History Main / HarpoDoesSomethingFunny

* For the comic crossover ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'', writer Creator/GrantMorrison sent other writers fairly detailed notes on what the world and plotting of the series were like, often pretty much doing the whole issue for them. For ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'', Morrison's sole direction to writer Creator/GarthEnnis was "Garth -- [[BizarroEpisode Do a pisstake.]]"

* This is one of the hypotheses why - where more than one version survives - the printed versions of the theatrical works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare differ so much from each other - in one case the same play is so different in two versions published around the time of its writing that ''some scholarly editions print both versions'' instead of trying to reconcile their differences. Generally scholars assume that if scripts were written down for performances at all, each actor (even the female roles were played by males in those days) only got ''his'' lines and perhaps the last line before his cluing him in as to when to speak. Add to that that theater in those days was done with natural light on an afternoon and heckling (especially by the "Groundlings" who paid the least for tickets and had to stand for performances) was common, so some scholars analyze certain scenes as particularly fourth-wall breaking and perhaps they were even tweaked for audience reaction.

* In-universe: ''Anime/HighSchoolStarMusical'', the main characters get a script like this as a surprise challenge in their acting class. They turn the page and the rest is blank - they have to improv the rest of the story. The resulting scene, and how they play off of each other, establishes their characters while showing early-on how clever and aware the writing is about the craft of acting.
* In ''Anime/SailorMoon'', Tuxedo Mask's LargeHam superhero persona - specifically his random appearances and convoluted introduction speeches - was not an aspect from the original manga. When asked whether the running gag originated from the scriptwriters or retroactively from the creator herself ([[Creator/NaokoTakeuchi Naoko Takeuchi]] had a good working relationship with the actors), [[Creator/ToruFuruya his voice actor]] merely stated: "I'm driving".

** The four and a half page script for ''Our Wife'' included a line that simply read, "Go for some ad-libbed business about getting Babe [Oliver Hardy] and the girl into the car." This ended up being the longest scene in the entire film.

** When Creator/JohnCarpenter was filming ''[[Film/JohnCarpentersVampires Vampires]]'', he asked Woods to do a take of each scene as it was scripted, and allowed him to improvise after that. According to the DVD commentary, a lot of the improvised material (like his speech to Padre about [[OurVampiresAreDifferent the strengths and weaknesses of vampires]]) made it into the final cut.

* Stunt coordinator for the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels Nick Gillard says that the screenplays will often say "and an epic swordfight ensues" for the lightsaber battles which he choreographs. George Lucas himself joked about the same thing: one documentary shows him triumphantly coming out of his office with the finished script for ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', but admitting, "There's a lot of cheating. There's a lot of 'They fight'."

* ''Film/GorillaInterrupted'': Due to time constraints, the director wrote a loose, 50-page outline for a film to shoot in seven days. This led to many scenes that relied on the actors simply improvising their lines and finding a way to get to the next scene, because they didn't have time to rehearse and deliver extended dialogue. However, one of the four main actors felt uncomfortable improvising and wrote his own version of the script filling all the blank spaces with gags largely inspired by Monty Python. The director ultimately had to reassert his control of the film.

* The entire character of Jesus Quintana in ''Film/TheBigLebowski''. Creator/JohnTurturro agreed to be in the film under the impression that his role was much bigger than the one-scene SpearCarrier it actually was. He was really disappointed to learn otherwise, so Creator/TheCoenBrothers (who are normally very meticulous with their scripts, to the point that things that seem like ad-libs frequently ''aren't'') made it up to him by basically telling him go crazy with the character. The result? A [[CampStraight flamboyant]], [[LargeHam scenery-chewing]], and [[SmallNameBigEgo hyper-arrogant]] bowling player/[[PaedoHunt pederast]] who did six months in Chino for exposing himself to eight year olds, dresses in bright neon purple, and seems to be constantly dancing for no reason. Talk about a OneSceneWonder.

* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': Much of the physical comedy involving Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane were improvised and/or ad-libbed between Sorrell Booke and James Best. The producers had realized the duo's comedic chemistry and Best -- as he once recalled in various interviews -- said that many of their own ideas were better than what was originally written in the script.

