History Main / Improv

* Tommy Lee Jones reportedly didn't have much respect for the scripts of ''MenInBlack'' and the sequel, and made up most of his lines as the camera rolled.
** He may have had more respect for the script of the ''TheFugitive'', but he did the same thing while filming it--ad-libbing what became his character's defining line (and the film's most famous)--"I don't care!". And TheFugitive himself, Harrison Ford, deliberately did not learn the lines for the scene where he's interrogated by the police, wanting his responses and reactions as their questions and attitude change from helpful to hostile to be as realistic as possible.

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* Tommy Lee Jones reportedly didn't have much respect for the scripts of ''MenInBlack'' and sequel, and made up most of his lines as the camera rolled.

Many examples of ThrowItIn are because of this, with the actor just be goofing around with the script in between takes. It can also be used to produce EnforcedMethodActing, if one actor is turned loose to improvise in order to get a realistic reaction from another actor.

Improv, short for Improvisation, is the act of going off-roading from the set script and making up entire chunks of dialogue or characterisation. This is similar to an ad-lib (a short -- usually one or two lines) deviation), but here the connotations are that it happens frequently, if not actually the entire acting method. This varies wildly from individual lines to half of the script.

** When Sellers is doing the aforementioned evil hand scene, you can see the guy who plays Russian ambassador trying his hardest not to burst into fits of laughter, complete with shaking and much biting of the lip.

* Happens often on the AdamTheAlien [[http://www.youtube.com/user/AdamTheAlien YouTube channel]], both with random YouTubers, and with the Tokens Improv group.

** Some episodes were written with a Paul Harvey-type narrator. Paul Rugg, warming up his Paul Harvey impression, would say things like "smack me with a handle" or "I think there's a thumbtack under my fanny!" and, as before, was surprised to see it had been animated as part of the episode.

* In ''{{Gremlins}}'' the script had very little written for the Gremlins, so the voice actors made up a bunch of stuff they thought was funny for them to say; Frank Welker (voice of Stripe and others} said that he just made a bunch of random noises into the microphone. The recording staff thought it was so good they [[ThrowItIn decided to leave it in]] and had the others follow on his example.

* The regular troupe of the ''CarolBurnettShow'' would regularly go OffTheRails, and the resulting ThrowItIn featured the comedians failing to keep a straight face.

* Patrick Warburton improvised when Kronk hummed his own theme song when he was carrying Kuzco in the bag to the waterfall. Disney legal department had Patrick to sign all rights to the humming composition over to them.

* ''The Complete Works of William Shakespeare '' by the Reduced Shakespeare Company basically writes this into the script with places that essentially say "you improvise here", as well as numerous audience participation moments. Every performance ''has'' to invoke this trope.

** Jazz musicians spend HOURS working on improvisation. John Coltrane and Charlie Parker were well-known for extremely long practice sessions, sometimes lasting up to 14 hours.

* In the film of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (as opposed to the TV series) this also comes up in what is probably the film's single genuinely funny scene. Buffy, played by Kristy Swanson, stakes the BigBad's (Rutger Hauer's) second in command, who is being played by Paul Reubens. The scene as written simply required Reuben to say "You're gonna wish you died" and then slide out of shot. Which he did. And then, two seconds later, stood up again with stake still in his chest, putting on a bunch of fake but hilarious "ah, ooh, eee, ah, ooh!" noises and even looking directly at Swanson for one second before going off at it again. The fact the shot was ad-libbed is clearly visible in Swanson and Hauer's faces: Swanson ''turns'' to someone offscreen as if querying what's going on -- and the shot ''cuts'' to Hauer, on whom another camera was already rolling, and who has a vaguely amused look on his face and who ''shrugs'' as if to say "Just roll with it." Which they did, and the shot stayed in. A part of the performance even got into a postcredits sequence.

* Most of the dialogue between Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the "Road To" movies was completely ad libbed, to the point that Dorothy Lamour often found herself unable to get in her lines. In ''The Road To Morocco'' Hope and Crosby share a scene with a live camel which decided to spit in Hope's face. The "attack" and Crosby's resulting ad-lib went into the film.

* Finishing recording the first ever episode of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's ''Not Only, But Also'', the producer decided that since Dud was a pianist, they should record a play-out to go over the end credits. He had the credit roller set up, a grand piano placed in the middle of the set, and instructed Pete and Dud to say goodbye to the audience and then play until the credits ran out. Dud sat at the piano, Pete stood behind him, Dud struck a chord, sang a demi-falsetto "Now is the time to say goodbye..." and proceeded to compose their hit signature tune ''Goodbyeeee!'' on the spot.

** In the final scene, Dr. Strangelove suddenly stands up and screams "I can walk!" delightedly. I've heard that the actor accidentally stood up, forgetting that his character was confined to a wheelchair, and blurted the last line to cover.