Cast: Greg Proops, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, and Drew Carey

Sound Effects: ambulance driver on his first emergency call
I enjoyed this one even though there were a lot of familiar Sound Effects things in it. I liked the bird on the windowsill. The ambulance driving off without Colin — that's when the audience got into the game, I thought. Greg, Wayne, and I all liked the electric shock bit. And I loved the audience's reaction to Colin pulling out the heart to massage it. You could tell most of them had never seen that bit before! Did you notice that when Drew gave the Clive line about Sound Effects being a "non-scoring round" that he was actually reading off the game card?

Hats: Greg and Wayne; Ryan and Colin
There were some good ones here. The ones I remember are Ryan's cowardly lion. (I thought he got the voice tone just right.) Wayne's flame. And of course, Ryan's crystal balls.

Greatest Hits: Songs of Accounting; Ryan and Colin sell; Wayne sings
Um, Wayne.............. What was with the pants????? The songs were pretty good especially the last two: the swing era and the early rock and roll. I don't remember anything special that Ryan and Colin said so I'll assume the banter was standard fare. Mostly, I noticed tidbits here. Laura was wearing an earpiece like news anchors do. You can just see the curly cord behind her hair. I wonder if she still wears it? You could see Greg wiping his brow over Ryan's shoulder during the first introduction. Drew buzzed in after the second song and after the third song. So I wonder if some editing happened there.

Party Quirks: Greg = host; Wayne = in a slow motion fight scene; Colin = accident prone circus performer; Ryan = foal being born
Greg's intro as Specky Spice was clever. Wayne's performance was a good piece of mime although it wasn't funny. But things picked up quickly when Colin came on board. He had me completely convinced that he'd run into a pole when he hit Wayne. Reminded me of the Looney Tunes cartoons. And then comes Ryan. As literate a person as I am, I can't even begin to describe how much I loved his performance. My husband, who is not a WLiiA fan, was laughing out loud watching this one. I was in tears. The look on Greg's face was priceless. And when Colin fell over Ryan and off the stage, I nearly fell off the couch. I'm certain that Colin intended to fall over Ryan; I'm not sure he meant to fall off the stage too! I had read in a magazine article that Ryan had asked Colin to remain by the door after entering without telling Colin why he wanted him to stay there. So I went looking for the moment when Ryan told Colin to stay, but I never found it. I did find that at one point, Ryan was smiling and laughing after Colin fell over him. I liked how Colin fell down on cue to help Greg get the rest of his quirk when Greg starting back guessing who Colin was but hadn't quite got the inept part. And when Ryan finally managed to stay up on his "feet" and bounded across the stage over to Greg for his bottle. I was just going "Awwww....."

Foreign Film Dub: Drew (translated by Ryan) and Wayne (translated by Greg) act "Banished on the Breezes" in Farsi
Drew was trying to hard in this game. I think he felt the need to be in control of the scene especially with the dancing part. Which I've read is a common beginner's mistake. Kindly, the pros didn't make an issue of it and went along with Drew. I still think this is one of Drew's bad habits, but it was really noticeable here. So maybe he's working on it.

Credits: None
The first season didn't have a reading of the credits. And while I missed the credits, I did kinda like watching the guys mill around and talk to each other. I liked seeing them in semi-down mode. Since I'm not likely to attend any tapings, this was the closest I'll ever get to see what they're like when they're not acting.

Best game:
Really, why bother to ask? Did you notice the different camera angles from the ones used in Season 2? Particularly the angle from the front corner of the stage on Ryan's side back towards the back corner on Greg's side. We don't see this angle in Season 2. But it's very informative because it shows just how small the stage really is. The stools for hats are actually quite close to each other. And Ryan and Colin are very close to Wayne during Greatest Hits. It surprised me.

Overall Comments:
Time and time again since the broadcast, I've found myself wondering what I would have thought of this show if I were a casual "The Drew Carey Show" viewer who had just let the TV run into this new show called "Whose Line is it Anyway". No advance knowledge of the show other than that Drew and Ryan were in it. Maybe some knowledge of the concept of improv. But never having actually seen an improv performance. I think I would have been flabbergasted. I don't think I would have believed that it was all improvised. I would have accepted the convincing mime of Sound Effects but never believed that Ryan and Colin hadn't pre-planned and coordinated every sound and move. And the songs would simply have to have been rehearsed. (Even the first time, I actually saw WLiiA after having read about it, I was amazed at the songs!) It's just not possible for anyone to make up melodies and lyrics on the spot.

I do know one thing. If I had stumbled into this episode after "The Drew Carey Show", I would not have missed any episode of the first season or the second. Because after that Party Quirks game, there was no way I would have NOT watched any show that hysterical.

© LKK 09/24/00