Love the Emmy-nominated TV show, “Whose Line is it Anyway?” Relive the Top 10 “Whose Line” games and grab your ticket to the live, interactive comedy performance based on the show, Whose Live Anyway?
Cast members include Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, Dave Foley and Joel Murray. You’ll be left gasping as these funny-guys invent scenes right before your eyes. Audience participation is key, and you never know if you’ll be brought up on stage to join the fun!
TOP 10 GAMES from “Whose Line is it Anyway?”
10. Hollywood Director
This game starts our innocently enough, with three of the performers tasked with acting out a simple scene; then a fourth performer acts as director and yells “cut!” gives the actors notes on how to improve the scene. With each new suggestion, the scene becomes sillier and sillier, providing a great showcase for the supreme goofiness that is at the heart of this show.
9. Living Scenery
A great exercise in physical comedy, Living Scenery calls for two performers to act out a scene as they use two other performers as the various props needed in the scene. Mostly, this game serves as an excuse to make the people-as-props as uncomfortable as possible. From jet-skis to be ridden, bathrobes to be adorned, or trees to pick coconuts from, this game has all of the performers getting up close and personal.
8. Newsflash
This game involves the magic of green screen technology. Two performers act as newscasters in the studio, who then throw it over a third person who is reporting on a breaking news story that’s being shown on the green screen. It’s up to the third person, who can’t see what’s on the green screen behind him, to guess what’s being shown solely through clues from the other two performers. Often times, the green screen images are either extremely ridiculous or extremely disgusting, which makes it extra fun as the reporters lob hints through grimaces or expressions of shock.
7. Sound Effects
The best of the games that use audience participation, Sound Effects has two performers act out a scene with sound effects provided by two poor, unsuspecting members of the audience. Proving that the most important rule in improv is “yes, and…” the performers roll with any and every terrible sound effect they provide. The fun that comes from watching this game involves the actors reacting to every poor attempt at a gunshot, bird call or alarm system made by the audience members, while seeing them crack up from the absurdity of it all.
6. Party Quirks
Similar to honorable mentions Let’s Make a Date and Weird Newscasters, Party Quirks has multiple performers act out a scenario with a strange quirk or identity. In this game that scenario is a party, where one actor has to guess what characters the other three are playing. This game makes the list over the other two mentioned above due to the sheer ridiculousness of watching all of these wacky characters interact in the same space. Part of the fun of watching this game is seeing what new, crazy idea for a character the show can come up with, and seeing the transformation and commitment that the performers have to these role on a moment’s notice.
5. Props
A game so simple that it can be played at home, Props is just about trying to come up with as many funny things as possible with strange looking props. While not a super involved game, it’s one that really embodies the spirit of the show: give an improver just an inkling of an idea, and they’ll turn it into something hilarious.
4. Hoedown
Yee-haw! Always a crowd pleaser, Hoedown has all four performers sing a jaunty southern tune one verse at a time. Whereas a lot of the other games are so rapid-fire with the jokes, this one has much more of a slow-build, as each performer works up towards a hard-hitting punch line at the end of their verse.
3. Irish Drinking Song
Like Hoedown, Irish Drinking Song has all four performers sing a tune, this time as a rowdy bar song one line at a time. This game requires some of the most rapid-fire improv chops out of any one on the show, which is what makes this game so entertaining to watch.
2. Greatest Hits
This game is simple enough: two performers play TV pitchmen trying to sell the newest compilation album, while one or two other performers sing the songs that are on the album. Greatest Hits earns the number two spot on the list simply because all of the moving parts come together in a coherent and awesome way.
1.Scenes from a Hat
Scenes from a Hat is a true embodiment of the “anything can happen” spirit of the show, and why it earns the top spot. The premise is super simple: scenes are randomly pulled out of a hat, all audience suggestions and all of the performers have to act them out. What makes this game so incredibly fun is how unpredictable it is, anything from “If statues could speak” to “world’s worst person to be stuck with at a party” to “Outtakes from the Hillbilly National Theater’s Shakespeare Festival” could be pulled from the hat and all of it is completely hilarious. More than any other game, this is the one where one gag or throwaway line can have the both the audiences and the other performers completely howling. Wacky ideas performed on the spot is what Whose Line is all about, and nowhere is that any more evident than in this game here.
