Making It Up as They Go Along

Cheap to produce, and bursting with a talented cast, the British import “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” probably shouldn’t have taken this long to arrive on network television. But much about the series--a fast-paced, loosely structured improvisational comedy/game show that debuted on ABC in the summer and returns to the network Wednesday nights at 9:30--goes against TV industry wisdom.

Improv, for one, isn’t supposed to work as a TV vehicle.

And “Whose Line” doesn’t feature any stars or pretty people in the cast.

But it does have Drew Carey as host, and ABC ordered 13 episodes after the show performed well over the summer following “The Drew Carey Show.” Now “Whose Line” returns, to replace the benched sitcom “The Secret Lives of Men.”

A role as utility player could be “Whose Line’s” fate, because ABC figures ultimately to give Wednesday nights at 9:30 to a new sitcom starring comedian Norm Macdonald, from “Drew Carey Show” co-creator Bruce Helford, which is slated to debut in March.

Still, Ryan Stiles succinctly sums up why “Whose Line” is appealing to network executives:

“There are no sets, no wardrobe, no writers, nothing.”

Nothing, that is, except a rotating cast of gifted physical comedians, including Stiles and Colin Mochrie, improv performers with years under their belts both in theater and in Toronto’s Second City improv company.

Stiles and Mochrie first worked together in the ‘70s in their native Vancouver and later reunited to do “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” in Britain, where the show has been running for 10 years.

That well-earned chemistry is evident in Wednesday night’s episode, during a game called “Helping Hands,” in which Stiles is forced to make up dialogue as Mochrie stands behind him, performing as his arms and hands; or next week, when the two make up the commercial pitch for an album called “Songs of the Lifeguard.”

Like all improv, the seat-of-the-pants situations don’t always translate into hilarity (viewers of the Groundlings improv show on the cable outlet FX have learned the same lesson). But the element of comedic surprise is nevertheless something of an anomaly in a business that, after all, relies on canned laughter to cover the dead spots in sitcoms.

To Stiles, who can be seen each week as a deadpan demented sidekick on “The Drew Carey Show,” “Whose Line” can work in prime time precisely as an antidote to the sitcom glut.

“I compare it with ‘America’s Funniest Videos’ when it first came on the air,” he said. “It was cheap to do and fun to watch. People need a break from a sitcom every now and then.”

ABC Entertainment Chairman Stu Bloomberg not only wouldn’t call “Whose Line” a sitcom, he didn’t even want to use the word “improv.”

“Improv is right there under mime as something you want to stay away from,” he noted.

Bloomberg did, however, want to use the words “Drew” and “Carey.”

The star of “The Drew Carey Show” serves as emcee and an executive producer on “Whose Line” but, more important, he’s the recognizable face getting people “in the tent,” Bloomberg added.

The creation of Brits Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” is still running in England a decade after debuting there, and now executive producer Patterson is hoping the American franchise has just as long a shelf life. To that end, he’s buoyed by the fact that the British show won several CableACE Awards when it aired on Comedy Central.

“Compared to most British shows, we were already geared to the American market,” he said. “American audiences are looking for something new. And this is new.”

In addition to Stiles and Mochrie, “Whose Line” features a rotating cast of regular players including Wayne Brady (a master at improvising song lyrics), Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood and Denny Siegel.

“We’re very picky about who we put on the show,” Patterson said of the rigorous auditioning that goes on. “In shorthand improv, you really have to cut to the chase very quickly.”

Patterson and Stiles had been shopping “Whose Line” to executives for years without getting serious interest. Then Stiles, who performs improv with Carey and others at the Improv in West Hollywood every Thursday night, introduced Carey to Patterson, who suddenly had a star attached to his vehicle.

“The minute Drew was interested, everyone was interested,” Patterson said.

Even then, executives in the green room at the first “Whose Line” taping were overheard wondering aloud how to make the show more commercial. Maybe, they thought, the show could have special guest stars, like Dustin Hoffman or Jennifer Aniston.

Stunt casting is a common gimmick in TV comedy, but “Whose Line” isn’t your typical TV comedy. It’s theater sport, really, a don’t-try-this-at-home performance art with a good deal of built-in humiliation.

“You know what?” one of the executives finally said. “What they’re doing out there is really hard.”

* “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” airs Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.