* In ''Series/GreenWing'', Stephen Mangan and Creator/MichelleGomez were never given scripts for their scenes together as both were professional improv actors. If a plot point needed to occur, that was all the "script" said, and so for the scenes where Guy wakes into Sue's office and nothing plot-relevant happens there was no script at all, such as when Guy tries to talk about love or complains about Jelly.

* Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/JoelMcHale and Creator/DonaldGlover were generally given free rein to improvise on ''Series/{{Community}}''.

** Some of the Fourth Doctor's stuff was written like this in two particular periods. (Creator/TomBaker was even nicknamed 'Harpo', though this was more for his hairstyle than for this trope.) The first period was during the later Fourth Doctor/Sarah Jane years, where the actors were encouraged to go off script as they were witty and creative people who got on like a house on fire [[MetaCasting playing themselves to some extent]]. Virtually all of their dialogue in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]" was written by Baker and Creator/ElisabethSladen, and they also both rewrote her ending scene in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]" together because Sladen hated the scripted departure so much she'd actually defaced her copy of it (which she eventually gave to Creator/RussellTDavies as a gift). During the apex of WagTheDirector period, Tom would also get free reign to mess about, which was noted in the afterword to the 2012 novelisation of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]" - the shooting script it was worked from was Tom's copy, blank spots in which he'd penciled in descriptions of the physical comedy bits he wanted to do. This meant that several gags 'written' by Tom made their way to the book adaptation, like the sequence where the Doctor [[BigEntrance bursts into a room]], doesn't see what he expects, leaves and, after a short hesitation, enters again in the exact same way he entered the first time.

* Many of the scenes with with Gage and [=DeSoto=] working on a victim on ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' clearly involved the director and writers setting up the situation and having Mantooth and Tighe, the two actors who had trained as paramedics, just do what paramedics would really do in that situation.

* Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' were allowed to improvise quite often under certain directors. Paul even said at a Power Morphicon panel, name dropping the trope, that a lot of times their lines and directions consisted just of the phrase "Bulk and Skull do something funny."
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', whenever scientific facts are needed in the script the writers simply leaves an "insert science here" in the script, then it is up to the scientific consultant Prof. David Saltzburg, his colleagues or Dr. Creator/MayimBialik to fill in the blanks, usually using cutting-edge, state-of-the-art science fresh off papers in recent journals, or in some occasions the scientists' own research.

* Most of the off-the-cuff comedy from ''Series/MatchGame'' (CBS) came from Gene Rayburn, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson and some of their semi-regulars like Betty White and Dick Gautier. But once in awhile, a celebrity not renowned for cutting up does something unexpectedly funny. Case in point: A question was "The loan shark said to Cleopatra, "I can give you the loan but we'll have to hold your ______ for collateral." Each celebrity panelist said "asp" and prefaced it with a differing adjective like "big" and "half" to make it sound like "ass." Trish Stewart, an actress from the soap opera ''The Young & The Restless'' said "''dumb'' asp," prompting panelist Jack Carter to belt out "She's one of us! She's in trouble!"

* This is how most small jazz combos do everything, whether as a jam session or while recording. Musicians are given a chart with a brief melody (the head) and the chord changes, and soloists are expected to improvise during the solo sections. Bassists, pianists, and guitarists, may not have specific rhythms to the changes, and drummers may be completely on their own. Often the head will only take a minute or so to play twice, once at the beginning and once at the end, and the intervening time is improvised, though often based on a preexisting vocabulary of licks and scales. The run time of most jazz tunes is, at minimum, 50% improvised soloing, and often 80-90% depending on the number of soloists.

* Japanese professional wrestling, due to the sport-like way it presents itself, tends to be especially liberal in the promo field. Unless they are rookies, deep in a storyline or playing a very specific gimmick, wrestlers are often left to do the promo entirely by themselves as long as they don't break kayfabe nor say anything compromising. This occasionally backfires when real heat comes up in the talk, but promoters often see it as new chances to get the press's attention or even [[RealLifeWritesThePlot create entire angles from real life.]]

