30 Jul 2009, 3:14 am
irishwhistle wrote:
Hovis wrote:
I love Whose Line! 
But only the original British version. I apologize to the Americans here, but although I have seen Whose Line US, I seldom found it funny. I don't know what the reason was... it wasn't just because of the performers, because most of the Americans who had previously been stalwarts on Whose Line UK - Greg, Colin, Ryan, etc - were very funny there. Greg is actually one of my top WL guests ever.
But only the original British version. I apologize to the Americans here, but although I have seen Whose Line US, I seldom found it funny. I don't know what the reason was... it wasn't just because of the performers, because most of the Americans who had previously been stalwarts on Whose Line UK - Greg, Colin, Ryan, etc - were very funny there. Greg is actually one of my top WL guests ever.Drew Carey, maybe? He's unfunny enough to kill a show all by himself. The show here did become so shamelessly self-indulgent, over-extending games and jokes until they had wrung every last ounce of humor from them, that it often just made me sick. Plus there was very little variation in the talent. The ones they had are good, of course, but you got something fresh when the comics changed more. Suddenly it was the same dynamic over and over, no new flavors. And finally, I like British humor, the way the lines are delivered, not sure what else... I just like it. I can't remember seeing a single British comic on the show in the states.
I think you may be right on all those points. Drew not being able to hold a candle to Clive, games going on too long, hardly any change in the guests, etc. I also thought that WL US always seemed very 'safe' and predictable, while on WL UK, you always had the feeling that anything could happen (ironically, even though I thought Green Screen missed the point of improvisation completely with the animations - i.e., having you use your imagination - it did seem to bring back a little of that spontaneous feel. I actually like GS better than WL US).
I've seen some fans who like WL US better than WL UK say that they thought the American performers were more polished, whereas with the British performers, it was as if they were just playing at improvisation - but I thought that was exactly what made WL UK so funny. Nobody took themselves too seriously. WL US was too polished, too slick.
30 Jul 2009, 9:43 am
31 Jul 2009, 2:01 pm
