.
** One post-commercial joke had Drew telling viewers in Beirut to turn off their TV and move. Was funny at one time, since Beirut is not exactly a bad place to live. Isn't funny in 2020 because of an explosion that caused widespread damage and many deaths.
** Wayne and his wife got divorced in 2007, which makes Drew saying "Wayne, how's the wife?" before Song Styles to be this. As well as a suggestion made during Scenes from a hat:
--> '''Wayne''': (''What your wife is saying right now'') "I love my husband, Wayne Brady."
** A game of "Sound Effects" by audience members has Ryan and Colin play buddy cops. It was filmed before 9/11, because of the flippant way they throw around the word "terrorist".
** During the final season, there was a bit of a running gag about Drew Carey asking Wayne Brady how his marriage was doing, before introducing a particularly attractive guest star for him to sing about, such as Undarmaa the contortionist, body-builder Jayne Trcka, or [[EvenTheGuysWantHim incredibly handsome actor]] Creator/DavidHasselhoff. (He always says it's fine, but he sounds kind of uncomfortable.) During his ode to Undarmaa, he actually makes a joke about getting a divorce.
** In an episode with Kathie Lee Gifford, Wayne makes a joke about being her "black Frank", with the episode only airing about a month before Frank Gifford's death.
** In the taping of the Creator/SidCaesar episode, one of the languages given to Drew and Sid to fake in Foreign Film Dub was Arabic. The episode was taped on September 9, 2001, two days before 9/11. Guess why they cut that one before it made it to air...
** A "World's Worst" game in one episode of the UK version was "Person to Be Prime Minister". Tony's final parody of the round? "Hello, my name is Creator/JimmySavile."
** Despite being funny, [[https://youtu.be/3pmzEQ9Va3M one "Weird Newscasters"]] where Wayne Brady plays a newscaster doing the sports and his quirk is ''Music/MichaelJackson at 100 determined to show he's still got at'' can be depressing because Jackson passed on June 25, 2009 at the age of '''50'''.
** Episode 6x10 of Drew's version kicks off with one of Drew's patented ThePointsMeanNothing jokes: "That's right, the points are just like how your ex is doing." Boy, did that one age poorly -- in February of 2020, Drew's ex-fiancé Amie Harwick was found dead, the victim of a homicide.
* HilariousInHindsight: [[HilariousInHindsight/WhoseLineIsItAnyway Has its own page]].
* MemeticMolester: Because he once randomly touched Ryan's crotch during a game of Helping Hands, and humped Chip Esten during Scenes From a Hat, Archie has this reputation with some fans.
* MemeticMutation:
** "Welcome to Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway, where everything's made up, and the points don't matter." That, and [[{{Snowclone}} variations]].
** Plenty. One of the more popular ones is a response to a post with a picture of Colin reading from a card, accompanied by text with a reverse-engineered Scenes from a Hat pitch for the post.
** Colin appears in almost all {{animutation}}s created; he played the sun in the very first one.
** On "you laugh, you lose" challenges: "Posting ''Whose Line'' is cheating."[[labelnote:Explanation]] The show is generally considered ''very'' hard to not laugh to, so clips of this show in those challenges is considered "cheating".[[/labelnote]]
%%** "OH, NO! THEY'VE GOT... CONFUSION GAS!"
%%** "[[ItMakesSenseInContext The Cat!]]"
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agWc_81KS4k "Is that still a show?"]] moment from a game of Mixed Messages from the CW era. It's become incredibly popular amongst fans, has been used in promo tweets, and the shot of the cast [[FlippingTheBird flipping off]] the audience member's sister on Facetime tends to circulate frequently amongst the fan base. Many have also pointed out, this moment sums up Whose Line's status amongst general audiences, as there are many people who [[MainstreamObscurity aren't aware of the revival.]]
%%** "What noise does an [[AluminumChristmasTrees arctic tern]] make?" "BACKSTREET BOYS!"
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-LZJlD8fM A dance mix was made]] using several of Colin's "crap" declarations.
* NauseaFuel:
** The mass of maggots footage in "Newsflash." It was so disgusting that Kathy Greenwood looked physically ill. One editor at the defunct website Dean's Line even went so far as to say it ruined the whole episode.
** The 2013 version adds another with footage of a dental procedure.
** In the "Improbable Mission" on walking the dog: "Hey, you still got that tapeworm?" It made the audience groan. Colin and Ryan are weirdly fond of tapeworm jokes, and they're ALWAYS gross.
