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 4.9

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 2.14

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.14
Channel Four
23 February 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
C

Sigh, this episode.  OK, so Tony/Sandi is a wondrous thing.  Look at that still!  He's playing a fanzine interviewer and she's Snow White and he is uber-naughty and she's playing it sweet, but she is totally his match, and there's loads of chemistry, no matter what their orientations, and did I mention that they're having a secret affair in this Party Quirks, which she's so good at she guesses the guests even when Host Tony can't?

But the episode kicks off with Authors, where he's extremely disgusting as the Marquis de Sade (actually worse than you might expect), and the other two players on this episode are friggin' Ron West and Rory McGrath, who are seldom if ever funny, I mean Ron has a line where he's a vicar and he says something about the eulogy "being doned today," and I can't believe how painful some of this episode is.  But the Sandi/Tony is a wondrous thing.  This episode, sigh.  It would be C- but I'll give a C because it ends with Sandi reading the credits as Mae West and because this is the episode where giggly!Tony begins to be a factor, although he's trying to be serious even in that still, although you know he's inwardly gleeful because Sandi helps him set up the "7-Up" joke.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.6

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.6
Channel Four
22 December 1989
Improv Game Show
DVD
C-

I can't think of any reason to recommend this episode to anyone but a masochistic Ron West "fan" who is amused by how unfunny he can get.  His sparkling wit is captured best in the following exchange.
PAUL: (after being called an idiot) Why am I idiot?
RON: Well, you work in a sewer for one.

And Jimmy Mulville doesn't help matters either.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.3

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.3
Channel Four
24 November 1989
Improv Game Show
DVD
C

Griff is easily the best thing about this episode that introduces another unfunny American, Ron West, who'd do four more episodes.  Griff "eats John's sock" during a Chaplinesque FATS, to the delight of John and the studio audience, and the disgust of Clive.  Mostly though, people are trying too hard, with mediocre results, as this still suggests.