Format
the indicate consists of a panel of quadruplet improvisational performers and comedians. It produce higher characters, scenes, & songs on a spot, for even instance according to audience suggestions or by owning pre-written prompts from either the carrier. the indicate is formatted about as a mock competition, by using a unsuspecting hosts willy-nilly assigning points & finding a "winner" at a prevent of both episode world health organization would (in the British version) undertake a improvisational work according to the closing credits. Within the average tape recording, from each one 'game' is played between one & 3 days, universally using different prompts and suggestions. So a indicate is edited & merely victims scenes deemed a better (& which come then suitable for broadcast) are actually shown.

Within 2004, a similar indicate by having about a equivalent cast known as ''Drew Carey's Green Screen Show premiered on The WB.

Participants
A indicate was created by Dan Patterson, and inside its original form in BBC Radio 4, Clive Anderson presented the indicate, sustaining 2 regulars, Stephen Fry and John Sessions, and ii guests. It was late moved to the television station Channel 4, with little vary around format except for the extra varied guest rotation. Regular comedians from either the British version involved, besides when a previous regulars, a kind of British, American, and Canadian comedians, notably Josie Lawrence, Paul Merton, Tony Slattery, Ryan Stiles, Sandi Toksvig, Colin Mochrie, Mike McShane, Brad Sherwood, and Greg Proops. Sessions was ever-present around the early times of the British television version, by using Stiles becoming the staple in late episodes & with occasionally influence on the creation & profits of the U.s. incarnation. Numerous of a performing artist, including Merton, Lawrence & Toksvig were regulars by having the Comedy Store Players, an improvisational class action depending at a London Comedy Store. A theme tune for the British television incarnation of the indicate was composed by Philip Pope.

A reruns of the UK TV series were aired for several years on the U.S. Comedy Central TV channel, and were brought to the attention of U.s. comedian Drew Carey (who got the working relationship by having regular Whose Line performing artist Stiles world health organization co-starred in The Drew Carey Show'' when not appearing on the British indicate). Carey positive ABC to air test episodes in the United States. a indicate wwhen an cheap hit, & ABC saved Carey in as a unsuspecting hosts of a successful Western version which run many years; it benefited from either the moo expectations of its Thursday nightinstance time slot (ABC, unlike CBS, has never mounted a good challenge to NBC's longtime Thursday dominance). the U.s. version was most monovular to the UK series, though using a less diverse rotation of games & performing artist, additional involvement of the persons (Carey) in the activities, & occasional celebrity guest appearances. A Western incarnation of the indicate involved Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, and Ryan Stiles as regulars, with Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Brad Sherwood, Denny Siegel, Jeff Davis, Stephen Colbert, Kathy Greenwood, and many others ingesting turns when a quaternary performing artist. Celebrities another time took a quaternary spot, including Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. More celebrities mass produced guest appearances, like David Hasselhoff and Jerry Springer. There was potentially the particularly memorable appearance by Richard Simmons for one sketch [http://www.idiotsite.com/wlwiki/index.php?title=Richard_Simmons]. [http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=6647 See it here.] Mochrie, Proops, Stiles, Esten, & Sherwood tons appeared multiple days on the British indicate. For a instance, the British version of the series (sustaining Clive Anderson however hosting) was taped in the equivalent Hollywood studio as a Our contries version, though this version was lone shown in the U.S. in Comedy Central. When a few years of genus pan productions, a British version of the series was retired. A Our contries version was cancelled by ABC inside 2003 due to moo ratings, & continues around reruns on the ABC Family cable channel; however, these proved thus popular that ABC jointly recently episodes from either older tape recording naround considered to become expert plenty for last diarrhea & original foremost-dog episodes began airing on ABC Personal in 2005.