* NeverLiveItDown: If someone [[EpicFail epically screws up]], expect it to be referenced constantly for the rest of the episode.
** In one episode, Drew accidentally calls Africa a country instead of a continent. People ''still'' remind him of this one.
** Wayne spelling Howard as H-O-R-W-A-R-D (multiple times, ''in song'').
** Drew was in ''Film/{{Geppetto}}''. (So was Wayne, but he got away with it.)
* OneSceneWonder: From the 2013 revival:
** [[Series/TheWalkingDead2010 Lauren Cohan]], just for starting a RunningGag of her own.
** [[Series/{{Glee}} Kevin McHale]], not for the chav impression but for ''catching popcorn spit by Ryan in his own mouth'' for ''HelpingHands''.
** [[Series/EverybodyHatesChris Gary Anthony Williams]] as a "upbeat old Cajun musician who's [[TheUnintelligible hard to understand]]". It very nearly became [[MythologyGag the second coming of Wet Biscuit McGlee]], except he forgot the 'musician' bit.
** Creator/CandiceAccola for busting out dance moves that ''caught Wayne by surprise.'' '''''[[ShownTheirWork WAYNE]]'''''. To be fair, she was already known as the GenkiGirl on that show.
** [[Series/HartOfDixie Wilson Bethel]] for ''taking a swig of the prop urine sample [[CrossesTheLineTwice and then giving his diagnosis.]]'' He even indulges in a bit of {{trolling}}!
** Kyle Richards for pulling a perfect split ''out of freaking NOWHERE,'' giving Ryan a genuine shock. Her [[HamToHamCombat hamming it up]] as well, complete with [[TheGlovesComeOff kicking her shoes off]], even her distinct ''lack of a reaction'' to [[NightmareFace Wayne's Botoxed expression,]] shows she was clearly mentally prepared for all this.
** Rob Gronkowski's hilariously {{Adorkable}} dance moves. He even indulges in some SelfDeprecation later.
** [[Series/TopChef Padme Lakshmi]] may at least dance better than him, but this trope applies more to the "Helping Hands" act, where she speaks the most authentic French in the show's run, then plays along by ''eating something Colin was going to feed to Ryan'', then waiting till Ryan did so to ''[[{{Trolling}} smear it more liberally over his face]].''
** NBA player Matt Barnes goes further than that, joining in on the action by pouring more stuff into whatever Colin was mixing up for Ryan, and even ''taking something out of Ryan's mouth'' to help the dialogue along.
* ParodyDisplacement:
** The show's title is derived from the stage play and the 1981 Creator/RichardDreyfuss film ''Whose Life Is It Anyway?'', but viewers are more likely to be familiar with the parody title than with the source.
** Some of the impressions done in games can be the first introduction to those being imitated - like Creator/PeterLorre, Creator/JimmyStewart, and ''especially'' Carol Channing.
* PopCulturalOsmosis:
** One song in "Songs of UsefulNotes/NewOrleans" in "Greatest Hits" had Colin stressing that it was "an animatronic bear band" that was NOT ''[[Ride/CountryBearJamboree The Country Bears]]'' - so a lot of folks thought it was based on ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' instead.
** As evidenced by some Website/YouTube comments, some have taken any Creator/JerryLewis impressions to be [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Professor Frink]] instead.
* ReplacementScrappy: Aisha Tyler was labeled this for replacing Drew Carey in the U.S.A. version's 2013 revival. Of course, Drew Carey was initially this for Clive Anderson as well.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Aisha became a lot more popular with many fans during Season 11, when she started participating in the sketches more often and, more importantly, doing so willingly. The cast also began to crack more jokes about her like they did with Drew, making her seem less like a SacredCow and more like a member of the cast.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Ron West, representing Second City Chicago, performed on a few episodes of the UK series, both with John Sessions in the early years, and with the likes of Ryan Stiles as the Americans began increasing their presence on the show. While it never quite panned out for him here, he'd go on to bigger fame towards the end of the 90s as SitcomArchNemesis Strudwick on ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun,'' becoming a major recurring character in the latter seasons. Funnily enough, West would return to ''Whose Line'' for the tail end of the UK years and staying through Drew Carey's tenure, as part of the creative team (writing quirks and scenes for the performers).
