Hello, internet.

Welcome to film theory, the show where the evidence isn't made up and the theories do matter.

Today, my friends, is a monumental day.

Today we're finally looking at the improv show, whose line is it anyway, with a theory that I've wanted to do for literal years.

No joke, this episode was actually one of my white whales.

An idea that I was kicking around since the start of film theory,

but you know, it never made sense to do because of the amount of work it would take to

research for an episode that no one on the internet would care about or click on.

I mean, that's just the breaks when you're an online creator.

That said, when I decided that my time as the film theorist was going to be coming to a close,

I knew this had to be one of those episodes that I went out with. If you somehow don't know about this absolute classic,

Whose Line Is It Anyway, is an improvisational comedy show where the host asks four comedians to go play some games.

For us Americans, the host was originally Drew Carey, and then later followed up by Ayesha Tyler.

Well, the four comedians are usually Wayne Brady, Colin Mockery, Ryan Stiles, and some rotating guest. Before that, the show actually originated over in the UK, where it ran for a whopping 11 years.

But I never watched it, so maybe one day Tom can do a follow-up episode on that series.

In the games, the comedians are given characters to play or tools to use to make jokes,

and they haven't been told anything about it until that very moment.

They have to come up with all the jokes on the spot.

It is classic improv at its finest.

So your scene is, Ryan is a woman giving birth.

Oh, you OK?

Yes.

...