Whose Line Is It Anyway?

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Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Format Improvisational Comedy
Created by Dan Patterson & Mark Leveson
Presented by Flag of the United Kingdom: Clive Anderson
Flag of the United States: Drew Carey
Country of origin Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
No. of seasons Flag of the United Kingdom: 10
Flag of the United States: 8
No. of episodes Flag of the United Kingdom: 136
Flag of the United States: 215
Production
Producer(s) Hat Trick
Running time 21-22 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Flag of the United Kingdom: Channel 4
Flag of the United States: ABC
(1999 - 2003)
ABC Family
(2004 - 2006)
Picture format 4:3
Original run Flag of the United Kingdom: September 23, 1988 - July 2, 1998 –
Flag of the United States: August 5, 1998 - November 10, 2006

Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes shortened to Whose Line? ) is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it later moved to television as a series made for Britain's Channel 4 before being produced in the United States as well. The title is a pun on the stage play Whose Life Is It Anyway? and the series What's My Line?.

The show consists of a panel of four performers and comedians who create characters, scenes and songs on the spot, in the style of short-form improvisation games. Topics for the games are based on either audience suggestions or predetermined prompts from the host. Both the British and the American shows ostensibly take the form of a game show but the host arbitrarily assigns points and randomly chooses a winner at the end of each episode.

Contents

[edit] History

Whose Line Is It Anyway? was created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson in 1988 as a radio show on BBC Radio 4. This early incarnation of the show is notable as being the origin of the show's tradition of having the performers read the credits in a humorous or amusing style; as it was a radio show, it was necessary for somebody to read the credits, and it was decided that it might as well be done as part of the programme proper, rather than being done by a traditional BBC Radio announcer. This approach to reading credits was pioneered by the earlier BBC radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again. Indeed the title of the show itself is a comedic riposte to another radio show, entitled What's My Line. The radio series consisted of six episodes, with Clive Anderson as host, with John Sessions and Stephen Fry as regulars.[1]

Originally the producers asked the BBC to move to television, however the BBC was hesitent about this move. By the time the BBC decided to move to TV, the show went to Channel 4 with little change in format. Both the British radio programme and the British television series were hosted by Anderson during their runs. With the exception of Sessions in the first series, there were no fixed regulars in the series. The British television programme lasted for a total of 10 series, with 136 episodes in all and remains to be one of the most famous TV shows on British TV.[2] One of the early North American broadcasters of the British series was the Canadian youth channel YTV (although many episodes were edited for adult language and content).

Early episodes of the British television series were primarily shot in London. However, half of series 3 and 4 were taped in the United States in New York and all of series 10 was filmed in Hollywood. American-shot episodes in the British series were very similar to the UK-shot shows in terms of presentation and personnel.

The show was brought to the attention of American comedian Drew Carey, who worked with regular Whose Line? performer Ryan Stiles, a co-star on The Drew Carey Show. Carey convinced ABC to air test episodes in the United States. The show turned into an inexpensive hit (although, less so than the British version) and ABC kept Carey on as the host. The show ran on ABC for six seasons, benefiting from the low expectations of its Thursday night time slot, as ABC was not expected to mount a serious threat to what was then NBC's longtime Thursday dominance in the Nielsen ratings. While the network would regularly première two new episodes in one night, there were several occurrences in which some episodes were skipped or postponed until a later date because of the airing of other new shows or specials.[citation needed]

The American version was almost identical to the British series, though there was less rotation of games and performers (Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, frequent performers on the British show, were featured in every American episode, and Wayne Brady also became a regular toward the beginning of the second American season). The sketches on the American version also tended to be longer and more drawn out than those in the British version. There was also more involvement of the host in the activities, and occasional celebrity guest appearances. While the points were arbitrarily doled out very deliberately by Anderson on the British series with the pretext that the points mattered, Carey took this to a different level on the American version by explicitly stating at the beginning and excessively throughout the episodes that the points didn't matter and would usually be correspondingly apathetic about assigning them during the show. In addition, the British version was more about improvisational theatre, which meant it would occasionally have games that were designed to show off its contestants' acting range rather than getting laughs. The British version also was less censored than the US version, to the point in which the UK version being hardly censored at all, in which the UK version would air shows which had more adult language and ideas.