* TheScrappy:
** John Sessions is considered unfunny by many; a notoriously self-indulgent performer with a snide, well-read sense of humor that often didn't connect with the audience. [[note]]In one early episode, in a game of Authors, Sessions announced that he'd be telling a story in the style of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. One might have thought that his legendary erudition would have delivered a brilliant parody of Tolkien's style. Instead, he did it in the style of a stoned, vacuous hippie raving about ''The Lord of the Rings'', making it clear that Sessions had never actually read the book. This is the kind of thing that put people off about him.[[/note]] It's an open secret that other performers had a hard time working with him, and it says it all that Paul Merton making a crack at him in a game of World's Worst went over ''huge'', both with the audience and the other performers.
** Archie Hahn (who was on during the same period as John Sessions) is derided in some quarters for his carrying props around and having an unfair advantage. His most infamous moment is during the rare game Audition, where he clearly guides Ryan toward having him do a dance number, and starts doing a tap dance with castanets in his hand to simulate the tapping. Mike [=McShane=] and even John Sessions look embarrassed in back about Archie cheating, and Clive quietly admonishes him post-game. It's a wonder Archie's folly even made air, and yet he somehow made one more appearance during the New York tapings, where it became clear he had nothing left in the tank and couldn't keep up with the likes of Ryan and Greg.
** Kathy Greenwood was a frequent fourth-seater in the Drew Carey run, but oftentimes, fans considered her to be TheBore among the rotating cast lineup and a benchwarmer because her jokes weren't as witty as the regular trio's half the time and the other half she was generally sidelined or apparently too nervous on stage to interact or provide banter. (Between her and the show's editors, they managed to create one episode where she never actually speaks.)
* SeasonalRot:
** With each passing season of the the U.S. version, there was a heavier reliance of guest appearances. While some were uproariously funny (Richard Simmons' appearance was outstanding for one), the act got tired after a while with usage of guest stars reaching its peak in Season 5. The revival has a similar reliance on guest stars, appearing on every other show at least.
** The last three seasons in the first U.S. version were made entirely of unused footage from the same tapings as previous episodes. While seasons 6 and 7 managed to mask this well and had plenty of funny episodes from the leftover material, season 8 wasn't quite as lucky for the most part. It didn't help that season 8 used unused footage from ''season 1'' for many of its episodes, which was quite jarring this late in the series.
* ShallowParody: Whenever the improvers are given a style or subject they aren't familiar with, this is likely to happen. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Though this rarely makes the improv less funny]].
** An especially hilarious example was when Colin and Ryan had to do a scene as characters from [[{{WesternAnimation/SouthPark}} South Park]]. Colin does well with the material, but all Ryan can do is walk around goofily with a nasally voice. [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] by Colin who asks Ryan "You've never watched South Park have you?".
* SignatureScene:
** The game of Whose Line taking place at the Alamo, with Ryan as Davy Crockett and Colin as Jim Bowie, is often considered Ryan and Colin's finest scene together, which is covering a lot of ground.
** Later in the Drew-hosted series, the Party Quirks round with Ryan as a Fabio-esque romance cover guy holding Colin in a warm embrace while ''Colin does the same to Ryan's junk.'' Then Colin starts using ''his other hand.''
** From the new series, the moment Lauren Cohan kicked Wayne out of frame [[DenserAndWackier pretty much set the tone for the whole revival.]]
* SoBadItsGood:
** The audience members Drew brings up for Sound Effects always suck at making sound effects, which make the sketches that much funnier. Most of the time one person tries to sound as realistic as possible, while the other just makes random noises based on what the actors are doing. It always makes it worse in the best ways possible.
** Colin's bad Scottish accent can also fall here. Despite having Scottish heritage, Colin's attempt at the accent is ''never'' good, but he just powers through anyway with no shame whatsoever, because it's Colin.
** Ryan's John Wayne impression is so beloved by the fans because of this trope. It's a godawful impression, but it's ''so'' terrible that it's hilarious.
** And when we're talking about bad impressions, we have to mention the infamous Questionable Impressions game. It's Questions Only... but they have to do impressions every time out. Guys like Wayne, Jeff and Greg can ace this kind of game. Colin and Ryan... cannot, and the good impressions only make the bad attempts even funnier.
* SpecialEffectFailure: Whenever there's a technical failure, the cast usually milks it for all it's worth.
** One game of ''Newsflash'' starts inadvertently with the green screen showing the studio cam's view instead of the archive footage intended. Chip and Ryan have some fun reaching to the far left to "touch" Colin's head.
** Perhaps the best example of this is in the UK version wherein one prop broke, then continued to deteriorate throughout the sketch.
