Lines you suspect were ad-libs?

[Stanislav]

Conventional sitcoms and dramas generally stick to the script, and ad-libs are not tolerated by many directors. Well, with exceptions (for example, Robin Williams constantly ad-libbed while filming Mork and Mindy -- between his manic personality and cocaine habit at the time, you would have had to use a strait jacket and duct tape to rein him in). Even if ad-libs occur, they are often deliberate gags, or done to cover mistakes, and usually do not survive to the finished episode (but make for good blooper reel fodder).

Nevertheless, every once in a while, I hear a line on a classic show that just seems like it was off-the-cuff. Example: in the "Yankee Doodle Doctor" episode of M*A*S*H, in the O.R. scene of the bogus film when Hawkeye and Trapper are doing Groucho and Harpo. When Alan Alda asks for a scalpel, Wayne Rogers seems to have difficulty opening his trench coat to begin extracting the various "non-scalpel" items within. There is an uncomfortable pause, upon which Alda adds, "Don't get undressed -- just hand me a scalpel." The line (which is pretty weak to begin with) kind of disrupts the whole timing of the scene, coming as it does after that uncomfortable pause, and causing Alda to almost step on his own next line when Rogers finally succeeds in extracting the first item. I suspect the line was not planned, but given as both actors stayed in character and didn't break up at Roger's "wardrobe malfunction," they chose not to reshoot the scene.

Any others of that ilk that you have seen?

 

[Markxxx]

There were a couple on "I Love Lucy," that Desi saves, like Lucy flubs the line about reapolstering the chair and Desi repeats it correctly.

And there were a few times on "The Honeymooners," I can recall Alice saying something like "Ralph you got me so upset, I don't know what I'm saying, Now..." and then Alice says it correctly.

Then there is the time on "Carol Burnett" during a Eunice sketch were Vicki Lawrence is obviously ad libbing stuff like "You're playing hockey with a warped puck," "You got splinters in the windmills of your mind." Eunice responds "That's a new one Mama," and covers her face trying so hard no to laugh.

It appears Tim Conway also did a lot of his own thing as the "old man," and "Mr Tuddball."

 

[Stanislav]

There were a couple on "I Love Lucy," that Desi saves, like Lucy flubs the line about reapolstering the chair and Desi repeats it correctly.

And there were a few times on "The Honeymooners," I can recall Alice saying something like "Ralph you got me so upset, I don't know what I'm saying, Now..." and then Alice says it correctly.

Then there is the time on "Carol Burnett" during a Eunice sketch were Vicki Lawrence is obviously ad libbing stuff like "You're playing hockey with a warped puck," "You got splinters in the windmills of your mind." Eunice responds "That's a new one Mama," and covers her face trying so hard no to laugh.

It appears Tim Conway also did a lot of his own thing as the "old man," and "Mr Tuddball."

All interesting, but the first two examples were cases of 3-camera shows filmed more or less straight through with a live audience. Yes, they sometimes do pickups on those shows, but they are usually reluctant to do so unless it is a major flub. I guarantee that if Lucy or Honeymooners were 1-camera, out-of-sequence shows, those ad-libs would never have made it to the final edit.

As for Carol Burnett, well, that was a variety show, and sketches within such shows (also done with multiple cams and a live audience) are usually not done with a "stick to the script" mentality. (And in the case of Burnett, ad-libbing was not only tolerated, but encouraged.) Seems I also recall Red Skelton doing a lot of ad-libbing in his sketches. But you don't see much of that in single-camera, edited shows.

BTW, I also have read that the Ralph Kramden schtick where he keeps repeating a line with different inflections ("You think I don't KNOW what you're up to, Alice....You THINK I don't know what YOU'RE up to.....YOU think...." etc.) was actually Gleason buying time when he forgot his next line.

 

[nightfly61]

I've always wondered that about infant actors, especially on soap operas. It could be a scene where the adults are happy & getting along & the child is supposed to be acting happy but is throwing a fit-is the child really throwing a fit or is it written into the script?...or the opposite- if the adults are arguing in the scene & one is holding the child & he/she are laughing, how do they get the kid "unhappy" for the scene without "abuse". I know if it gets too extreme they HAVE to edit, but flipping around a week or so ago I saw a guy on a soap holding a kid that was clearly more interested in what was going on off the set & even pointed to the camera & the male actor holding the little one kind of whispered, "yeah, look this way honey" & turned around sideways so the baby wasn't able to completely face the camera or have much to look at.

Which brings up something else I've always wondered...how do they get child actors/actresses to cry? Or especially cry on cue? I know a lot are sound effects if the child's not on camera, but in the George C. Scott movie The New Centurians, the baby that the mother was abusing sure had a lifelike wail & was balling it's eyes out laying on the counter with (make-up) cigarette burn marks on him.

I remember when Rudy on Cosby used to look at the audience alot & so did the Olson Twins on Full House.

I have a feeling a lot of Smokey & the Bandit stuff was ad-libed-same with Cannonball Run.

 

[bpatrick]

There's an "I Love Lucy" episode where some of
Ricky's Cuban friends come to visit. They don't
speak English, and Lucy doesn't speak Spanish,
so Ricky/Desi has to act as interpreter. At one
point he catches himself talking to the Cubans in
English, realizes what he's doing, and says, "Oh, fine!"
After the laugh, he reverts to Spanish. That one was
ad-libbed. And it's said that the bit in the William Holden
episode where Lucy sets fire to her putty nose, then dunks
it in her coffee, was ad-libbed. Writer Madelyn Pugh Davis
denies this.