Several of a sketches include music, & there stand been the total of musicians when you took the do of the indicate. On a original BBC Radio series, the music was provided by Colin Sell, but whilst a indicate migrated to Channel Quartet Richard Vranch took over a job. Richard Vranch did not move by owning a indicate to the U.S., as a matter of fact when you took a final series of the UK indicate which was filmed around United states, musician Laura Hall made her first appearance on the indicate. She continued when musician in the 1st year of the U.S. indicate in her have, however in the 2nd year forward more musicians were added to attempt to "jazz up" that segment of the indicate. Joining Laura Hall often was multi-talented musician Linda Taylor, and now and again more musicians were added like Cece Worral-Rubin , Anne King, & Candy Girard. A sketches "Greatest Hits", "Hoedown", & "Song Styles" come amongst a virtually all popular, & bank heavy in music. A musicians have a project when challenging when a actors. In the games "Greatest Hits" & "Song Styles", for example, it must came higher by having different song styles on a spot, & it must as well operate using a more musicians & a actors to produce the scene function.Prefer "Narochi in the Pacific Ochi" by Brad Sherwood

Common sketches
90-2nd Alphabet: 3 performing artist enact a scene where for each one phrase must start out by owning a letter charted the 1st letter of the survive phrase. the performing artist begaround sustaining a letter chosen per audience & must last through the entire alphabet in Xc seconds. Numerous days, a players were non respire to complete a game eventually. Action Replay (aka Instant Replay): 2 performing artist enact a scene (normally by using big physical movements), when the more ii view when wearing earpiece, which halt the babies from either hearing what is running in. Later in, a 2nd pair must re-enact a scene, depending alone on what it saw. Creature: Two to 4 performing artist must enact the soap opera-ish scene as animate being; a metal money come provided per hikers. Authors: Altogether quatern performing artist tell area of a equivalent story, however both performing artist utilizes the style of their favored creator. A unsuspecting hosts switches every which way between a performing artist at regular intervals. (For the similar game watch Remote Control.) A Award Indicate: Both performing artist unsuspecting hosts an absurd award indicate (such as 'better frat boy' or 'virtually all piercingly divorcement') when more deuce performing artist work when a winners & take stage for an acceptance speech. Random members of a audience come shot by camera when the "runners up" & are non told too soon. Barkeep: a performing artist approaches the barkeep & sings just about a prescribed topic, when the barkeep (an additional performing artist) replies inside song. Occasionally, a number 1 performing artist is mad at something, a 2nd is sad all about something, & a third is gaga using something. Vary: 3 performing artist work the scene. It develop to vary a survive tool said while a quaternary performing artist says "Change". Changed Letters: a performing artist enact a scene; yet, the performing artist must substitute a single letter for a second all told spoken words, every bit specified per hikers. (E.g., whenever 'F' is substituted for 'B', lines prefer "I fruised my futt on the fack porch" will exist as spoken.) Dubbing: 2 performing artist enact the scene by using an audience member, whose voice is provided by the third performing artist. Another time the favorite celebrity guest is utilized instead of an audience member. Good deal of a comedy comes from either a inability to sync performing artist & voice (a performing artist is unable to understand a human providing the voice). Film Dub: Performing artist must follow the clip from either an old (& commonly unknown) moving picture or even tv show which has been muted & provide the dubbed dialogue, as a consequence the guide of a scene provided per hikers. Film Noir: 2 performing artist enact the scene within film noir, ie. it must break a fourth wall, approach the camera, & tell everyone what's running in, occasionally providing prompts for & facts all about a more character. Film, T.V., & Theatre Styles: Several performers enact a given scene; at regular intervals, the host stops the scene and gives the performers a different style to use when the scene resumes. Foreign Film Dub: Both performing artist enact a scene around the foreign languange chosen per audience when the more 2 performing artist translate. (Due to a fact that a performing artist ordinarily don't understand a language chosen, the language spoken is normally merely gibber.) Greatest Hits: 2 performing artist work when pitchmen for even the compilation album (whose topic is provided per audience); it provide list & styles of songs to of these or each of the more performing artist, world health organization must improvise a share of the song. Hats: 2 pairs of deuce performing artist receive the pack of random headgear & have the two to are higher by owning examples of "the world's worst dating service videos." Hand: 2 performing artist enact a scene where 1 can't apply his paws; the third performing artist stands behind