** In a playing of Props, another prop breaks and hits Colin in the face.
** The infamous "Horward" game of Song Styles had Laura Hall's synthesizer malfunction mid-song, leading to the tempo suddenly getting much faster. Wayne struggled to keep up, and the sketch went completely off the rails.
* SpiritualAdaptation: ''Creator/NickCannon presents Wild 'n' Out'' is essentially ''Whose Line'' in hip-hop fashion. Interestingly, they follow one of the [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer wildly inaccurate reviews]] of ''Whose Line'' by dividing eight performers into opposing teams.
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** "Film Dub" is like the late 90s/early 2000s version of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', except providing entirely new dialog instead of riffs between the dialog. In fact, some of the films that the cast dubbed new dialog for in "Film Dub" were also featured in ''[=MST3K=]'', such as ''Film/TeenagersFromOuterSpace,'' ''Film/TheBrainThatWouldntDie,'' ''Film/TheUndead,'' ''Film/NightOfTheBloodBeast,'' and the short ''Film/OnceUponAHoneymoon.'' It's definitely deja vu if you've seen those ''[=MST3K=]'' episodes beforehand (or vice versa).
** On the opposite end of this trope, we have ''Series/MockTheWeek'' on one side of the Atlantic and ''Series/DrewCareysGreenScreenShow'', ''Series/DrewCareysImprovAGanza'' and ''Series/TrustUsWithYourLife'' on the other. Plus the international series ''Series/ThankGodYoureHere''.
** More recently we have ''Series/FastAndLoose'', which is essentially ''Series/MockTheWeek'' minus the topical rounds.
* {{Squick}}: Some versions of Newsflash seem to be set up with this in mind, from [[NauseaFuel rats to maggots to cockroaches]] to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riof3CoMtfY a series of skateboarders]] [[ShareTheMalePain wiping out and landing groin first]].
** Jayne Trcka had her hand on Wayne's crotch.
** The tradition of showing disgusting and/or disturbing Newsflashes hasn't stopped in the revival. [=#DentalFears=], indeed.
** Thanks to one Greatest Hits doing songs about the gym, Wayne goes into ''way too much detail'' about what happens during a hernia... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b6jeqoglJY to the tune of "Livin la Vida Loca"!]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcJoRhN26N0 During a game of World's Worst,]] Jeff does a couple of silly human tricks by twisting and contorting his fingers. It horrifies the audience, plus Aisha, especially since one trick has audible ''cracking'' sounds. This man nearly broke all the fingers on his right hand for a cheap laugh. Talk about dedication to the craft.
--->'''Aisha:''' Jeff. Bryan. Davis. ''[Jeff's fingers crack, grossing everyone out some more]'' I hate you.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Greatest Hits and Song Styles/Duet almost always had improvised music meant to evoke real artists, especially after US season 2.
** The theme music for the 2013 series is ''similar'' to the first U.S. series but not exactly the same.
* TearJerker:
** Though it gave way to a hilarious and heartwarming moment, in the 100th episode Scenes From A Hat skit, they did [[http://youtu.be/vnmNL0yWIzY?t=1m57s "A brief glimpse inside the dreams of Colin Mochrie,"]] where Greg ruffles through his hair. That actually visibly got to Colin for once.
** In one of the outtakes, Drew announced Let's Make a Date, saying Greg is hoping to be picked by a date, snarking "I don't know why ''that'' would ever happen in real life." When the game began, Greg responded in a mock downbeat manner, "Yes, but... what's the point, Drew? Since no one would ever pick me?" The audience awww'd in sympathy. The moment quickly veers back into comedy when the two "make up" with a HoYay hug.
** One particular taping during Drew's era produced three episodes (one of which gave us the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCIKL1zTjSs "Your Mother Is A Drunk" Hoedown]], and the famous "nice pants" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo8oEUWQ-xI game]] of Song Titles) that are tough to watch for Ryan Stiles fans. If you pay attention to Ryan in these episodes, he doesn't look all that well, and not in the greatest condition to perform that night (both a flu and a headache have been speculated). The fact that Chip jumped on his bad back during Hollywood Director early on probably made things worse, and it's a shame to see one of the show's most reliable performers having such a down night.
* ThatOneLevel: The games may all be in good fun and the points certainly don't matter, but some games like Changed Letter, Multiple Personalities, and the Questions Only variants can be ''pretty difficult''. While Questions Only is often hard for keeping a mental note of the topic, the others are difficult for the how random they can be.
