Beginning as a radio show on BBC Radio 4 in 1987 (with Dawn French, Lenny Henry, Stephen Fry and John Sessions), this half-hour show of improvised comedy based on studio audience suggestions – where “everything’s made up and the points don’t matter” – was performed by a rotating roster of ‘alternative’ comedians under the sceptical eye of chairperson (and ex-barrister) Clive Anderson.
For more than a decade between 1988 and 1999, Friday nights on Channel 4 were given over to four comedians or actors competing against each other in a series of games devised to test their improvisational skills.
Instructions would come from a seated Clive Anderson who hosted every one of the 136 episodes, with musical support from Richard Vranch who could switch between widely different musical styles – from country music to opera – at a stroke.
The talented Scottish actor John Sessions often dominated early shows. He would excel, particularly, during the “authors” round in which players would take turns to continue an ongoing story in the style of a particular writer: perhaps Mark Twain, Agatha Christie or Dr Seuss.
Sessions left after 24 appearances in 1991, continuing a successful stage and screen career, which only ended with his death in 2020. But, by then, other stars had already emerged.
Still in her 20s at the time of her first appearance, the Staffordshire-born Josie Lawrence was the most prolific female performer in a generally male-dominated show. Appearing 54 times, Josie became rightly celebrated for her songs and could be relied upon to belt out a musical number about brushing your teeth in the style of an Italian opera at the drop of a hat.
Josie was frequently joined by the deadpan Paul Merton, who would often inject a surreal note into proceedings and – along with Tony Slattery – was often particularly funny during games of “party quirks” where one contestant pretended to host a party while the other players would pretend to be a guest at the party but would always display one particular quirk (flashed up on the screen for the audience) which the host would have to identify.
The quirks varied from “has fallen in love with the cameraman” to “being all seven of the dwarves at once”. Memorable party quirks included Ryan Stiles playing “a toddler learning to walk” and Archie Hahn “turning into a werewolf”.
Between 1988 and 1995, the quick-witted Tony Slattery appeared on Whose Line Is It Anyway? more often than almost anyone else, gaining a reputation for potentially lewd subject matter.
Sadly, by the mid-1990s, it became clear that some of Slattery’s personal problems, which led to a nervous breakdown in 1996, were affecting his screen performance.
He ended up being sacked from the show because of an on-air fracas in which he grabbed Clive Anderson’s script. “Well, Tony’s never going to appear on this show again,” Clive quipped. But he was not joking.
Slattery died following a heart attack in January 2025 at the age of 65.
Any competitive element to the competition was jettisoned by Anderson’s habit of awarding points after each round, entirely at random – “a million points to everyone there . . . except Greg” – although winners would nevertheless be rewarded by the opportunity to read out the show’s closing titles in a style of their choosing, for example, like a headmaster reprimanding a long list of wayward pupils.
In the mid-1990s, the series filmed occasional episodes in the United States. The popularity of these outings led to the launch of an American version of the series in 1998, with Drew Carey as the chairman.
Clive Anderson was asked to host this version as well, but he declined because he neither wanted to move to nor commute to Los Angeles.
However, the final season of the British programme was actually filmed on the set of the American version.
By that time, aside from Anderson, the majority of the performers were American, with only the occasional British performer guest-starring.
The American version of the show was revived in 2013, now hosted by Aisha Tyler.
UK Clive Anderson
John Sessions
Paul Merton
Josie Lawrence
Greg Proops
Mike McShane
Tony Slattery
Ryan Stiles
Arthur Smith
Sandy Toksvig
Steve Frost
Jonathan Pryce
USA
Drew Carey
Colin Mochrie
Ryan Stiles
Laura Hall
Wayne Brady
Linda Taylor
Greg Proops
Brad Sherwood
Cece Worrall Rubin
Charles Esten
Kathryn Greenwood
Denny Siegel
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Instructions would come from a seated Clive Anderson who hosted every one of the 136 episodes, with musical support from Richard Vranch who could switch between widely different musical styles – from country music to opera – at a stroke.
Sadly, by the mid-1990s, it became clear that some of Slattery’s personal problems, which led to a nervous breakdown in 1996, were affecting his screen performance.
Clive Anderson was asked to host this version as well, but he declined because he neither wanted to move to nor commute to Los Angeles.