the ham-handed performing artist & will bring his paws instead. A performing artist ordinarily get into gaberdine & costumes for this skit when it tends to get super mussy (particularly for the unfortunate performing artist world health organization just can not utilise his paws). Hoedown: the quatern performing artist on an individual basis sing a hoedown about a given subject, by using every contestant forming one of a quartet stanzas. Colin Mochrie was known for fainting while he couldn't deliver the rhyme, & Stiles would typically squeeze in the word "penis". (the British version likewise utilized a related game, Gospel, where the quaternary performing artist sing a gospel music song.) Ryan Stiles is notorious for disliking a game, experienced difficulty intellection of songs, & around 1 case, was unable to believe of a bit, & Drew Carey experienced to rush around to provide his lines for him. Hollywood Director: 3 performing artist improvise the scene provided per hikers. A 4th performing artist (a "director") interrupts sporadically to provide up to date styles to become utilized in the scene, like "Do it like a 1950's musical." Provided you know What I personally Mean: numerous performing artist improvise the scene where it produce higher when many ambiguous euphemisms as they may, ending by using a sentence "if you know what I mean.' Many times, nonsensical phrases were thrown in (usually by Colin). Example: "Possibly your family want chunkier raisins... provided you know what I personally mean." Improbable Mission: Two performers are super-secret agents a la Mission: Impossible. A third performer is the voice on the tape, who gives them their assignment: a mundane task (e.g. get dressed or mow the lawn). Infomercial: Two performers create an infomercial to sell "miracle products" for a personal problem (e.g. bad breath, baldness) using only items given to them in a box. Irish Drinking Song: The four performers must sing an Irish drinking song one line at a time about a given subject. (Four verses are sung in alternating lines, usually of seven and five syllables; in each verse, a different performer begins the verse.) Colin was known for being awful at the skit and coming up with pointless but hilarious lines. A few times the skit had to be stopped due to the ammount of laughter on set after Colin said his line. '''Let's Make a Date''': One performer is the contestant on a dating-type show. The other three performers are bachelors who have quirky personalities, which are revealed through their answers to the contestant's questions. The contestant tries to guess the specific personalities after one or two rounds of questions. Sometimes, the characters are related to each other (e.g. Wayne is a drunk uncle ruining niece Colin's wedding, Colin is a frog leading the great escape, and Ryan is the head of Colin's fan club). Living Scenery: Two performers enact a scene provided by the host. The other two performers stand in for props during the scene. The Millionaire Show: The performers enact a parody of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, in which the performers act as members of a particular group provided by the host (e.g. gangsters, hillbillies). The performers take the role of the host, a contestant, a "phone-the-friend" lifeline, and an audience member lifeline (not present in the original show). Moving People: Two performers enact a scene, but cannot move on their own. Instead, two audience members move them into different positions as they act out the scene. Multiple Personalities: Three of the performers are given a scene to enact with three handheld props (e.g. a canteen, a pair of binoculars, and a knife). Each prop is assigned a famous personality; the person holding the prop must do an impression of that personality as the scene continues (e.g. "a individual holding a canteen is Carol Channing"). The performers trade props as the scene continues, giving everyone the chance to do different impressions. (If a performer is holding more than one prop at once, the performer must combine the impressions.) News Flash: One performer stands in front of a green screen as a field reporter, while two other performers act as studio reporters. Random footage is shown to the audience, the news anchors, and the viewers at home via the green screen, as the studio reporters question the field reporter about the footage. Eventually, the field reporter tries to guess what the footage is, based on the questions from the studio reporters. (For a similar game, see Press Conference.) Old Job, New Job: Several performers enact a scene in which one of the performers displays traits of his old job (e.g. cowboy) in his new job (e.g. teacher). Party Quirks: Three performers (party guests) are given a random quirk, and the fourth performer is a party host, who must identify the others' quirks as the guests arrive and interact at the party. Press Conference: One performer acts as a public figure answering questions from three reporters (the other performers) at a press conference. Only the reporters know who the public figure is; the first performer must figure out who he is based upon the questions asked by the reporters. (For a similar game, see News Flash.) Prison Visitor: One performer visits the other three in prison