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.