Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 4 New York Compilation

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 4 New York Compilation
Channel Four
17 April 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

There's some good stuff here, from the very slashy Superheroes (Greg as Proctologist Man makes Ryan Touchy-Feely Man) to Ryan & Greg's Expert about the Afterlife to some memorable exchanges among Greg, Clive, and the studio audiences.  Furthermore, Ryan has perhaps the single funniest moment anyone ever has in Props, "And there's your baby," with Brad of course giving able support.  And then there are three games from the Sam & Jane episode, including him singing about bed-wetting, weary sigh.  Note that there's no sign of Meskimen or Smith.

The 1992 series ranges from D+ to B, averaging out to exactly a C+, which isn't bad, especially considering the ill-advised return to New York.  This was gradually becoming The Ryan Stiles Show, before then turning into The Ryan & Colin Show, but Greg is still a strong presence in London and New York, and of course the British half of the fourth series is still very British.  The '93 series would shake things up again, yet still be recognizable to early viewers of the show.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.12

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.12
Channel Four
10 April 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Despite the presence of Ron West, this comes close to being the best episode of the semi-series.  (The Compilation has a good Ryan & Greg game.)  Brad, who's a more regular presence in later incarnations of the show, has an amiable, cooperative quality about him, more interested in supporting than grandstanding, and his teamwork with Ryan, especially in the games Whose Line and Props, is solid.  (Ryan deservedly gets the big laughs in Props though.)  Greg isn't at the top of his form here, but I'm always so glad to see him after sitting through the two previous episodes, I don't really mind.  (Plus, Paul Merton could tell you how hard it is to be funny when you're teamed with Ron West.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.11

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.11
Channel Four
3 April 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C-

Some of this episode is awkward, some of it is boring, and some of it, as you can see, was accidentally violent.  I wasn't crazy about Chip anyway, but when he poked Ryan in the eye, and then acted conceited most of the rest of the episode, I was definitely done with him.  Still, he and Ryan have some pretty good moments together, like in Bartender and Expert, mostly due to Ryan, but Chip's "acid"/"flaccid" rhyme works.  Meskimen & Smith are pretty forgettable this episode, except that for some reason Jim's Kevin Costner credits-reading has stayed with me all these years.  (And I haven't even seen JFK.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.10

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.10
Channel Four
28 March 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
D+

This remains the worst episode of the programme, at least in my collection.  The main problem is the line-up, individually and as a group.  Poor Ryan is left to carry it as best he can, and you can see in the way he passive aggressively either tries to deliver a joke that Jane steps on in Expert or refuses to cooperate with Sam in Backwards Scene that he's having a bad time.  (And compare Richard Vranch's forced smile here to how he looks in London, especially if it's a Josie episode.)  Chip can't even be counted on to do good singing like usual.  And Sam and Jane, sigh.  There are reasons why they wouldn't be asked back.  (We will see her again though.)  She's simply not funny and she's not very good at teamwork (not just in Expert).

Sam is, and I've felt this way for twenty-five years, the single most annoying contestant I've ever seen on this show.  Yes, more than Archie Hahn, who is occasionally funny or at least harmless.  But I loathe every line delivery of Sam's, especially that he seems so tickled by his own "wit."  And for some reason Clive, or maybe the producers, give him way too much to do, and even have him win!  Ugh (in the old-school sense).  And while this is hardly the only episode of the half-series to have the New York audience back to Arsenioing like last year, it is pretty noticeable.  I think this is the first time I've watched this episode in full in over twenty years and today it was basically a matter of seeing how low it could go.  That it ends on a sex change Hoedown that only maybe Mike McShane could've saved sealed the D+.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.9

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.9
Channel Four
21 March 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

First off, I have to say that I know that there are many, many WLIIA fans who adore Colin, especially with Ryan, to the point that some of them ship them.  And I just don't get it.  I don't hate Colin but I don't think he really came into his own until '93, and at that, they were overusing him.  Little did I know that what I was already starting to call "Colinization" would only get more extreme, to the point that by the Drew Carey days, this had become The Ryan & Colin Show.  

