"Who's Line is it Anyway?"

[Doreen Peri]

Don'tchya just love this show?

Is it all improv as presented?

Scripted?

Or a combination of the two?

Whaddya think? hmmmm?

(I don't watch much tv, but my daughter has gotten hooked on this show and I'm sooooo glad because it's so damn funny and I stop what I'm doing sometimes to listen and watch! I used to watch it years ago on cable. I'm glad they brought it to network tv so more people could see it. Cracks me up!)

[Doreen Peri]

I presented this question to a friend & sister and her answer was....

Definitely all ad libbed, but there are things they're used to doing, have had years of it back through the British version, like the superhero game, where one guy is told a world crisis and is given a type of superhero, like "Can't Remember Anything Man," solving "Giant Donuts Attack United Nations" and as each new superhero enters they greet them with something like "Legs-Like-Rubber Man" or "Talks Backwards Man" -- They've got plenty of time to come up with goofy superheroes cause they do it all the time, so in that sense that's not ad libbed, but expected. Still, they have to react/act in character, and that's funny, too. Question is do they telll each other in advance what character they've come up with or not. I hope not.

The two guys who ended up on the American/Drew Carey version had worked together so much on British version they were used to what the other person could do and they could read each other's minds. Notice when there's someone else with them, it's those two who are spot-on with each other. I do think, though, that they know they're going to do something, like, say, when they're doing the songs on a fake CD collection, they sorta know what they're going to do -- or, more precisely, they know what tune they'll use for the country song, the heavy-metal song, etc. So I think it's all ad libbed, but that they're so used to certain things they know what way they're going to go. My favorite "game," besides the super heroes one, is the one where one guy puts his arms under another, like we used to do in front of the mirrors -- they know that a good ad lib here is to make the guy with the arms do something goofy to the person whose arms they are. Laugh out loud funny stuff I think, especially in british version.

I think the American version shortchanges itself by using same people all the time, and by sticking to a small handful of games instead of a larger selection like in british version.

whaddyou think?

[judih]

the British version was amazing. The women on the show were brilliant.
A lot of Canadians hung out there as well.

Haven't watched the American version in ages, but the guys are good.

i was a faithful enjoy her for about 2 yrs and then i became stuffed.

[Marksman45]

I play the role of Laura Hall for an improv comedy troupe, Obviously Unrehearsed Improv! (or OUI! for short, of course pronounced <i>wi</i>)

Being an inside man for improv, I can tell you that it *is* improvisation, and it's completely possible to be consistently good. We didn't use to be, but we now are. In fact, we now improvise 1-act musicals. We get a title, and we make the rest up off the top of our heads. Music and everything. We call it "Instant Musical." And it is.

But, yes, there are conventions, basic fundamentals, that one must learn in order to improvise consistently. Just as an improv musician must know his scales and such, there are things that an improv actor must know. "Improv" doesn't mean unprepared, it just means the material itself is made up on the spot.

Our site is http://www.ouimprov.com by the way
And we're every bit as good, if not better, than Whose Line

(I get together with Buck & Clint from OUI! all the time and we make up songs for hours. They are amazing at making up words)

[izeveryboyin]

I do improv too. I'm with the Improv Olympic theatre here in Chicago, home of the famous Second City, and also, if I may proudly boast, birthplace of improv comedy. As a student, you learn excersises and then finally perform on a regular basis. We're pretty damded good. We've sponsored some pretty famous comdeies in our time. chceck out OUR website at http://www.improvolmpic.com
--K