** Certain games get audible groans and expressions of dread from the performers, such as If You Know What I Mean (Ryan once described it as a party game if you want people to leave, and Colin always has trouble with the game due to his style of humor), Hoedown (Ryan again - he hates this game), "Number of Words" (during the 100th episode, Ryan groaned and quickly said, "I mean, "yay"!"), Hats (Greg, who will most likely complain about how immature or unamusing he looks while using said implements), Song Titles (which suffered from very poor judging at times from Drew, and was similar to Questions Only) and Questionable Impressions (or, as Drew puts it: "We're gonna change the name of that game to "Hey, Let's All Make Idiots Out of Ourselves").
** The British version occasionally ran into this with the American guests, who weren't always familiar with British customs, media, and so on. One example came when Greg Proops was trying to guess the characters on the dating show, and Tony Slattery had been portraying British cartoon character [[WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures Noddy]]. Greg had ''no idea'' what this was, as the show would not come to the United States [[Series/TheNoddyShop until 1998]]:
--->'''Tony:''' ''*nodding vigorously as a clue*''
--->'''Greg:''' ...Bouncing Forelock Man?
--->'''Clive:''' Do you not have Noddy in America?
--->'''Greg:''' ''*clearly baffled*'' Noddy?!
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: A lot of fans of the UK version didn't like the American humor of the American version. Other things included how vastly different Drew's hosting style was to Clive's; Drew interacted with the players a lot more and even participated at times, while Clive was far more low-key and actually made the points "appear" to be important. And there are plenty more who are fine with all of that... but just can't stand the overexcited audience.
** Widely considered to be inverted with "Sound Effects", which seemed to improve in hilarity when it changed from "Ryan makes sound effects for Colin" into "audience members make ridiculously bad sound effects for Colin and Ryan."
** Much like the UK version above, a lot of fans of the first US show don't care for the 2013 revival. Aisha is considered a [[ReplacementScrappy poor replacement]] for Drew, largely due to an almost complete lack of [[VitriolicBestBuds friendly ribbing]] that made the interactions of the cast so entertaining, as the cast would often joke about Drew or pull pranks on him, while with Aisha, the group rarely makes a joke about her as if she was [[SacredCow not someone they could joke at]]. (To be fair, this only applied to the first CW season; the next season saw the welcome return of the host ribbing.) Furthermore, the fact that the show has a larger budget means that props are used much more frequently, taking away from the original show's charm of the guys making do with what little they had. And the few games that did use props, which tended to be well-received due to their scarcity, are now done so often as to lose what made them special in the first place (Helping Hands comes to mind). An overuse of Guest Stars doesn't help either, as during the Drew period, guests were used very sparsely, which resulted in episodes with them becoming some of the funniest moments in the shows history. The new guests are usually not at all related to comedy, and often are dull and stand around looking confused. Or worse, the show turns into a shameless WolverinePublicity plug for the CW to promote an actor on the network's current lineup of aspiring series who otherwise has no reason to appear.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In retrospect, it's pretty obvious what era the first U.S. version came from. Between the Monica Lewinsky jokes, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_and_Ford_tire_controversy Firestone tires controversy]], and ''Blair Witch'' and Jar Jar Binks references, it definitely has its dated jokes even though the show overall is still quite hilarious. The UK version has aged even worse, as they occasionally referenced Jimmy Savile, which is probably jarring to most British viewers today, and the few Americans who know who Savile is, and the serious scandal that came out regarding him.
* ValuesDissonance:
** The UK version, even in later seasons, had a lot of jokes in which someone turning out to be LGBT was the punchline, which would not be the case today.
** The [=90s=] US version didn't completely age well either. There are a lot of jokes about people with mental disabilities. ''Film/RainMan'' impressions were common.
* VindicatedByHistory: Kathy Greenwood has gained some newfound appreciation that she definitely didn't have originally, largely thanks to the Jordan Writes About Stuff blog.
* WinBackTheCrowd: The "Newsflash" with the maggots is considered by some to be one of the grossest playings of that game, so the cast had their work cut out for them to recover from that game for the rest of the episode. Opinions vary on whether they were successful.
-->'''Drew:''' And you can't show people smoking on TV. But you can show that.
* TheWoobie: In between Drew stating when they came back from a commercial "Welcome back to ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', the show that gives Colin Mochrie a reason to live," to Chip actually making a drinking game out of all the times that they rip on Colin, it's hard not to see him as this.
--> '''Drew:''' "Oh man, never make fun of the popular, funny guy, that's the thing you shouldn't do."
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