Authors was a game played on early episodes of the British edition of Whose Line. Involving all four performers, the audience would determine the name of a story and the performers would then tell it in the style of "their favourite authors". Importantly, the performers would come into the game having decided which authors they would adopt the styles of, rather than having that determined for them as well. Each performer would have approximately two or three sentences before being buzzed out and the next one having to pick up from where the previous one had left off.
This relatively high-brow game was one in which John Sessions and Stephen Fry, both well-read, could excell. As Whose Line began to focus more on broader humour, the game fell into disuse. One other reason may also have been the appearance of Tony Slattery, who frequently adopted literary styles such as "The disembodied head which advertises 'The Sun'" or, in one appearance, "The rhyming couplets of Rupert Bear". The latter style gave the memorable line "Barbara Cartland, witch and hag/Too much makeup, fascist bag", to which Clive Anderson responded by announcing that Tony had earned a libel suit as well as points, an early salvo in the battles between Tony and Clive (or Tony and the forces of decency).
Other than Tony, Paul Merton and Greg Proops were also known to use off the wall authors styles.
Appearances[]
UK Appearances
Series 1: All Episodes excluding Compilations
Series 2: Episode 1-7, Episodes 9-15
Series 3: 1, 11, 13, and 17.
Series 4: 6
Series 5: 3 and 7