The last season of the British version in 1998, with Clive Anderson still hosting, was taped in the same Hollywood studio as the American version. This season was first broadcast only in the U.S. on the Comedy Central cable channel. Re-runs of the entire British TV series had been running on Comedy Central since the early-1990s, though some episodes were edited to remove games, rearrange games in a show, or remove potentially offensive content. Repeats of the British series moved to BBC America in April 2006; however, the network has not shown any episodes taped prior to 1994. This, combined with double-runs (two episodes aired back-to-back on a single night), results in many episodes re-airing less than a month after they were last shown.

The American version was cancelled by ABC in 2003 because of low ratings; the network aired the remaining un-aired episodes in 2004. In that same year, the ABC Family cable network, which had been airing repeats of the show since 2002, began showing brand-new episodes. New episodes appeared into 2005. ABC Family also played episodes cobbled together from unused footage of older recordings from 2005 to 2006.

The show also provided the inspiration for the short-lived Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, which premiered in 2004 on the WB.

As of October 2, 2007, Whose Line? can be viewed on ABC Family from 12am ET to 1am ET on weekdays, unless a film or other special overruns its timeslot. In January, 2007 UK Channel Five US started broadcasting a cut-down US version, whilst on October 15, 2007, another UK channel, Dave, started airing the UK version, although these are edited, censored and do not retain the original placement of advertisement breaks. When the channel first launched, only episodes originally aired from 1993 - 1996 were aired, however on Monday 7th April 2008, Dave has started to show the complete first series. The first episode shown on Dave has Paul Merton, Archie Hann, Josie Lawerence and John Sessions as the guest comedians. Two episodes are to be broadcast each weekday from the first series. From Monday 14th April 2008, Dave has shown the 1989 second series and continued to show episodes right up to the 1991 series.

[edit] Participants

[edit] UK Version

From left: Stephen Frost, Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles and Tony Slattery on the U.K. version.
From left: Stephen Frost, Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles and Tony Slattery on the U.K. version.

The original BBC Radio 4 broadcasts consisted of host Clive Anderson along with two guests and the two regular contestants:

Clive Anderson stayed on as the host when the show moved to television and though John Sessions resumed his role as a regular in the first series, the rotation of guests gradually became more varied. In addition to John Sessions and Stephen Fry, regular comedians from the British version included a variety of British, American and Canadian comedians, notably:


Notable Guests on the UK version include:

John Sessions was ever-present in the early days of the British television version and contractually shared top billing with host Clive Anderson whenever he was on the show. Stiles and Mochrie would feature in every UK show from 1996 until the UK show ended in 1998. Many of the performers, including Merton, Lawrence and Toksvig, were regulars with The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based at London's Comedy Store. The theme song for the British television incarnation of the show was composed by Philip Pope.

[edit] US Version

The American incarnation of the show included the following as regulars:

These were joined with one other performer:

Several others also took part as the other performer. Celebrities sometimes also took the fourth spot, including:

Other celebrities made guest appearances for individual games, include:

In one episode, comic legend Sid Caesar made an appearance and the applause and standing ovation for Caesar was so long that much of it had to be cut from the broadcast.[citation needed] At the end of the show, the studio brought out a birthday cake for Caesar. Mochrie, Proops, Stiles, Esten, Brady and Sherwood all appeared multiple times on the British show. Josie Lawrence also appeared twice on the American version.

Many of the sketches include music and there have been a number of musicians during the run of the show. Sketches like "Greatest Hits", "Hoedown", "Irish Drinking Song", "Show-Stopping Number" and "Song Styles" relied heavily on music. On the original BBC Radio series, the music was provided by Colin Sell, but when the show migrated to television, Richard Vranch (also of The Comedy Store Players) became the musician up until the last season of the British show. Laura Hall was the musician from the last season of the British show and throughout the American show. From the second American season onward, other musicians were added. Frequently joining Laura Hall was musician Linda Taylor; other musicians such as Cece Worral-Rubin, Anne King, Candy Girard and Anna Wanselius, sometimes appeared alongside Hall.

[edit] Atmosphere

Drew Carey opening an episode of the US edition of Whose Line?
Drew Carey opening an episode of the US edition of Whose Line?

Though Whose Line? has all the trappings of a game show, it lacks the true competition and the stakes of a normal program. The host's duties are similar to those usually assigned. It is his job to award the meaningless points and to arbitrarily choose the winner.