The other thing going on here is, we've gone from the previous year, where Josie and Sandi were significant presences even in New York, and in London we even had an episode where there were three women, to a half-series where the only female contestant in sight will be the less than inspiring Jane Brucker (more about her later).  And it's not that I necessarily mind an all male line-up of course, since there have been some good episodes without women, Paul Merton's most recent episode for instance.  But when you've got back-to-back games (Helping Hands and Film Dubbing) where men can't play women in an amusing or intelligent manner (Tony's shipboard woman in his Film Dubbing with Paul had a lot more flair), then I'm going to have to take this down from a C+ to a C, even if there is a nifty argument about "burger bars" between Greg and Clive.  Having Ron West around doesn't help, although he's never been the downer that Archie Hahn is.

Note that Ryan chooses George Bush as the World's Worst person to be President, as did Griff four years ago.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.8

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.8
Channel Four
14 March 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

This episode almost overcomes Chip smirking and Archie being Archie (unfunny, homophobic, etc.).  It's good to see the teamwork between Greg and Ryan, including on a flawless Alphabet (no letter skipped and not too much forced, other than "Xactly no.")  And Chip's reggae tribute to a woman in the audience, Yvette the receptionist, is one of the better things he's done.  Note that Greg picks George Bush (Sr.) as World's Worst person to be a parent, while Chip picks Clive.  And it is Greg who names Ryan's clown character in Helping Hands "Bobo," suggesting that either this is a standard character for Ryan and/or Greg watched Ryan's Who's the Boss? cameo a year ago.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.7 [fragment]

"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.7 [fragment]
Channel Four
7 March 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

We're back in New York and Brad Sherwood makes his satisfactory debut, although one of the two best games here is one without him, the Helping Hands of Ryan-Colin getting ready for a date with the help of his housemate Greg.*  The other standout game is the first Superheroes, this time with the problem of "English television," which delights Greg of course.  Still, even with the weaker stuff left out, nothing quite raises this to a B-.  (And I'm omitting Richard V because there are no musical games on this version of the episode.)

*I don't know if I'd never heard the term "housemate" at 24 (remember, I'd grown up with the term "roommate," even on Three's Company, where Jack didn't share a room), or if it was Clive's pronunciation, but I remember thinking he said "housemaid," which really baffled me.  And then Ryan calls Greg "Francois," so Greg puts on a pretty good French accent, even though Ryan switches over to calling him Greg.  But you're mostly going to care about Colin brushing Ryan's teeth and then not getting to share the handtowel even after Ryan spits paste into Colin's hands.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series Four London Compilation [fragment]

I think this is the game where
Ryan is a taxidermy expert.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series Four London Compilation [fragment]
Channel Four
28 February 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Even the "highlights" aren't too memorable.  My favorite moment is Paul off-camera trying to supply "purple" and "Would you like an orange?" as rhymes that Josie has to include in her song.  Note that he truthfully tells Tony he's 34.  And there's Sweeney & Steen shipping in Narrating for Each Other.  I'm omitting Chip Esten from the overcrowded tags.  This is the 200th show I've reviewed from the '90s.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.5

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.5
Channel Four
21 February 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS & Youtube
C+

Second verse, same as the first.  Again, troubles with the videocassette, so I mostly watched this episode on Youtube.  I might've gone with a B- but, one, I find Chip mildly annoying (not so much here as later), and two, there's too much gross-out humo(u)r, even if some of it is admittedly funny, as in the Helping Hands where Tony has breakfast with Ryan-Greg.  It is, by the way, a pretty shippy episode for Ryan & Greg, especially in their FATS, where Greg as Robin wants to tell Ryan as Batman "something," and in Sci-Fi, where they both touch Ryan's imaginary three-foot-long penis.  In their Film Dubbing, Ryan is "a grown man" coming on to Greg's character of a teenager, again tasteless if funny.  Note that this three-Americans-and-a-Brit line-up would've been common in the New York tapings but feels odd towards the end of this mostly very British half-series.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.4

