Heartwarming / Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Heartwarming moments in Whose Line Is It Anyway?

UK version

• One session of Party Quirks in the UK version had part-time performer Jim Meskimen as a "reminiscing old man"—even after he'd been guessed out, he took a little time to address Clive without breaking character. Maybe it was a jab at Clive's advanced hairline, but for all intents and purposes, it worked.
• As many on YouTube have noted, the handshake that Ryan and Colin do at the start of their first game together is pretty Heartwarming in Hindsight. It's like they're wishing each other good luck, and it's a fitting start to their partnership on Whose Line.
• Ryan's verse for the Colin-themed Hoedown, after which Colin gives him a big hug.
• In a game of Moving People, an attractive audience member called to the stage is asked by Clive to put Colin Mochrie "where you'd like him". She promptly puts his arm around her shoulders, causing Colin to beam with delight.
  Clive: Well, it's made Colin's evening, anyway!

US version

• The joy that covers Wayne Brady's face at the sight of Laura Hall is extremely touching. You can tell that she is a joy to Drew, as well.
• In the US version, the infamous "heavily pregnant Colin at the amusement park" session of Sound Effects ended with Drew tossing US$100 bills at Colin and Ryan—who agreed that the two ladies providing the sounds were the ones who'd earned that money, and got up to hand the dollar bills to them.
  • During another segment of Drew giving out $100 bills, Ryan catches one, then gets up and places the bill on the band's keyboard.
  • One round of Duet has Wayne and Jeff singing to Katrina, who works at a movie theater selling popcorn. After the song, Drew thanks Katrina with a $100 bill, much to her (and her friends') excitement.
• The Foreign Film Dub session with special guest Sid Caesar led to a few Show Stopper moments, most notably the standing ovation when he first came out. It lasted so long, it had to be cut down for broadcast (it was said to be approximately ten minutes). At the end of the show, they brought a birthday cake onto the set for Sid, as it was his 76th birthday at the time of taping.
  • Sid gave his translator, Colin, a curveball, by throwing the English word "garlic" into his French gibberish, to which Colin masterfully translates "A lot of my information I get from the newspaper, made by The Garlic Press." Sid loves that, and only briefly breaks character to give a symbolic nod to Colin's comedic wizardry — coming from Sid Caesar, that's high praise!
    • Colin actually looks a little flustered at the compliment, while Ryan just beams at him, looking proud of his old pal.
• Ryan's contribution to the Colin Hoedown, and Colin hugging him afterwards.
  • And Colin repaid the favor in the Ryan's wife hoedown.
• In a session of Whose Line, depicting "a Vietnamese woman bidding farewell to her GI boyfriend at the end of the war". Ryan decides to milk it a little by adding a Reveal of his own... and then one of the prewritten notes takes it to the next level.
• On the US version's famous "Ice Hole" episode, Ryan and Colin start mocking each other even more brutally than normal during "Two Line Vocabulary."
  Colin: I'll tell you what you look like: a big stick with a big nose.
  Ryan: [running his fingers through Colin's sparse hair]
  • Ryan then references it at the end of the game.
    Ryan: We went 15 minutes tonight. Now the fun begins.
  • During the next game, Ryan makes a comment about a rug. At the end of the game he says:
    Ryan: And when I said "rug" I meant a rug, not a... *makes a toupee motion*
    Colin: *makes a big nose gesture* And when I said "a stick with a big nose," what I meant was asshole.
  • It ends with a Heartwarming Moment when Colin and Ryan show they were just joking all along.
• During one episode, a woman in the audience is wearing a shirt that reads "Wayne, please sing to me!" Drew does in fact select her from the audience during Duet for Wayne and Chip to sing to. About halfway through the song, Wayne starts to dance with her. The expression of absolute joy on her face through the entire thing is wonderful.
• From the 100th episode's Scenes From A Hat: After 100 episodes of repeatedly making fun of Colin being bald, the scene drawn is "A brief glimpse into the dreams of Colin Mochrie." Greg does a bit of rubbing his hair, with Colin looking visibly upset at the umpteenth bald joke made at his expense (the studio audience even goes "awww" when Colin looks at them), and seeing this, Ryan's contribution is himself, Wayne, and Greg, all bald and screaming. Also counts as a Funny Moment. Greg further smoothed things over by following the screaming bit by taking the stage saying, "Yeah you were great, Sharon Stone. No, I’m not going to call you."
• Though not a straight example, the Newsflash session that started with the green screen showing the studio cam's current view instead of the archive footage intended, leading to Ryan and Chip reaching to the side to make gestures around Colin's head. It's so juvenile it's adorable.
• In another playing of Newsflash, the green screen is showing clips of Ryan from previous episodes. Colin eventually figures it out as always, and when Drew asks him what he thinks is behind him, Colin's answer is a straight-laced "I think it's my good friend Ryan Stiles."
  • Colin and Ryan in general are just plain heartwarming, as the two have been friends and colleagues in improv for years. That's why they're so great together because they know each other inside and out and can play against each other perfectly.
• This game of Infomercial had Colin place a device in Ryan's mouth and prepare to turn a knob on the side. Suddenly Drew begins yelling in protest, recognizing the device as dangerous (it was a campfire lighter). Fortunately, the one in question was empty.
  • Of course, this being Whose Line?, it quickly turns into a moment of funny as Ryan plays it off with the crack "Someone wants his own show!"
• In one episode, Drew nearly choked on an Altoid mint, and slumped over his desk as he attempted to get it out. Wayne looked extremely concerned about him—he even called out "Drew, do you...?" Drew had suffered a heart attack sometime earlier, which makes his concern for him even more heartwarming.
• The look on Wayne's face when Lassie trots on-stage as a special guest Duet subject. He's like a little kid, it's adorable. And Ryan in the back just melts - he's a big dog lover in his personal life.
• Ryan's performance as a lost toddler in a game of Weird Newscasters just makes you want to go "awww..."