Each episode begins with the host welcoming the audience to the show and introducing the performers with a joke about the person ("The world's tallest short guy Ryan Stiles."). The host then introduces the first game (for more on the games, see below). After completion of a game, the host assigns points to the performers as he sees fit, then introduces the next game. At the end of the show, the host arbitrarily chooses a winner or winners. In the UK version, the winner(s) would read the credits in a style of the host's choosing. One of the most notable style was 'Read the credits in the style of Tony Slattery' when Slattery was present and had been the only loser. In the US version, the winner(s) would either play a game with the host or sit in the host's chair leaving the others to do a sketch with the host. Except for the first season, the credits were then read randomly by one or more performers once again in a style of the host's choosing. (Often, Carey would have one or more performers recreate a performance from earlier in the show.)

The show was taped in front of a live audience, usually in two 45-minute segments with a 15-minute break in-between. The actual episodes aired were cut down to approximately 25 minutes. A single taping of the show would include several versions of the same games (for example, an audience member might see three or four 'hoedowns' instead of just one at the end, as shown on TV). The producers could then harvest several episodes' worth of material from a single taping.

In the UK version, when Clive Anderson hosted the show, he would jokingly become very selfish with the points and gave out very little when deserved, but often deducted points when he wanted. One prime example of this was when Tony Slattery swore at Anderson after he failed to guess Steve Frost and Colin Mochrie's quirks, resulting in all points gone. Sometimes, Anderson would not give any points at all, despite saying it was a good game and often said "That was the best game we've played ever, shame it isn't a scoring round".

During Drew Carey's run as host, the distribution of points during the show became much more arbitrary, with Carey openly stating at the outset that Whose Line? was a show where 'Everything's made up and the points don't matter', after which he would inevitably draw a comparison between the purpose of the points and something he considered equally useless, such as 'the microphone at a Britney Spears concert', 'cheating at Solitaire', 'The things your girlfriend says to you when you're watching the game' or 'Blair Witch 2'. He was more gentle than Clive Anderson when giving out the points and often chose numbers as high as a billion in one go.

[edit] Games

Main article: List of games from Whose Line Is It Anyway?

The number and type of games played vary from episode to episode. The wide-variety of games alone helps to ensure that no two episodes are the same; however, some games have become more common over time, possibly because of their popularity: "Helping Hands", "Hoedown", "Song Styles", "Party Quirks", "Let's Make a Date", "Greatest Hits", "Weird Newscasters", "Scenes from a Hat", "Props" and "Film and Theatre Styles".

The UK version mostly had games that would show off improvisional acting and singing such as Film & Theatre Styles, Standing, Sitting, Bending and Hoedown. Only a few games were for laughs such as Moving People or Courtroom Scene. The US had fairly similar games, but the new ones were mostly for laughs like Action Replay, Irish Drinking Songs and Director. Although Director was in the UK version (and the Director was always Colin Mochrie in both versions), the UK version had the Director restricted to audience suggestions, thus more like an acting scene. In the US version, it was more for laughs as Colin was allowed to make up suggestions by himself.

Several games take the style of "traditional" scenes, but have a twist to make the game less-predictable. One of these games is Helping Hands. In this game, two performers act out a scene provided by the host; however, one of the performers cannot use their own hands, so a third performer stands behind the "handless" performer to provide their own hands. In later episodes, this game usually involved food (such as "making an ice cream sundae") so that the "hands" performer could force the "body" performer to eat nasty concoctions against his will (one particularly memorable scene involved Colin forcing Ryan to eat dirt out of a potted plant). Ryan would usually get his own back by spitting the concoction back out into Colin's hands, during the game or after the game ended. Another "traditional scene with a twist" game is Whose Line, in which two performers (most often Ryan and Colin) would improvise a scene in a normal way, but were required to occasionally read an audience-written line from a piece of paper they had never before seen. These lines were usually surreal non-sequiturs and/or thick with sexual innuendo, twisting the scene in a completely different direction, such as, Shut up and touch the monkey!, Give it a tug and see what happens!, and Ram up the handle, Stella, and give it a yank! In Britain, one of the most played games was Film and Theatre Styles, known as Film, Television, and Theater Styles in the American version, but performed less. Originally appearing in the radio series and appearing on the television throughout the programmes run, the game involves normally two performers acting out an improvised scene. When the buzzer is pressed, the host asks them to perform in a genre normally suggested by the audience in advance, such as "Science fiction", "Restoration comedy" or "Carry On".