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.4
Channel Four
14 February 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS & Youtube
B-

That videocassette with the highlights has sound that fades in and out, so I ended up watching most of this on Youtube, highlights and all.  It's still pretty good, with lots of Josie/Tony and bald!Clive jokes.  Re the former, there are a couple moments when she manages to be more outrageous than him, which he accepts with a wry smile.  And when she, for "lustily" in Emotion Option, offers to lick him and his clothes clean, he calmly but happily says, "All right."  Jim and Stephen also have some good moments, and it's overall satisfying lineup.  (I think I omitted a game or two on this tape.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.3 [fragment]

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.3 [fragment]
Channel Four
7 February 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
B-

At some point, I lost a videocassette with six WLIIA episodes (as well as some other stuff) on it.  I did, however, keep the tapes that had "highlights" of the first four seasons, edited down episodes with my favorite games.  With the previous episode, that meant the entire thing.  With this one, I think two of the games from the Comedy Central airing were omitted.  This is not to say that the complete episode might not have averaged out to B-, but I have to judge by what's in front of me.

And one thing that is in front of me is significant Paul/Tony.  Not only does Paul tease Tony as much as he recently teased Josie, but he twice expresses a wish to have sex with Tony, who is of course game for it.  Also, everyone but the almost always polite Jim makes fun of Clive's baldness, to the audience's delight.  Oh, and Paul manages to insult the departed John Sessions.

This line-up, with some crossing of the pairs (because there's always Sweeney & Steen of course), would be repeated the following year, I believe the first repeated line-up.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.2

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.2
Channel Four
31 January 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
B

This episode has a lot of teasing: Paul of everyone, especially Josie; Greg mildly of the others in Video Play; Ryan of Josie (although he is apologetic about it); and Clive of Paul, although he has Paul win.  The episode is funny even without the teasing, but the teasing does enhance it, as with "What are you doing with that squeezie bottle?" and the end of the "baby care" Helping Hands.  I remember my then-husband coming home from work on the day I taped this (off of Comedy Central of course, a few months after it debuted on Channel Four) and telling him, "Paul made fun of Josie a lot but he really wanted to do Porno with her."  (In FATS.)  Paul annoys her so much that during the first ever Scenes from a Hat she just audibly tells him, "I'm going to fucking kill you," but he also still amuses her.  The Greg/Josie and Ryan/Josie aren't particularly strong here, but later episodes would show that those ships were far from dead.  The Greg/Ryan would be stronger on their other British episode together that year.  As for Paul and the Americans, they don't seem to really connect, and yet that helps somehow, with them not knowing what to make of each other adding to the odd chemistry of this episode.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.1

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 4.1
Channel Four
24 January 1992
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Stephen Frost's debut isn't bad, but the best game is actually the one with the other three contestants, a revamped version of Helping Hands, now with props.  Clive's best moment is when he tells Jim that he's not awarding him any points for Party Quirks, since "you fooled Tony Slattery, which is just too easy."

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: New York Compilation

Greg's Rap

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: New York Compilation
Channel Four
10 May 1991
Improv Comedy Show
VHS
C+

The main thing that stands out about this compilation is that the producers must've been convinced that the George McGrath episode was the strongest of the New York batch.  There's no sign of John or Sandi, despite three years of contributions to the programme.  Then again, we don't see much of Colin either.*  And there are a lot of running jokes, some of them jokes about running away from hamsters.  And Meskimen's James Brown is pretty good but not on the level of his Sting.  Oh, I should note that Mike seems very non-homophobic, and very anti-Jesse-Helms, while Greg's stamp-collecting Rap lends support to the "Greg Proops is fond of cunnilingus" theory I've happily held for years.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? in its third series ranges from D+ to B-, averaging out to a high C+, so not quite on the level of the first two series, which were on the C+/B- border.  The move to New York was obviously a mistake, although there are some good moments there.  This pattern would be repeated for Series Four, with half in London and half in NYC.  The "regulars" would be somewhat different though.


