High quality sketch comedy was dormant for about 15 years after the last episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" aired before another rivaled it. By the 1990's, the UK improv television show, "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", was the first sketch comedy show to equal the originality of Monty Python, even when you take into consideration Saturday Night Live which has always been rather mixed in the effectiveness and funny department. The later US version of "Whose Line" was decent but was never quite as entertaining as the original British offering which had a subtle spontaneity lacking from most other comedy shows on both sides of the pond.
Unlike "Flying Circus" and "Saturday Night Live" which were scripted, "Whose Line Is It Anyway" was entirely improvised. The host, Clive Anderson, would moderate four comedian/contestants and contrive interesting and often wacky scenarios upon which the contestants would then improvise. These could be scenes, songs, or just dialog. Aside from Anderson's often quirky settings, inspiration could come from the audience members whom Anderson would ask to come up with characters and/or places which the contestants would then act on. At the end of each show, Anderson would decide the winner who would read the credits in a style of Anderson's choosing.
One of the reasons the show worked so well was the endless plethora of material since the performers could act out any situation, which could be a bank, a prison, a hardware store, or any number of settings, either mundane or sophisticated. They enacted scenes in the style of genre movies, like westerns and horror movies, film noir and romance. They could act out historical figures, movie/television actors, or characters completely made up. One favorite was having three of the performers each play a character with some strange quirk (like one person believing he's Superman) and arrive at a party in which the host has to figure out who they are. Another was a scene in which two performers have a dialog in which they can only ask questions. They even improvised the lyrics of songs which always stunned me.
Many great stand-up and comedic talent were put through Anderson's ringers, and I don't believe there was ever a weak link. However, two talents stood out beyond most of the rest (in more ways than one), which were the American Ryan Stiles and the Scotsman Colin Mochrie. Whenever either of them were among the performers, and particularly if both were at Anderson's disposal, you were guaranteed an half hour of incredible comedic entertainment. I honestly don't know how these guys did what they did. Their improvised lines were as good and often better than scripted TV shows being shown on other stations. In one scene, Mochire and Stiles are at a bank vault. Whiles Stiles is pretending to be sealing the vault, Mochrie says "Why are you putting my wife in there?" Without a moment's hesitation, Stiles replies, "Collateral."
Despite much of the mediocre shows offered by the networks in the 1990's, particularly in the United States (barring Seinfeld) "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" demonstrated how much mileage could be gotten without a huge budget or elaborate productions. There were no sets, no costumes, no writers, and no scripts. Only four performers, a stage, an occasional chair or two, and a moderator. And ten years of some of the funniest television I have ever seen. Saturday Night Live, eat your heart out.
Unlike "Flying Circus" and "Saturday Night Live" which were scripted, "Whose Line Is It Anyway" was entirely improvised. The host, Clive Anderson, would moderate four comedian/contestants and contrive interesting and often wacky scenarios upon which the contestants would then improvise. These could be scenes, songs, or just dialog. Aside from Anderson's often quirky settings, inspiration could come from the audience members whom Anderson would ask to come up with characters and/or places which the contestants would then act on. At the end of each show, Anderson would decide the winner who would read the credits in a style of Anderson's choosing.
One of the reasons the show worked so well was the endless plethora of material since the performers could act out any situation, which could be a bank, a prison, a hardware store, or any number of settings, either mundane or sophisticated. They enacted scenes in the style of genre movies, like westerns and horror movies, film noir and romance. They could act out historical figures, movie/television actors, or characters completely made up. One favorite was having three of the performers each play a character with some strange quirk (like one person believing he's Superman) and arrive at a party in which the host has to figure out who they are. Another was a scene in which two performers have a dialog in which they can only ask questions. They even improvised the lyrics of songs which always stunned me.
Many great stand-up and comedic talent were put through Anderson's ringers, and I don't believe there was ever a weak link. However, two talents stood out beyond most of the rest (in more ways than one), which were the American Ryan Stiles and the Scotsman Colin Mochrie. Whenever either of them were among the performers, and particularly if both were at Anderson's disposal, you were guaranteed an half hour of incredible comedic entertainment. I honestly don't know how these guys did what they did. Their improvised lines were as good and often better than scripted TV shows being shown on other stations. In one scene, Mochire and Stiles are at a bank vault. Whiles Stiles is pretending to be sealing the vault, Mochrie says "Why are you putting my wife in there?" Without a moment's hesitation, Stiles replies, "Collateral."
Despite much of the mediocre shows offered by the networks in the 1990's, particularly in the United States (barring Seinfeld) "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" demonstrated how much mileage could be gotten without a huge budget or elaborate productions. There were no sets, no costumes, no writers, and no scripts. Only four performers, a stage, an occasional chair or two, and a moderator. And ten years of some of the funniest television I have ever seen. Saturday Night Live, eat your heart out.