Laugh is health - PART I

In my presentation I would like to say something about guys that make people laughing out loud all the time. Everyone knows dictum “Laugh is health”. This is why I want to review few of them which are my favorites for a bad day.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a TV show, in which four comedians act totally improvised scenes creating various characters in funny situations. The host gives subjects for performers to act in different scenes. Many of them are based on suggestions from audience asked before the show. After the game, host gives “Points-that-don’t-matter” for comedians usually giving a humorous reason for his decision. Also sometimes host participates in scenes with performers. In many games the audience is asked by the host for the subject for performers to act, but also takes part in few kind of scenes. In the end, there is a winner chosen by a host(no, not because of points - totally arbitrarily) and his prize is either act a scene with the host or sit and watch other performers play a game with the host.

What is interesting, the show was created as a BBC radio show in 1988 in Great Britain in which credits where presented in a funny way. Then it was turned into TV show which was a bang on. There were 10 series with total of 136 episodes in UK, hosted by Clive Anderson. Show was ended due to dropping ratings. Fortunately, in 1998 show was brought to the attention of U.S. comedian Drew Carey. He and Ryan Stiles were stars in U.S. TV sitcom The Drew Carey Show. Carey convinced ABC(U.S. TV network) to make some test episodes. There were 8 seasons with 225 episodes. The production ended in 2004 and from 2005 to 2007 earlier unaired episodes where showed.

In U.S. version most of the performers where from UK version. Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles appears in every episode. Two remaining performers where mostly from those: Wayne Brady(from the second season he also became a regular), Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Brad Sherwood, Jeff Davis and Kathy Greenwood. Sometimes celebrities joined the show, like: Robin Williams, Stephen Colbert, Kathy Kinney, Kathy Griffin or Whoopi Goldberg. Also, in single scenes appeared: Sid Caesar, David Hasselhoff, Florence Henderson, Jerry Springer, Joanie "Chyna" Laurer, Richard Simmons, Katie Harman, Jayne Trcka, the Loyola Marymount University cheerleaders, Hugh Hefner and Lassie.

There are plenty of different games for performers to improvise. There are so many of them, I will give you a link to read about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_from_Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway%3F
Notice, that there are games from both UK and U.S. versions of the show. I personally love Scenes From a Hat, Irish Drinking Song, World’s Worst and If You Know What I Mean. But, honestly, they are all great games, specially performed by Drew, Ryan and Colin, which for me are the best from the whole cast.

Here is the sample of their genius with Colin’s dance 



Due to many mistakes and unmentionable vocabulary, show was never aired live. From all games played on set every day, producers chose some from which episodes were made.

In my next presentation I will place here my personally few best scenes and say something more about my favorite the performers.

Do you like the idea the show is based on?
Do you think this kind of show could be popular in Poland?