Whose Line Is It Anyway? has been a show that has entertained audiences for years, ever since the American version was launched in 1998. There have been many episodes and many amazing moments on the show, so it was hard to narrow it down to ten, but somehow I did it. These are the ten most iconic (and the funniest) moments from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, from both the old seasons and the new seasons.
1. "While you do the duck, I'll do the elephant!" (2:45)
One of the games played on Whose Line is a game called Sound Effects, which is just when two audience members come up and provide the sound effects for a scene that Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles act out. This was the funniest of the Sound Effects games I've ever watched, simply because when Colin asked for an elephant noise, the two women made duck noises instead. It fit the scene rather well and Ryan and Colin did a great job justifying it, but what really sold this sketch was Drew Carey's reaction once the scene was over. He couldn't even speak because he was laughing so hard. Indeed, a duck elephant is truly a funny thing.
2. "Tapioca! Tapioca!" (1:27)
This is one of the few Whose Line sketches that made my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. This game entails for Ryan and Colin to act as if they're radio announcers discussing the greatest hits about a topic suggested by the audience, and Wayne Brady sings these songs with the help of a band. During this particular sketch, one thing led to another and when asked what came to mind when he heard Ricky Ricardo, Colin screamed "Tapioca!" in Ryan's face. Ryan just completely broke down in laughter and couldn't keep the scene going for a solid twenty seconds. Other than Ryan's complete break of character, the funniest thing about this sketch is that Colin just sits there as if he has no idea what he just did to make everyone laugh so hard. Comedic genius, honestly.
3. How much Ryan actually hates hoedowns (1:44)
A reoccurring theme that presented itself in the earlier seasons was just how much Ryan detested hoedowns. In fact, once when they had to do a hoedown, Ryan just sat in his chair and said to a producer, "Don't say it, man. Don't say another hoedown. Don't you even say another hoedown. Don't you go there, sister." His hoedowns also can get quite angry and sometimes quite vulgar, mostly just talking about how much he hates hoedowns and how doing them over and over is what he has to do to "please the f***ing Brit." After all, Drew Cary said it himself when he said "Nobody is funnier when they're pissed off than Ryan Stiles."
4. "This is like real life!" (2:49)
One of the coolest things about improv is that often your characters that you play have more truth to them than a character in a scripted play would. By that I mean that you put more of yourself into a character you make up than a character you have to follow line by line. In this Scenes From A Hat sketch, Wayne and Brad Sherwood used comedy to show a truth in today's society. Brad made the joke that he shot first and asked questions later, to which Wayne responded by looking at that camera and saying it made made him sad because it was just like real life. The sketch was much funnier than I'm explaining it, even if the message wasn't the funniest. It shows how comedy and improv can still shed light on important topics.
5. "Oh, it's a buffet!" (1:40)
Whose Line is often a sexual and quite vulgar show, which is probably why it's not meant for a younger audience. However, it's always so entertaining to watch the performers push the line between funny and way too far. One of the easiest ways this line gets pushed is during Scenes From A Hat, whenever the topic is "things you can say about your [blank] that you can't say about your significant other." The funniest example of the line becoming too far is in the video above, when the topic was "things you can say about a restaurant" and Ryan stepped forward and said "It's a buffet! It's all- It's- It's a buffet." He couldn't even get the joke out because he knew how raunchy it would be. In all honesty, his own reaction to what he almost said was funnier than what he would have said.
6. "Tasks you shouldn't do in the nude." (1:39)
This entire topic genuinely had me dying of laughter. First, Jeff Davis (my favorite improv performer of all time) did a hilarious bit pretending to be Aisha Tyler, the show's host, complete with fake boobs flopping around. Then, Ryan fed the birds, with the birds landing on his, well, nether region. Next, Colin did a little questionable bit where he was playing Yahtzee. Finally, Aisha herself got into the act and finished everything off by playing a worker at Subway, again with her fake boobs flopping around. This is a great list of things you should definitely not ever do in the nude, that;s for certain.
7. Brad Sherwood's absolutely insane guesses
The guessing games are some of the hardest to play in any kind of improv scenario, whether you're the guesser or not. Obviously the person guessing has a tough time, but trying to stay in character for the people getting guessed can be difficult as well, especially when the characters they are given are as ridiculous as the ones on Whose Line. I mean, seriously? In this bit, Wayne was Robocop gone bad, embarking on a one-man crime-wave, Colin was a frantic castaway driven mad by hunger and lust, and Ryan was a nervous gazelle being hunted on the African plain. Those are some pretty insane and detailed characters, especially to try and guess, and Brad got all three essentially on the nose. To make the video even funnier, Aisha freaked out about how perfect the guesses were. This is in all honesty my favorite Whose Line video ever.
8. When Ryan broke a neon light with his head... and stayed in character! (0:46)
Ryan has always proved himself to be committed to the scene he's performing, and this was no different. Even when his character (Carol Channing whose head keeps getting stuck to things) led to him hitting his head on the light on Drew's desk and breaking it. Obviously this is incredibly dangerous, since the broken class could cut into his head or somewhere else, but instead of breaking the scene, Ryan completely stayed in character the entire time. That's impressive.
9. "It's also a big continent if you're a geographer." (2:25)
In the older seasons, when Drew Carey was still the host, many jokes were made at his expense. He came to expect it from a few of them, especially Ryan, and there are many videos documenting all of these roasts. The best one is when Drew pretty much roasted himself by calling Africa a big country. Greg Proops, one of the show's regulars, responded in the best way possible by saying "It's also a big continent if you're a geographer" and the joke kept coming up within the episode. Gotta love roasts that keep going.
10. "This one goes out to all the lovers." (2:45)
Wayne Brady is one of the reasons Whose Line became as popular as it did, especially in the recent seasons, and rightfully so. His improv work is absolutely amazing, and this skit just shows how good he is at rolling with any suggestion he's given. When Colin said that the singer's microphone wasn't working for Wayne's scene, he did that suggestion beautifully, making his voice go in and out and never missing a beat. Even funnier was how Aisha and Keegan Michael Key added to the scene when they pretended to fix his microphone and work with his cables. The entire bit was absolutely hilarious and shows how the little things can completely change a scene.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen, and it's largely the reason I wanted to join improv so bad. I had to pay it back to my idols somehow, right?