* This is largely true of matches themselves. While most of the action is predetermined and carefully rehearsed in the gym before coming to the ring, minor parts like taunting, brawling and setting up an important moment (known in the business as a "spot") are left to be made up by the wrestlers themselves as they go along.
** Again, the Japanese take it to the extreme. In the old shoot-style (a classic style of puroresu that works its matches with martial arts moves in order to resemble real fights), wrestlers used to come to the ring only knowing who, when and how would win, and maybe having learned a couple of spots to structure the match. The rest was composed basically of sparring full force, just playing along in takedowns and submissions exchanges, and generally trying to make it look good. To show how much of a SeriousBusiness it was, accidental knockouts weren't really rare and were seen as okay to happen; the wrestlers were instructed to protect themselves at all times, and if they didn't, the price was simply a match ended before it was planned.

* Many actual {{Muppet}} skits are heavy on ad-libbing, as the performers (Creator/FrankOz in particular) often excelled at it. One ''Series/SesameStreet'' skit, about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PIdSGsIz1Q Ernie becoming enamored about Bert's fishing tank]], was completely unscripted. In the episode-by-episode podcasts discussing ''Series/FraggleRockBackToTheRock'' and ''Series/TheMuppetsMayhem'', the hosts often ask the puppeteers if a certain line was scripted, and it sometimes turns out they're not entirely sure, because it was ''such'' a mix of scripted gags and improv.

* This is one of the hypothesis why - where more than one version survives - the printed versions of the theatrical works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare differ so much from each other - in one case the same play is so different in two versions published around the time of its writing that ''some scholarly editions print both versions'' instead of trying to reconcile their differences. Generally scholars assume that if scripts were written down for performances at all, each actor (even the female roles were played by males in those days) only got ''his'' lines and perhaps the last line before his cluing him in as to when to speak. Add to that that theater in those days was done with natural light on an afternoon and heckling (especially by the "Groundlings" who paid the least for tickets and had to stand for performances) was common, so some scholars analyze certain scenes as particularly fourth-wall breaking and perhaps they were even tweaked for audience reaction.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has a [[MemeticMutation memetic take on this]]. The main goal is to defeat Calamity Ganon before he breaks out of Hyrule Castle and finish what he started, and also hopefully cleanse the Divine Beasts to help you... but given that the entire game runs on TakeYourTime, you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want with no rush. Hell, you can even rush straight to the final boss in little more than your ratty clothes and sticks as soon as you leave the Great Plateau. Granted, actually defeating the final boss in this state is... [[SelfImposedChallenge a task.]]

'''theeretblr:''' The way scripting is done on the DMSP is different depending who's organising it. Generally it consists of someone writing their big overarching ideas in a google doc and other people giving suggestions and making changes as a group until we're all happy with it.\\

* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' is largely improvised. Scripts are often only one page with important information on it. Also due to them shooting in abandoned buildings they often find things to throw in, including one character wearing a blanket they found there.

* ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'': Wacarb explained in the "Behind the Scenes" video that every episode has some degree of planning, whether he writes a script out or just keeps a plan in his head. The one exception is Rainbow Dash's dialogue. For her lines, he just turns the mic on and says the first thing which pops into his head. He explains it's a sort of MethodActing; he doesn't know what Rainbow Dash will say, because [[TheDitz Rainbow Dash has no idea what she's saying, either]].

* This was pretty much the premise to ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies''. The actors were given outlines of what would happen in the episodes and the dialogue was mostly made up. An infamous scene in the first season about [=McGuirk=] and his tattoos was completely improvised by H. Jon Benjamin and Brendan Small. As well, the basis for Lynch's appearance was based on a description that Benjamin ad-libbed as [=McGuirk=].

** The same thing happened in ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'', where the scripts would often have some of Lord Boxman's lines listed as simply "Jim sputters", since he can improvise a lot of funny-sounding vocalizations.

* A lot of Doofenshmirtz's ramblings in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' were ad libbed by Dan Povenmire.
* During the pre-voice acting script recordings for the ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' episode "Dance of Doom", writer Paul Rugg was told to [[https://twitter.com/pkrugg/status/1642943951979134993 "do something weird"]] as the title character, and improvised a bizarre, furious rant against the episode's villain. This was one of several moments that [[PermanentPlaceholder lead Rugg to be Freakazoid's permanent voice actor rather than just a scratch track]].