There are also many games that require the performers to use their musical talents. The game Hoedown calls for each contestant to perform one of four stanzas of a song in the style of a hoedown. The subject of the hoedown is usually provided from an audience suggestion. Colin, who has limited singing ability, at least once threw a comic heart attack, and thus avoided having to sing. In the British version, he commonly, but not always, faints to avoid singing, and he once in the US version simply mouthed words for the entire stanza, ending by saying "my battery pack" (a recurring joke in the episode, where earlier in the episode his microphone battery got lodged in his buttocks). While they have usually been good sports about performing in it, the contestants (most notably, Ryan Stiles) tend to subtly express their active and almost universal disdain for the game by interjecting insults pointed at Clive Anderson, Drew Carey (in the American version), or the hoedown itself while singing their parts. Another musical game is called Greatest Hits, a game in which the host asks the audience for something (usually a profession) and the participants do an infomercial advertising the latest compilation album with made up songs which are sometimes based on real songs. The infomercial hosts are usually Ryan and Colin, and the singer is Josie (UK Version) or Wayne (US Version), although Chip Esten, Jeff Davis and Brad Sherwood will also sing, with music by Richard Vranch (UK version) or Laura Hall, Linda Taylor, and occasionally another musician (US version). Another musical game is called Song Styles; in this game, a performer sings a song about an item or audience member in a style provided by the host. This style is either given as a genre, or as a particular musical artist. Wayne Brady, Brad Sherwood, Jeff Davis, Chip Esten, Mike McShane, and Josie Lawrence are the most notable and most common performers of this game because of their vocal talents. Bar Scene is a musical game in which one performer (usually Chip Esten or Brad Sherwood in the US version and Josie Lawrence or Mike McShane in the UK version) plays the part of a bartender listening to another performer singing- the other two or three participants would sing about being in love, angry or celebrating a topic suggested by the audience- the bartender then replies in song.

There are also some guessing games in which one performer must determine the identity of the other performers or of themselves. One of the mainstays of the UK version was Party Quirks. In this game, three of the performers are provided with envelopes with suggestions from the audience. Inside the envelopes are character traits or quirks; each performer acts as a guest of a party, and must adopt the trait given to them. The fourth performer (normally Greg Proops or Tony Slattery in the UK version) acts as the party's host and must identify the quirks. If their quirk is correctly guessed, the performer will leave the party. On occasion, the party host would be stumped, and Clive or Drew would end the game if it went on too long. A famous example of this was when Ryan Stiles, whose quirk was "Carol Channing whose head keeps sticking to things," hit his head on the desk in the American version- shattering the red neon light fixture. The 'host', Kathy Greenwood, was unable to guess Ryan's persona and Drew Carey declared "close enough." Another memorable "Party Quirks" was when Ryan's character was "A foal being born", and thus he pretended to be "born" out of Colin's crotch, (an accident prone circus performer) and started wriggling around like a newly born animal. Drew Carey later says "Ryan 'anything-for-a-laugh' Stiles". In the UK version, classics include when Stephen mentioned a body part in every sentence, while Colin was experiencing too much gravity. Tony failed to guess the quirks correctly (although Ryan was guessed correctly and was a Jockey in a race) and, in his fury, swore at Clive Anderson. In the origonal Channel 4 broadcast, the word remained uncensored, however, when aired in America, (in both Comedy Central and BBC America) the swear word was bleeped. Another memorable Party Quirk was when Paul Merton hosted the party and Tony was a Chippendale and started stripping off (literally) in front of the audience. One quirk ('Thinks he is Tony Slattery') was given to Rory Bremner, who portrayed it so accurately Tony announced he wasn't playing anymore.

A similar concept was behind the game Let's Make a Date, a parody of dating game shows, in which the fourth performer must guess the other performers' "quirks" based on their responses to his or her dating-related questions (allowed two per performer). As in Party Quirks, the performers were often assigned extremely specific ways of behaving, such as "stage hypnotist who uses his butt to hypnotize people" or "secretly setting up 24-HR webcam on stage and is surreptitiously trying to include the others in his broadcast."

Another game was Super Heroes in which the audience would provide a name for one of the performers and a crisis that the group is trying to solve. (Generally something mundane or weird, such as a world cheese shortage.) Then after the 1st performer acts like his name suggests, one-by-one the other performers step in while the last one quickly makes up their name (like "Breakdance Kid", "Karate Lizard Boy", "Super Slow Talker Man" or "Fruit and Vegetable Man").

