The ninth season of Whose Line Is It Anyway has now reached the point where they are going through second appearances from different guest celebrities. The way it was arranged, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, and Ryan Stiles were in every episode, while each guest participated in two episodes. In this sixth episode, Gary Anthony Williams returned after participating in the first episode (though I'm putting money on the fact that they filmed each of the double appearances together and then spread them out so that it provided a variety as to who you saw on the program) and seemed to have more air time than before, which is a good thing and a good use of the guest performer. At the same time, I don't find Gary Anthony Williams to be as funny as some of the other guest performers, this class including Keegan-Michael Key, Jonathan Magnum, and Jeff Davis. I have yet to make a judgment for Nyima Funk, for I have yet to see her perform (as do the rest of us regarding this season).
To start the program, the four performers participated in "Weird Newscasters," all of which were given interesting roles. Colin was the key newscaster, while Gary sounded like a Cajun performer that was supposed to make no sense, Wayne's caster sounded like Oprah during an edition of her "favorite things" segment she would hold on her show. I will just say that I found it to be a riot. Ryan was an alien who was beginning to show his true form. It was quite hilarious what he ended up doing to Colin. For "Duets," guest Wilson Bethel from Hart of Dixie came on while Wayne and Gary had to perform a song for him in the style of Motown. The two guys sang quite a funny song about convincing him to talk his shirt off, something host Aisha Tyler requested that he do. In "Sideways Scene," which once again featured each performer minus Ryan, Colin and Gary were out of shape police officers and were visited by a trainer, portrayed by Wayne. Like always, they moved into different genres.
Wilson Bethel performed in the next two segments. The first being one that had not been used on this revival until now, known as "Three Headed Song." Each performer in this song can only contribute one word at a time, often leading to hilarious results. The song: "I just can't live without your... rubber duckie." The best part of these performances is that Wilson doesn't know what to expect, but he did such a good job contributing. It's just funny to hear his reaction when seasoned comics such as Wayne and Ryan (who were the other two heads) provide funny contributions. Many of these contributions could been seen as innuendos. In the last segment, "Helping Hands," Ryan portrays the subject interacting with the guest (in this case Wilson Bethel) while Colin portrays his hands. The scenario was Wilson being a medical student and Ryan the senior doctor. This led to Ryan making another mess and Wilson drinking something that looked like a urine sample, finding it the most logical way to seek results. In the end, everyone read the credits like they were mixing drinks.
While I believe that the offstage guest should only be featured in 1-2 sketches, Wilson Bethel was used quite well in his appearance, especially when he took part in the "Three-Headed Song." Drew Carey's version of the program did have guests that would come onstage to take part in sketches, such as Jerry Springer, Florence Henderson, Richard Simmons, Lassie, among others, but these kinds of guests were not featured in every single episode like they are now. The guest provided somewhat of a theme to that particular episode (and Richard Simmons looked like he was in Heaven when he got to portray a prop in "Living Scenery"), while they now simply participate.
Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the strength of the guest performer. I see the performers I mentioned as stronger fourth performers and that is key to a great episode. The second half of the season should be quite exciting and I encourage everyone to check out Whose Line Is It Anyway on Tuesday nights at 8 PM on CW. It's a lot better than much of what's on television at the moment we speak and this is on the spot improv comedy, so it's natural. I have also learned that filming for the tenth season of the show will begin in January 2014, which leads me to believe this twenty-four episode season will premiere sometime during the spring or summer of next year. No other details were attached nor do I believe they will be until next year.
I will not give a numerical rating to this episode, because I cannot declare one. Aside from Gary Anthony Williams and his okay performance, everything else was excellent!
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