individually. They sing their problems to the visitor. (For a similar game, see Bartender.) (This game is exclusive to the British version.) Props: Two pair of two performers must come up with quick scenes that involve a random prop, usually one line that refers to what the prop is. Questions Only: Two performers enact a scene, while only speaking in the form of a question. Failure to speak in the form of a question results in the performer being buzzed out and replaced by another performer. A variant is "Questionable Impressions," where, in addition to the above rules, the performers must impersonate a historical, fictional, or pop culture figure of their choice. A further variant is Questions Only With Wigs. (See also "Song Titles".) Quick Change: Two or three performers enact a scene provided by the host. Another performer stands to the side and says "Vary" at various times during the scene; the performer who had the last line must then change that line to something else. Remote Control: All four performers enact four different types of television programs, each dealing with the same topic (provided by the host). At regular intervals, the host switches between performers, as if using a television remote control. (For a similar game see Authors.) Scene to Rap: All four performers must enact a scene, but can only speak as a rap. Scenes From a Hat: The four performers improvise one-line scenes in response to suggestions from the audience. (The suggestions are written on slips of paper in a hat, giving its name to the game). Show Stopping Number: Three performers enact a scene. At random times the host uses a buzzer, and the last performer to speak before the buzzer must sing a show-stopping tune based on the line they just said. Song Styles: One performer sings a song in a style provided by the host about an audience member or about a subject provided by the audience. (Sometimes, the rest of the cast provide backup vocals or dancing.) Variations on the game include: Duet: two performers perform the song together as a duet, alternating verses or stanzas. African Chant: same as Song Styles, except that the style is always an African chant. There is constant joking about the fact that the other performers, usually all caucasian, would be his backup (one time being referred to as "Wayne & a crackers"). Song Titles: Two performers enact a scene, speaking only using song titles; artists, song lyrics, and album names cannot be used. Failure to do so results in the performer being buzzed out and replaced by another performer. (See also "Questions Lone".) Sound Effects: There are two variants to this game. In one, one performer enacts a scene provided by the host, reacting to sound cues provided by a second performer. In the other, two performers enact a scene with sound effects provided by two audience members. Sports Commentators/Sportscasters: Two performers act out a scene in slow motion. The other two comment on it as if it was a sporting event. Stand, Sit, Bend: Three performers enact a scene, but one must be standing, one must be sitting, and one must be bent over. Whenever one performer changes positions, the others have to accommodate. A variant is "Have, Sit, Lie," where a performer must be lying down. Superheroes: One performer is a silly superhero whose name is given by the audience, and is confronted with a bizarre world crisis. The other performers enter one at a time, each identifying the next entrant. Superheroes from this game include Disco Kid, Captain Dog-in-Heat, Yodeling Pogo-Stick Man, and Captain Obvious. Telethon: Two of the performers (generally Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie) host a telethon for a group of people who would not need it (ex. NBA players or sitcom actors) while two other performers impersonate different artists who are there "supporting a induced". Themed Restaurant: Two performers dine in an unusual themed restaurant; the other two performers display the theme as they act as waitstaff. Three-Headed Broadway Star: Three performers sing a mock Broadway hit song one word at a time. The name of the mock musical and hit love song from said musical are provided by the audience. Sometimes one of the players will say more than one word at once (David Hasselhoff would repeatedly give whole phrases by mistake). Two Line Vocabulary: Three performers enact a scene provided by the host. One can say anything they like, but the others are allowed to say only two specific lines, provided by the host. Weird Newscasters: One performer is the lead anchor of a news show, with the others acting as co-host, sports anchor, and weather anchor. The host gives each performer (except the lead anchor) a quirky personality to be used in the scene. What Are You Trying to Say?: Two performers enact a given scene, each taking offense at the other's statements whenever possible. This game israre. Whose Line: Two performers enact a scene (provided by the host) while including two random lines that were given to them. The lines are provided by audience members. '''World's Worst''': The performers come to "the globe's worst step" and step forward with examples of the world's worst example of something (e.g. "the world's worst roomy" or "the world's worst human to exist as stuck in an island by owning").