Another game was Sound Effects where one performer (usually Colin) would non-verbally make movements and gestures while another performer (usually Ryan) would make sound effects into a microphone. The voicer would try to react to what Colin was doing and Colin would also have to react to any sudden noises the performer would make (like a fart noise, or noise from another unseen person watching him). Sometimes Colin and Ryan would perform in the scene together with two audience members making the sounds.

Early episodes featured a game called Authors, which used to be the first game played, although it has not been played for some time. In it, each player comes prepared with the name of an author. The audience then suggests a title of a story and the players have to read out their to story in the style of their author. The host buzzers between each player, making each player fit the story to their author. In the UK version, Sessions would normally pick a known author such as Charles Dickens, Friedrich Nietzsche or "The monologues of Alan Bennett". Merton and Slattery tended to make more unusual choices such as Dr. Alex Comfort or "An air hostess training manual".

Other game styles include rapid-fire games, which called for the competitors to provide quick scenes that are only one or two lines long. In Scenes from a Hat, the host will pull suggestions for scenes out of a hat. (These suggestions are written out beforehand by audience members.) In response to each suggestion, the performers will improvise a one or two-line scene. Props is another game in which contestants are put into teams of two, and given a random prop. Switching turns by the sound of the buzzer, they must think of different scenes in reference to their respective prop. Another game is Questions Only, in which two performers start a scene, and must continue the scene by only asking questions. When one doesn't ask a question, or takes too long to think of a question, they would be buzzed out and replaced by another performer, who would often continue the scene by taking it on a complete different direction. This game also has other versions as well with certain instances of the performers having to imitate different people or to wear different hats while asking the questions, however these two versions of Questions Only were in the US version and were mostly just for laughs rather than acting.

A panel of censors is always on hand to make sure that the jokes stay 'in line' with what's expected for a family-friendly show; they often become the focus of both the outtake reels and general mockery from the performers. Occasionally rudeness was mocked, with Anderson sometimes awarding rounds with large levels of rudeness with 69 points.

[edit] Impersonations

Throughout both versions of Whose Line, the contestants would not only become known for their humor, but as well particular impersonations they can do:

[edit] Running gags

Throughout both the British and American shows, there were several memorable gags. In the British version, one of the major gags is with both Greg Proops and Clive Anderson insulting each other, often about British and American idioms (i.e. Lift vs Elevator). Also, Tony created a running gag where he became known for his "dirty mind". Two notable insrances was in the game "Bartender", where Josie Lawrence was the bartender and Tony had to sing his problem to her, and Josie jokingly said, "Oh, this will be clean." and when Mike was the Bartender, he told Tony that "We're Closed". Throughout the UK version, the contestants often made fun of host Clive Anderson's baldness and short neck. Tony also frequently poked fun at Clive's ties, in one game of Party Quirks feigning a telephone call to "Clive Anderson Ties ltd." and suggesting they shut down. Colin Mochrie also created a running gag in which he would sometimes faint in the Hoedown game in order to avoid singing or sing about something that wasn't the suggested subject. Steve Frost also created a gag during the hoedown game where his final verse was often irrelevant to the subject (i.e. singing about Christmas, Steve would sing "Did you know there was a man called Co-Co the clown?.") The audience often made suggestions about Ryan's dress sense and when there was rudeness played in a game, Clive would often give 69 points to the players. Finally, Mike created a running gag in which he would often kiss many of the male performers such as Steve Steen, Brad Sherwood and Tony Slattery.

Notable UK episode specific running gags include: in Series 5 episode 7, the performers (Jim Sweeney, Steve Steen, Tony and Mike) often made references to the quality of the acting in the short-lived BBC soap-opera Eldorado; and in series 9 episode 16, Colin and Greg played Film and Theatre styles in which one suggestion was Braveheart and Colin and Greg did Scottish accents, however when the style changed to Austrialian Soap, Colin continued to use his Scottish accent throughout the game and throughout the episode.

One gag that started in the UK version and continued on the US version was when the producers would try (and invariably fail miserably) to stump Stiles by giving him increasingly bizarre and seemingly contradictory mannerisms in games like Party Quirks and Let's Make A Date. Another was from series 9 onwards, where Colin would receive parts in the sketches which would often have him playing either a woman or a really camp character.