• During the Body Odor Hoedown Ryan experiences an Epic Fail and can't come up with a line. To give him a hand Drew comes up and stands behind Ryan and sings a second verse while Ryan lip-syncs it.
• The Let's Make A Date outtake where Drew makes a slightly harsh crack at Greg. Greg seems (he's just acting, of course) put off by the comment ("Words can hurt!") until Drew apologizes, and they both hug and make up. In true Whose Line fashion.
• In one Party Quirks, Ryan's quirk was that he was excited by ugliness. During the scene, he was all flustered by Drew. After the game, Drew said in a mock dejected manner: "A thousand points, that's all I'm good for is giving points." Ryan responded: "Hey, buddy..." and defiantly ripped up the card which contained that suggestion.
  Colin: Hey, that's mine!
• When a playing of Superheroes began, Drew genuinely complimented Colin:
  Drew: One of my favorite guys in the whole wide world, Colin Mochrie, is gonna start this. [Audience cheers/applauds; Colin smiles] Never met a nicer man.
• One duet had Wayne and Chip singing to an old woman named Phyllis in the style of The Bee Gees. After the song concluded, Phyllis was heard to tell Drew, Wayne, and Chip, "I just loved it" and variants thereof. It's not often the audience members directly tell the performers that, so it's a sweet moment.
  Drew: I have the best job in the world.
• In Weird Newscasters, after Ryan essentially called Drew lower on the evolutionary scale than a caveman and an ape, Drew called Ryan a freak multiple times in retaliation. After Narrate:
  Drew: (mopey) A thousand points, everybody. Ten thousand points to Ryan, I'm sorry I called you a freak.
  Ryan: (makes ape noises)
  Drew: You're not a freak, you're my friend. I shouldn't have called you a freak on national TV.
  Ryan: ...And??
  Drew: ...I love you.
  Ryan: All right, good enough.
  Wayne: "A very special Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
  Drew: I did, I felt bad during the whole show—the whole scene.
• An example of "it was heartwarming at the time" (since Wayne is divorced): In one "Scenes From a Hat" one of the scenes is "What your wife is saying right now." Instead of making a joke, Wayne came out and said, "I love my husband, Wayne Brady." The audience "awwww"s.
  Drew: (sticking finger in mouth) I'm not done throwing up yet.
  • And then Ryan ruined it: "I love her husband, Wayne Brady."
• In this classic Song Styles segment, Wayne sang to Samantha, an aerobics instructor, in the style of Riverdance (Irish step-dancing). Wayne was suitably impressed to find out that Samantha actually could step-dance, and he gave her a standing ovation afterwards.
  Drew: Some days, you just love comin' to work.
• Josie's lone US taping is kind of one long heartwarming moment, because... well, it's Josie. Who wouldn't be over the moon seeing her one more time? Colin and Ryan look pleased as punch getting to work with their old pal again, and Wayne paired with Josie in singing games is like peanut butter and jelly. Both the resulting episodes have this wonderful feel-good vibe.
  • It's a small moment, but when guessing at the end of Let's Make A Date, she makes a little crack at Colin to oohs from the audience. To which Josie responds "Ah, shush! He knows I love 'im!"
  • From the same episode: Josie fires off a joke that would have been gotten by on the British version, but is deemed not-so appropriate for the American version. Drew (who wound up hosting because he was a big fan of the British version) and Ryan (who of course was a performer on the British version) immediately reassure her that it wasn't that big of a deal.
• In the episode where Chip jumps on Ryan's back, Colin told off Chip while also sounding genuinely worried for Ryan. Tellingly, the group only does one more style in "Hollywood Director" before Drew ends the game. When Drew buzzes, he has a concerned look, which proves that despite the two's teasing each other, he does care for Ryan's well-being. Chip also seriously asks Ryan, "Are you all right?" on the way back to their chairs.
• In the Scenes From a Hat suggestion "Difficult questions for mommy to answer", both Wayne and Colin ask, "Mommy, how come no one looks like me on Friends?" Before the next suggestion is read:
  Drew: Yes, if you were paying attention, I said difficult questions. (sympathy noises from audience) There's nobody bald... all right.
  Colin: I'm adorable. (audience applause)
  Drew: Yes, you are.
  Ryan: You looked better before you lost your erection.
• While Kathy isn't the best at guessing games, she was doing pretty well in the episode where Ryan breaks the neon light on Drew's desk with his head. After he does, she seems more distracted at making sure he's okay than trying to guess who he is.
• Doubling with Funny Moments: In Duet, Tina, the woman who was on vacation from Canada, was given a hug by Colin (who wasn't even playing the game).
• Before the 4x01 playing of Sound Effects, one of the women chosen from the audience hugged Colin and gave an excited "OH YEAH!", like she just fulfilled one of her life goals.
• In one round of "Scene With an Audience Member", they pull a woman out of the audience to recite pre-written lines in a scene between Ryan and Colin. Her last line, addressed to Colin, was "You're uglier than him." While the audience's laughter drowns her out, she is visibly apologizing to Colin, pointing to the card the line was written on. Colin just hugs her.
• During a game of Improbable Mission:
  Ryan: The president of Eatallyoucan! We have a picture of him on our wall! [points at Drew]
  Colin: You know what? He seems like a very nice person and probably lovely to work for!
• In one round of Song Styles, Wayne has to sing a love song that gets progressively faster. At the end he pretends to pass out after singing way too fast, and Ryan, not realizing it was a joke, jumps from his seat to see if he's okay. It's a small moment, but it's nice to see how much he cares for his co-star.
• During a game of Party Quirks, Wayne Brady accidentally pulled up a woman's skirt. She was not only a good sport about it, but took the resulting Hoedowns, where she was the subject of Ryan's lyrics, with much class.
• Season 3, episode 28 — Drew takes suggestions for a Greatest Hits game, and accepts "Marine Corps" as a suggestion. He doesn't make a big deal of it, but Drew does note: "...'cause I used to be in the Marine Corps reserves." Wayne immediately gives Drew a salute, and the audience gives Drew a nice round of applause.
• For how much ribbing Drew gets on the show, the Irish Drinking Song sung about him mostly consists of lines about how he’s kind and generous.

