Entertaining Idea: Whose Line? Party

My favs are definitely Colin and Ryan.

If you're anything like me (and I know, you're hoping you're not) you like entertaining. Not in the stand up and do a song and dance sort of way (well, maybe that too), but more in the, invite people over, have a few cocktails, some good conversation, maybe play a few games. In this spirit, I've decided that hosting a Whose Line Is It Anyway? party would be great fun. Here are a few suggestions. 

1. Buy a DVD.

Unfortunately, not everyone attending your fiesta will be familiar with the amazing improv show that is Whose Line. To start off, while people are arriving, put in a DVD and watch a few episodes to get people accustomed to this particular brand of humor. 

2. Plan games in advance.

For this, I advocate blatant plagiarism. Watch the show, steal the game ideas, and maybe even topics. Examples:

Scenes from a Hat: In addition to having a hat and plenty of pieces of paper available for your guests to suggest funny scenes to act out, the Whose Line audience has come up with some great ones in the past. Here's some I picked up: 

- If actors were completely honest during their award acceptance speeches.

- Circus acts that didn't last long.

- Odd things for a lounge singer to sing about. 

- Unusual things for a neighbor to ask to borrow. 

- If you used stripper moves to perform mundane tasks. 

- Strange television shows for Mr. Rogers to make a guest appearance on. 

Props: hat, scraps of paper, pens 

Party Quirks: For this one, you give some (maybe three or four) guests sealed envelopes, and another guest is the "host" of the party. In the envelopes are characters that the guests must act out, and the host tries to discover their "identities." Here are some identities that performers on the show have acted out: 

- Family coming to blows on the Jerry Springer Show. 

- Synchronized swimming teammate of the others (he mimics their moves while "swimming"...absolutely hilarious). 

- Series of animals spotting and charging at cameras (or other objects in the room). 

- Gangster being riddled with bullets. 

- Bloodhound trained to sniff out complete idiots. 

- Various celebrities slowly getting steamrolled. 

- Suspects that people are not the sex they claim to be and is trying to find out for sure.

- Hunky model in a photo shoot for the covers of romance novels.

Props: Envelopes with some characteristics in them. 

Two Line Vocabulary: Three guests act out a scene. Two of the guests are limited to using only two (specific) lines each. For example: 

Guest One: "Is it always that big?" and "I don't think that's a good idea."

Guest Two: "Run that by me again." and "Who needs this." 

The guest who can say anything they want is performing a life or death operation on a mob boss. Guest One is the anesthesiologist, and Guest Two is the assisting nurse.

Props: Lines for performers to say, scenes to act out.  

Let's Make a Date: One guest is the contestant on a dating show. The other three guests are the possible dates who are given odd personalities or characters via envelopes. Following two rounds of questioning, the "contestant" must guess who the others are. (This is similar to Party Quirks). Possible guest characters/quirks include: 

- Roommates from "The Real World."

- Soap opera doctor desperate not to lose another patient. 

- Nervous old woman accidentally boarding a roller coaster.  

- Thinks contestant is absolutely repulsive. 

- Astronaut with alien inside him. 

- In a medieval dungeon being tortured for information. 

- Vulture looking for the ultimate feast. 

- Violently jealous woman who keeps catching people making eyes at her boyfriend, the guest next to her. 

- The severed head of an evil genius kept alive in a lab launching his plans for world domination.

- Castaway who washes up at the party and must use whatever he finds to survive. 

Props: Envelopes with some characteristics in them. 

Those are just some of my favorites, but there are plenty more! You can just google the games and see some. If you have some friends that are good singers, some of the games like Hoedown might be fun. 

Also, a lot of the games hinge on the audience knowing the guests' quirks or characters, but one or more of the performers being unaware. This can be achieved by making a powerpoint presentation that details the contents of the envelopes given to the performers, and making the computer screen visible to the audience but not those acting out the scene. 

3. Add refreshments.

Finally, you may want to think about a truly wonderful relationship: that of comedy and cocktails. Here's a cocktail that I often have at parties as my "signature" drink that people usually rave about: The Bellini. 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz peach nectar
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 oz peach schnapps
• 3 oz chilled, dry champagne

Mix the peach nectar, lemon juice, and schnapps in a chilled glass. Stir, and add champagne (serves 2). 

Usually I mix it up a bit, and instead of doing the peach nectar I add apricot juice. I call this variation a "Jillini." Ah, I'm so clever. Don't forget to add some finger foods to the mix!

One last tip: have a video camera handy. This would be great to capture and use as blackmail. Hope you like, let me know...I've got some more party ideas to post!