In the American version, they would carry out similar running gags, but create their own. In most games, Ryan would play either Carol Channing or John Wayne in particular situations. Also, if a game involved impersonations, Colin would impersonate Humphrey Bogart or Craig T. Nelson, and Wayne would impersonate Scooby-Doo. For his Craig T. Nelson impersonation, it became a running gag that he would mainly use his regular voice rather than Nelson's.

As the performers developed their chemistry, they increasingly picked on each other more and more: Colin would be made fun of for his baldness, Canadian-heritage, and tacky shirts; Wayne for being African-American, ticklish, and having a seemingly large behind; Ryan for his big nose, unusual tastes for ties, big colorful shoes, gawkiness, and height; and Drew for girth, larger paychecks despite having little or nothing to do during each episode, and having two shows (The Drew Carey Show being the second show). Another running gag was that if an attractive woman or group of woman were involved in a scene, then the men (mostly Ryan) would mime trying to remove their wedding rings. Notable instances include a cheerleading squad and a female bodybuilder.

In the US version, episode-specific running gags include one from the 100th episode, in which Wayne was singing about someone in the audience called Howard, however, Wayne made a mistake and called the member Harward, which was mocked often throughout the episode. There was also someone in the audience who mimed playing the drums while sitting on the stool, which the performers also mocked throughout the episode.

[edit] Localisation differences

An opening sequence used by the British version of Whose Line?, from 1994 to 1997
An opening sequence used by the British version of Whose Line?, from 1994 to 1997

One major difference between the United States and the British versions is the opening sequence. The U.S. version never had a traditional opening sequence, whereas the British version had a complete opening sequence which varied slightly over time. In the first season, the title sequence showed clips from the actual show. From the second season, it later changed to show silhouetted actors performing scenes. The final opening sequence which was introduced in the last couple of seasons showed the scenes being acted out by animated figures made of lines, in a manner reminiscent of the Italian series La Linea; these figures were superimposed above Los Angeles' famous Hollywood Sign in the last season.

Another difference comes in the amount of participation of both the host and the audience in the two versions. On the UK version of the show, Anderson rarely interacted with the performers during the actual games, he would interact more with the audience, however, and often made fun of the suggestions the audience would shout out in certain games, mostly 'Film and Theatre styles'; in the US version of the show, Drew Carey is much more active. The performers interact with Carey during certain games, more so than in the British version. Several games in the US version also involved more audience participation, such as "Scene with an Audience Member", "Dubbing", a variation on "Sound Effects" in which two audience members supply the sounds instead of a performer, and "Song Styles" and "Three Headed Broadway Star", which often (but not always) featured a song sung to an audience member. The audience also appeared much louder in the US version than the UK version (except the final UK series).

The ending of the show with the winner also varies. In the British version, the winner(s) read the credits in a style of the host's choosing. In the American version, random performers read the credits, while the winner either plays a game with the host or sits at the host's desk while the others play the game.

[edit] DVD release

DVDs have been released for both versions of the show.

[edit] UK

The first release of the UK series, featuring the first two seasons, was released in America on March 27, 2007. Also, British episodes were released on VHS (in the UK only) in the mid-1990s. Additionally, a play-at-home book was printed in 1989, related to the British series.

All of the UK episodes of Whose Line is it Anyway? are available for free on 4oD [3] Series 9 and 10 has been added due to high demand.

It isn't known when or if the third series will be released on DVD.

[edit] American

The first DVD, Season 1, Volume 1, of the U.S. version of Whose Line? was released on September 26, 2006. It comes in "censored" or "uncensored" versions. Both releases include the first 10 episodes of the first season, with the episodes being the same on either version.[4] The first seven episodes have had their original theme music (including all credits and ad bumpers) replaced with the version used on the rest of the episodes. The original music is still played when these episodes appear in reruns on ABC Family.