The end of the program is handled differently in each version. In the British version, the "winner" (chosen arbitrarily by the host) reads the credits in a given style of the host's choosing. In early episodes of the American version, the "winner" (again, chosen arbitrarily by the host) performed a sketch with the host; afterwards, the credits rolled normally. In later episodes, the "winner" sat at the host's desk while the host performed a sketch with the rest of the performers; afterwards, one or more performers (unrelated to the "winner") read the credits in a style of the host's choosing.

Atmosphere
Though Whose Line? has all the trappings of a game show, it lacks the competition and the stakes of a normal game show. The winner is chosen completely arbitrarily and the points are meaningless. At the beginning of every American episode Drew Carey says "Welcome to Whose Line Would it be Anyway, in which all about's manufactured higher & a points don't matter!" The meaningless points and winners are often the subjects of many jokes by host and performers alike. In the British version, individual games even sometimes had winners that didn't participate at all. This carried over to the American version, with Drew occasionally giving points to cameramen, audience members, or Laura Hall. There was one show where the points did matter. Drew wrote down totals on the back of a scene card and the winner actually was the one with the most points. On another show, instead of giving points, Drew gave $100 bills. Most of them went to the audience. Many times, the greatest comedy on the show came from the cast members attempting to stall for time or pass the buck to the other performer when they aren't able to think of the next line.

Running gags appear frequently in many episodes, largely in the American version. Usually, the gags involve the participants and the host making fun of one another and themselves.

Some running gags are confined to a single episode, in which notable jokes or mistakes from previous games are recalled in later games. Examples: In one episode, Drew accidentally calls Africa a country. Throughout that episode there are references to Africa and the differences between countries and continents. In the hundredth episode, Wayne attempts to sing a Village People style song about a man named Howard but accidently spells it "Harward" (in his defense, the electric piano bust and started playing quickly). He was ribbed about that for the rest of the episode. In one episode, during a game of Weird Newscasters, Ryan was asked to portray a character "desperate to quell rumour that he's homosexual". Jokes of Ryan's being in the closet occurred throughout the rest of the show, including that being the theme for the reading of the end credits. One episode, the TV theme song was suggested to include Hitler but the directors adamently refused on air (this may be the only time in show history this happened). The cast jokingly compained the rest of the night ("buckeye state yea, that's ok however your family potty't say anything bad just about Hitler!") Typically Ryan and Colin would be teamed up together in scenes, allowing for a humourous rapport between the two. Colin would usually inadvertantly say something that would cause Ryan to laugh so hard he'd be unable to look at Colin. This happened in many episodes. They would also sometimes have phony side squabbles while addressing the camera. Many of the players would be known for their impressions, typically Wayne as Sammy Davis Jr. or Gary Coleman, Ryan for characters like Jimmy Stewart (essentially a prolonged stutter), Liberace, Carol Channing and probably most famously, John Wayne. Colin, not an impressionist, would sometimes be Peter Graves or Craig T. Nelson (the joke being that he would speak normally and merely introduce himself as Craig T. Nelson). In one episode, Ryan accidently breaks the rectangular neon light on Drew's desk when he hits it with his head, causing near uncontrollable laughter in the other cast members. Colin later makes this comment, "It would've been REALLY funny whenever your systems head would've burst into flaming." The incident is mentioned again when Ryan is asked to read the credits as the other cast members pick pieces of glass out of his hair.

Other running gags are themes which appear in multiple episodes. Examples of running gages in the American series include Ryan's shoes (not only very large, but often wildly colored, having spats, or both), Ryan's height, how lame hoedowns are, Colin's baldness, Colin's Canadian heritage, Drew Carey frequently assigning Colin a female role, references to Drew Carey's other television show (The Drew Carey Show, which was concurrently in production with Whose Line, featured an improv show that had several performers from Whose Line included and co-starred Ryan Stiles, playing the role of Lewis), and Drew Carey's starring role in the TV-movie Geppetto (Wayne Brady also had a role in the film as a magician). Wayne Brady, as the only African-American on the show, often makes remarks related to racism and Southern states (his favourite is Alabama) during Scenes from a Hat. Wayne also often pretends to get offended when Drew Carey assigns him the task of performing a game called "African Chant."

One running gag in the British show was making fun of Clive Anderson's physique (mostly his short neck). Clive was referred to once in the American series after Wayne was accidently called Brad ("Hey, Clive's allowed to produce mistakes" Ryan commented).