*All three names do appear in the credits, but I have to judge this by what aired on Comedy Central a quarter of a century ago.  Chris Smith does appear on this version, but I again was pushing the tags limit.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.16

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.16
Channel Four
3 May 1991
Improv Game Show
VHS
B-

This line-up of the two British women and the two men from the Bay Area works well, and there's a relaxed, friendly, somewhat flirty air that makes even their weaker games, like March, nice to watch.  There are more examples of Greg/Sandi than Greg/Josie, including Sandi as Dr. Ruth Westheimer helping Greg with his "tennis grip" in the American Musical, and him chatting her up in Alphabet, as well as interactions between games.  But watch Tag for Greg's reaction to Josie's hand near his crotch: "This is the best blind date I've ever been on!"  There's also some Greg/Mike, especially in FATS.  And Mike and Josie of course play an engaged couple in the Musical, which is the best overall game anyway, including Greg's salute to Minnesota that refers to "The Prince Memorial Run-Off," long before that Artist died.  We even get a bit of Josie/Sandi, when Josie strokes Sandi's hair after the Musical.

Not counting the compilation, this would be the last WLIIA Toksvig episode to air, and it's not at all a bad one for Sandi to go out on.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.15

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.15
Channel Four
26 April 1991
Improv Game Show
VHS
B-

This very Californian lineup works well together, especially in the musical moments, like the "fruity George Balanchine cowboy dancing" Mike suggests in the middle of Hoedown, the Audition with George's dead-on Anthony Newley, and of course the American Musical about skydiving to Australia.  In fact, there's a four-way tie to read the credits, as tourists in New York.  It's great to finally see Greg & Ryan work together, and immediately hit it off, including in Alphabet.  As becomes even more obvious on the compilation episode, there are a lot of running jokes to this taping, especially about defenestration.

This the 100th British show I've reviewed, unless I forgot to tag something.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.14

Sorry, Ryan, escape is not that easy.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.14
Channel Four
19 April 1991
Improv Game Show
VHS
C-

An unworkable line-up, with a more racist and homophobic than ever Archie Hahn, and a looking out of place John Sessions.  I almost went with a D+, but one, the audience is not too obnoxious this time, and Mike has moments when he almost saves it, like his reaction to John breaking a scythe in Props, and his Audition for The Greasy, Dead Godfather Society.  This is the last we'll see of John on this programme, but he'd redeem himself six years later as the narrator of a Tom Jones adaptation.  And Archie would be back one more time, the following year.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.13

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.13
Channel Four
12 April 1991
Improv Game Show
VHS
C-

One of the dullest episodes ever, redeemed somewhat by some Mike/Sandi.  Not only does he say he only has time for "a kiss, a cuddle, and a dance" at the Party Quirks she hosts, but their FATS has some innuendo, with her saying in Sci-Fi that she has power in her fingertips he would be pleased to know about, causing him to reply, "All hail the Queen of the Labia Minors" [sic].  Not only that, but when they switch to Horror, she says it's two days before her period and then confesses to him (but audibly to us), "I can't believe I said that."  Also, she looks at him adoringly during Gospel.  I'm glad they have one more episode together, and in a much more interesting line-up.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.12

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.12
Channel Four
5 April 1991
Improv Game Show
VHS
D+

Another less than stellar Colin Mochrie episode where everyone else is also performing below average, even the usually infallible Richard Vranch, who can't seem to manage to play a Madonna-like tune.  I would've gone with a C-, but the Arsenio-ing audience is worse than ever, including when they're rude to the member whose life inspires one of the worst American Musicals.  Note that Clive rejects the suggestion of John Major, saying most of the audience has never heard of the then-Prime-Minister.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.11

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 3.11
Channel Four
29 March 1991
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

Other than Mike & Greg's FATS (their Hitchcock is a particular highlight) and some curiosity value of the line-up, and, OK, references to Dan Quayle and Kitty Dukakis, there's not much reason to watch this episode.  Also, the hooting and fist-waving of the studio audience, a la the Arsenio Hall audience, is possibly at its worst here.