I-C-E

One of the many glorious things about YouTube is that just about everything that has ever been on television, no matter how obscure, is archived there. Granted, it's only there until someone who owns the copyright gets wind of it and has it yanked.

Well, anyway, I was talking to Heidi the other day about how much I used to love to watch the UK version of the improv comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? on Comedy Central. When I transferred to U of Iowa in the fall of 1992, I had heard of Comedy Central but never actually seen one of their programs. In Iowa City, it shared the channel with VH1 taking over at something like 7pm. I can't tell you how long it took me to figure out what was going on with the show with the black movie theater seats along the bottom - mostly because I never bothered to watch it until nearly 6 months after moving in! (for shame)

But Whose Line Is It Anyway? was an early favorite, and I was never satisfied with the Americanized version that aired on ABC a while back. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that in the US version, there was very little variation as to who the contestants were. It was always Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady, with the 4th seat up for grabs. And sorry, but Wayne Brady was always a little too prepared for those "improv" songs for me to buy it completely.

In any event, this is one of my favorite moments on the UK version of WLIIA? I'm sorry that the clip is not shorter, but I consider myself damn lucky to have found it at all. In the clip, Josie Lawrence is asked to sing about her refrigerator in a country/western style. For whatever reason, I LOVED this when I first saw it. It is not particularly clever, but I swear it sounds like she's singing in the style of Cher singing country/western. Her bit starts at about 3:10. It's TOTALLY worth it.



After years of having that "I-C-E" part periodically stuck in my head and figuring I would never see it again for the rest of my born days, all is now right with the world.

(I don't think Josie Lawrence, who I always loved on the UK version of the show, ever once appeared on the American version! What's the world coming to?)