Warner Bros. released Season 1, Volume 2 on October 9, 2007, but only in an "uncensored" version.[5]

[edit] Other versions

De Lama's 
In the Netherlands, a show based on Whose Line Is It Anyway? is called De Lama's. Besides a number of games from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the show uses a lot of new games. The show has already won several prizes and is one of the most watched shows on Dutch television.
Lo Kar Lo Baat 
In India, a television programme based on Whose Line Is It Anyway? was called Lo Kar Lo Baat. Most of the games were taken from the original.
Onvoorziene omstandigheden 
In Belgium, a similar programme was made under the name Onvoorziene omstandigheden (Unforeseen Circumstances), presented by Mark Uytterhoeven on één.
Frei Schnauze 
In Germany, this version of the UK original entertains its audience with many similar games. The show started as a half-an-hour programme and expanded to one hour in 2006. The host of Frei Schnauze is the German comedian Dirk Bach. Another improv show is Schillerstraße, featuring many well-known German comedians, but it uses a sitcom format.
Hatten Rundt 
In Denmark, this show featured a setup very similar to that of Whose Line?. However, the Danish show had much more emphasis on acting and much less on wild comedy.
Minus Manus/Spinn 
Norway had two separate shows based on the "Whose Line" concept. The first, "Minus Manus," shown on Norwegian TV3, was more or less identical in tone and form to the British show, but the second, "Spinn," shown on TVNorge had a slightly different set-up. Among other things, "Spinn" split the contestants into two competing teams (the green team and the orange team, both wearing appropriately-colored T-shirts) and also heavily involved a rotating stage that provided scenery and props for the various improvized skits. Though the shows had different hosts and slightly different set-ups, many of the contestants featured on both.
Shel Mi Hashura Hazot 
(Translation: "Whose line is it") This is the Israeli version of the show.
Wild n Out 
Hosted on MTV by Nick Cannon, this is a hip hop version of the show with guest stars (among them Wayne Brady from Whose Line is it Anyway?) and hip hop performances. It is also derived from ComedySportz.
Whose Pie is it Anyway? 
An unofficial Australian version of the programme was created by comedy troupe The T Team that was very short-lived. This was a spoof of the British and US versions of the programme.
Anında Görüntü Show 
In Turkey, The Turkish version is called "Anında Görüntü Show", which means "Immediate Vision Show". Although there are some differences in the format of the "Anında Görüntü Show", it is still very close to the original "Whose Line is it Anyway?".

Players;

  • Ayça Işıldar Ak,
  • Ayhan Taş,
  • Burak Satıbol
  • Dilek Çelebi
  • Özlem Türay
  • Yiğit Arı

Visit http://www.mahsericumbus.com/ for any information.

Tsotskhali Show 
(Translation: "Live Show") In Georgia, this show is a copy of the original with minor changes.
Pagauk kampą 
(Translation: "Catch The Corner" or "Get It Quick") In Lithuania. Quite a successful Lithuanian copy of "WLiiA" with similar rules and games.
Kamikaze
This is the French-Canadian version of the programme on the Radio-Canada network in the early 2000s. The show didn't gain much popularity due to its lack of advertising. The only airings of the show were un-announced and used as a replacement after the sitcom Catherine went on hiatus during the Holidays. The show was almost identical to the US version, using the same set and playing similar games such as Old jobs.
L'audition 
Another french-Canadian version, entitled L'audition ("The audition"), aired in 2006 on TQS in Québec. The concept of the show was based on the WLiiA game Hollywood Director where the host played the director. Every week, three guests from the Québec pop-culture were invited to improvise various scenes and games such as a fake cooking show or a modified version of Scenes from a Hat. The major cause of the show's failure was the random selection of guests which most of the time, were popular singers or actors instead of comedians. Also, the show aired four new episodes a week (featuring the same guests) which lead to little editing thus leaving lots of unsuccessful skits. Despite the last popular airings featuring three Québécois comedians, TQS decided to cancel the show due to three months of poor ratings.
Beugró 
(Translation: "Let's Jump In!") Is the Hungarian version. The first show piloted on New Year's night 2007. The show consists of four contestants playing improvisational games.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lavalie, John (2005-05-14). Whose Line is It Anyway? [Radio]. epguides.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  2. ^ Fergus, George (2005-05-14). Whose Line(UK). epguides.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  3. ^ Wolf, Ian (2007-12-20). News - 4oD comedy goes permanently free. British Sitcom Guide. Retrieved on 2008-01-03.
  4. ^ Whose Line Is It Anyway? DVD news: Drew Carey To Get Some Helping Hands With September Release Date! | TVShowsOnDVD.com
  5. ^ Whose Line Is It Anyway? DVD news: Announcement for Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Season 1, Volume 2 (Uncensored) | TVShowsOnDVD.com

[edit] External links

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