Speaking of "The Honeymooners," Art Carney would often
ad-lib physical bits. Once he came up to Ralph's apartment,
and Ralph wasn't in (Gleason had gone off-stage to wipe off
some perspiration). So Carney reached into the icebox,
grabbed an orange, and showed us a number of inventive
ways to peel an orange. That went on for about two minutes,
the laugh growing with each new way of peeling, until Gleason
returned and the show went on.

And night before last I know I caught Pat Sajak in
an ad-lib. He introduced a contestant from French
Lick, Indiana, as being from "French Lick, India," wherever
that is. Then he said, "Mahatma Gandhi was from French
Lick, India." Big laugh.

 

[therealjm12]

I've always wondered that about infant actors, especially on soap operas. It could be a scene where the adults are happy & getting along & the child is supposed to be acting happy but is throwing a fit-is the child really throwing a fit or is it written into the script?...

I remember working at an ABC affiliate in master control several years ago, running All My Children. In the scene Palmer Cortland (James Mitchell) was having some nasty words with one of his many wives. She was holding a baby in her arms. During the entire scene the baby was trying to break lose and get to him. It was pretty funny to watch. He was saying all these mean things and the baby had a huge smile on his face and trying to get him to hold him. You could see Mr. Mitchell and the actress (I think Candance Early) were holding back the laughter. Makes you think, out of character he must be a pretty good guy.

 

[LKellerIII]

I know this isn't TV, but it's a good story, if true:

In the film Midnight Cowboy, the Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman (Ratso) characters are crossing a busy New York city street, and a taxi cab stops just short of hitting Hoffman. In character, Hoffman shouts at the car "I'm walkin here!" and exchanges curses with the cab driver.

Apparently there was a mis-cue in the direction, and the actor playing the cab driver came up too fast and had to stop suddenly. So Hoffman improvised the dialogue, as did the "cab driver."The scene was kept in the film because it was a poignant demonstration of human dignity.

They probably shot the scene a number of times before and after that one - but to leave that on the cutting room floor would have been a crime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c412hqucHKw

 

[Corky Marlowe]

I've also heard that Gleason ad-libbed a lot on "The Honeymooners" to let his brain play catch-up, primarily because he wasn't a big fan of rehearsing. (Why am I suddenly thinking of Allen Iverson here? "We talkin' 'bout practice...PRACTICE!")

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

"The Honeymooners" seem to have a number of ad-libs. The one that I immediately think of is where Ralph refuses to pay a rent increase. He, Alice and Norton remain in the apartment with no heat, wearing heavy coats, etc. Alice says she will serve supper. As she is setting the table, she drops the silverware and it thuds onto the table. Apparently Alice (Audrey Meadows) was unable to hold the forks, knives, etc. because she is wearing gloves as a part of the show and she instructs Ralph, "You set the table. You've got fingers in your gloves". It think that was added to the script and it causes Gleason to ad-lib, "How would you like some fingers in your nose?".

 

[bpatrick]

Or Audrey Meadows' first "Honeymooners" episode.
Ralph comes home, his dinner's not on the table;
Alice has forgotten to defrost his steak. "You're
serving ME a frozen steak? YOU'RE serving ME
a frozen steak?" Ralph bellows. Alice, angered, breaks
the frozen steak (actually a piece of balsa), one piece
goes sailing off, she picks up the other, puts it on his
plate, and says, "No, Ralph. I'm not serving you a frozen
steak. I'm serving you HALF a frozen steak." That was
ad-libbed.

Gleason preferred to ad-lib; he felt it kept the material
fresh. Audrey and Art could go anywhere Gleason wanted
to go, but some of the other actors had a rough time of it.
That's one reason you saw George Petrie (the dark-haired guy)
and Frank Marth (the blond) so often; they could be called in
on a few hours' notice, learn the script, and keep up with
Gleason when he started ad-libbing.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Here are my two favorite examples of Tim Conway ad-libbing on The Carol Burnett Show:

The Dentist Sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9T8i4FkNVo

The Siamese Elephants story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp-W5nr9N14

 

[WMC2006]

Then there is the time on "Carol Burnett" during a Eunice sketch were Vicki Lawrence is obviously ad libbing stuff like "You're playing hockey with a warped puck," "You got splinters in the windmills of your mind." Eunice responds "That's a new one Mama," and covers her face trying so hard no to laugh.

Carol Burnett might be where I heard "Your elevator doesn't go all the way to the top" for the first time. ;D

 

[mleach]

During the syndicated run of Mama's Family, I doubt there was much in the way of ad-libs but one scene sure was.

In the April Fools episode, the scene where Vinton Harper ( Ken Berry ) answers the phone in the kitchen which was covered with shaving cream as a joke to play on his mother, Vinton gets cream all over his ear and mouth. Vinton mouths the words, actually if one pays close attention you can very softly hear Ken Berry/Vinton Harper say "sh*t".

 

[nightfly61]

The trampoline scene at the end of the one Brady Bunch episode where they were calling each other by their real names. They were probably all buzzed out of their minds & forgot.

 

[YEKIMI]

One line I know was an ad lib was on the old Sonny & Cher show where Cher played a hooker in some bar in the old west and Sonny was playing an almost passed out drunken customer. Sonny was holding a beer bottle and it slipped out of his hand and landed right on his "family jewels" and he jerked up and grunted. Cher just took one look at him and said "you're no good to me now" and sauntered off. You could see the cast crack up.

 

[nightfly61]

When a prop is set to break or fall apart & it falls apart as it should, then breaks more & startles the actor.