History Main / Improv

* Creator/JohnRhysDavies in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Many of his lines were this, including the one during the drinking game in ''Two Towers'' when he says that "It's the Dwarves that go swimming with little hairy women".

* In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', all the actors are given complete scripts, but are allowed to improvise as they go along. The absolute [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments greatest adlib in the series]] is the kiss between Michael and Oscar, in Michael's failed attempt to show how tolerant he is of Oscar's [[StraightGay homosexuality]].

* In a ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' commentary after the ''StarWars'' parodies, Seth Green explains that they just let Breckin Meyer ramble for hours before they picked out the best bits for the Boba Fett segments.

* October Faction, an offshoot of Music/BlackFlag and other musicians associated with the SST label, released an entirely improvised live performance as their first album. The second album was studio material, but according to ex-member Tom Troccoli, was still improvised in an odd way: each band member improvised alone in the studio without hearing what the other musicians played until recording started.

* Ella Fitzgerald was performing "Mack the Knife" for her live Berlin album, but forgot all the words after the first verse. She quickly improvised new lines and a scat solo, keeping up perfectly with the rhythm section. The final cut was so good that she got a Grammy for it.

* Happens often on the [=AdamTheAlien=] [[https://www.youtube.com/user/AdamTheAlien YouTube channel]], both with random {{YouTube}}rs, and with the Tokens Improv group. Often involving improvised a capella music.

* In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', all the actors are given complete scripts, but are allowed to improvise as they go along. The absolute [[CrowningMomentOfFunny greatest adlib in the series]] is the kiss between Michael and Oscar, in Michael's failed attempt to show how tolerant he is of Oscar's [[StraightGay homosexuality]].

* Director Creator/JohnCassavetes's films were almost fully improvised, which was a revolutionary form of film making at the time. In fact, when his second version of his 1957 debut ''Shadows'' was released two years later, over half the footage is similar scenes that have completely different dialog. Cassavetes would continue to work in this heavily improvisational framework throughout his career as a director.

* Jimmy Smits supposedly left ''NYPDBlue'' because David Milch insisted on the actors often improvising scenes without a script at all.

* ''DontThinkTwice'', being a film about an improv troupe, naturally focuses on improv. The bonus features focus on the difficulty of keeping the improv scenes fresh, while still being consistent enough for the camera.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' is famous for blurring the line between ad libs and scripted dialogue, with nearly half the dialogue cited as ad libs by the cast. Examples include the famous "Twinkie" scene, Peter's response of "so do I" when Egon says he blames himself for not testing their proton packs, and Egon's response of "that would have worked if you hadn't stopped me" when Peter refers to a NoodleIncident involving Egon trying to drill a hole in his head. Creator/SigourneyWeaver's ad libs include comparing Peter to "a game show host" (the original line was a used-car salesmen, but she observed that he actually bounces around like a game show host), and much of Creator/RickMoranis's dialogue as Louis welcomes people to his party is improvised.

* Another famous example of improv is the {{Mockumentary}} ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap''. The movie had no script; the actors simply got into character and improved for hours. Rob Reiner shot several hours of footage which was distilled down into the movie itself; hours of outtakes have been included on the various DVD sets.

* In the German show {{Schillerstrasse}}, ''everything'' is improved. Really: the actors knows only the beginning of the episode, and they receive instructions via headphones. It was so popular that [[FollowTheLeader it spawned similar shows in other countries.]]

* When Creator/NeilPatrickHarris hosted the 2009 Tony Awards, he closed the ceremony by singing a song (to the tune of [[Theatre/WestSideStory "Tonight"]] and [[Theatre/GuysAndDolls "Luck Be a Lady"]]), the lyrics of which were just one variation based on the winners that had just been revealed that night. The lyricists (Mark Shaiman and Scott Wittman) had come up with lyrics for several possible winning scenarios, although they weren't prepared for certain scenarios like ''BillyElliot'' winning Best Musical, but Elton John losing Best Original Score, and thus were tweaking the lyrics right up until the song went on. Neil Patrick Harris, being CrazyAwesome, pulled it off with aplomb, even throwing in an odd little bit of PaintingTheMedium halfway through ("Credits? That's not gonna stop me!").

* Most of the dialogue between Music/BingCrosby and Creator/BobHope in the ''Film/RoadTo'' 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 [[SuperSpit to spit]] in Hope's face. The "attack" and Crosby's resulting ad-lib went into the film.

* ''The Complete Works of William Shakespeare '' by the ReducedShakespeareCompany 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.

* Paul Rugg's audition to provide the voice of {{Freakazoid}} went way, ''way'' off-script. Nearly all of it was then animated as part of the first episode, "Dance of Doom."

* As ''Series/DoctorWho'' actor Creator/TomBaker was notorious for frequently going off-script during his tenure as the Fourth Doctor, Creator/BigFinish decided to roll with it when they got to him reprise his iconic role in''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', and has intentionally left a blank space the scripts every once in a while, to allow Tom to improvise.

* As ''Series/DoctorWho'' actor Creator/TomBaker was notorious for frequently going off-script during his tenure as the Fourth Doctor,, Creator/BigFinish decided to roll with it when they got to him reprise his iconic role in''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', and has intentionally left a blank space the scripts every once in a while, to allow Tom to improvise.

* It is rumored, but not true, that Creator/JohannSebastianBach improvised most of his fugal works. Bach was a genius improviser, able to improvise three-part fugues, and once did so on command for Frederick the Great, but while a few of his fugues might be written-out improvisations, most of them were through-composed.

** The Comedy Store Players- London. Many of the early cast of the British version of ''WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' started off there, and the BBC radio show ''The Masterson Inheritance'' is basically one long Players sketch per episode.

* Most of the Constructicon's dialogue during their first appearance in ''TransformersAnimated'' was ad libbed by their voice-actors, as was a lot of other things, including Blitzwing's German accent the entirety of TheStinger in the season two finale.

* Creator/RayCharles found himself with time to fill at the end of a 1958 performance and told his band and the Raelettes "Listen, I'm going to fool around and y'all just follow me." The result was "What'd I Say," which became Ray's first gold record after he took it into the studio in 1959.