US Revival

• Aisha. Look at how enthusiastic she is about hosting this show. She's into the games, she loves Hoedown - Aisha hasn't replaced Drew; she has succeeded him. If the two haven't already met, Aisha would totally gush.
  • As a matter of fact, she and Drew are old pals!
• From the revival: during a game of "Let's Make a Date", Wayne plays a Hell's Angel who terrorizes the town alongside his gang. When he goes into the audience to pick people to play his "gang", he decides to choose a single person: a man in a wheelchair. The man has the biggest, happiest smile on his face throughout the entire skit, as he's clearly having the time of his life. Wayne even gives him a great big hug before sending him back to his seat.
• After the negative publicity over Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson making homophobic statements, it's great to see Willie extending the olive branch by appearing on a show with a prodigious amount of Ho Yay, and laughing along with the gay jokes and everything.
• On September 14, 2015, Colin praised Keegan Michael-Key on Facebook. Seeing a long-running Whose Line veteran like Colin give a shout out to one of the newcomers is quite heartwarming indeed.
  Colin (via Facebook): #WatchWLIIAtonight with the regulars and up-and-comer Keegan Michael-Key. This kid is going places.
• In the Misty May-Treanor episode, Aisha picks out a couple in the audience to participate in "Moving People". After she explains the rules, the guy says that he has a question. He then takes out a ring, gets down on one knee, and proposes to his girlfriend on national television. Aisha (who was actually in on it the entire time) couldn't help but tear up.
  • Became a Funny Moment in a later game in the episode, when Ryan got on one knee and asked Colin, "Would you do Greatest Hits with me?"
• Chip Esten's return in 2017. Everyone is delighted to see him and have him back. Chip also gives everyone a big hug.
• After Greg plays a season 14 round of Mixed Messages, before he returns the audience member's phone, he takes a quick selfie with it, with the audience in the shot, just as a little souvenir. A sweet little gesture on Greg's part.
• After a round of Song Styles with Tiffany Haddish, the guest star takes some time to thank Laura Hall and Linda Taylor before making her exit. Ryan points out that she's the first guest to ever thank the musicians after a duet. Haddish even comes back onstage to compliment them for their hard work.
• A very special guest shows up in Season 20: Wayne's daughter Maile, who gets to sing with him in a round of Song Styles. They naturally have great onscreen chemistry together, and she's just as funny and talented as her old dad.
  • At the end of Dubbing, Colin's character takes Maile aside and tells her, "Never disappoint your father." It's subtle, but you can tell that Colin was telling her this genuinely.
• 20x17's Scenes From A Hat. The scene "things you should never brag about" starts out with typical gags, before Colin drops "I've been doing the same show for 32 years." And the crowd cheers him! Greg follows that up with pointing out that he started on the show in 1989 (pre-dating Ryan and Colin), and Wayne can't resist adding that he watched these guys for a decade before joining the cast. The audience shows them all the love they deserve, and it's a sweet little victory lap for the boys, made even sweeter knowing it's from the final stretch of tapings.

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