Helping Hands (sometimes known as Hands Through) was a game played on both the British and American editions of Whose Line.
The game was essentially the Theatresports staple of "Double Figures", with one performer having their hands provided by a second and acting out a scene with a third performer. This game was played with props (although not from the first rendition), giving rise to physical comedy as the hands did things slightly different to what the person wanted them to.
The British edition of the game featured different combinations of performers, with one infamous pairing being Josie Lawrence as a flight attendant and Tony Slattery as her hands. While Josie attempted to play the scene straight, Tony spent most of his time putting cakes on the head of a doll. This soon escalated into Tony massaging Josie's breasts, which resulted in Josie biting his fingers.
In the British version, Greg Proops sometimes provided the hands for Ryan Stiles. This created some great moments, despite being half a foot shorter than Ryan. He often couldn’t see what he was doing. Some of the Greg’s best moments as the hands include a playing where Ryan was performing surgery, and Greg managed to take out the heart first, followed by a dolphin, and a duck. He also used a snowshoe as a tennis racket to assault the other props in a game. If anything, his inability to see past Ryan made his performances chaotic and hilarious.
The American edition featured Colin Mochrie providing Ryan Stiles' hands. The focus of the game switched to feeding Ryan various things, which proved difficult when Colin mis-aimed them. Colin is also notorious for throwing things in the air whilst expecting Ryan to catch them in his mouth, shaking up bottles of alcohol, and collecting food that Ryan would not swallow in his hands. Additionally, Ryan found himself eating and drinking things which were not strictly edible. On one occasion, Ryan drank some champagne and was visibly surprised that it was real - at which point Colin drank some as well. In one playing, Colin was meant to pour some coffee and spilled it on his hands. Ryan's reaction was "That's quite hot, apparently" and dialogue after the game dealt with the strangeness of Ryan "burning himself" but having Colin in pain.
After the American version was rebooted for season nine, the game became a bit more frequent and would often involve a special guest.
The first playing of Helping Hands, with all four performers and no props.
Appearances[]
UK Appearances
Series 3: 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15, and 17
Series 4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12
Series 5: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8
Series 6: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10
Series 7: 2, 3, 4, and 5
Series 8: 14
US Appearances
Season 1: 6, 8, 11, 14, 16, and 18
Season 3: 22
Season 4: 8 and 22
Season 5: 1, 4, 7, 9, 13, 27, and 29
Season 6: 1
Season 7: 12, 13, and 25
Season 8: 4, 6, and 9
Season 9: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10
Season 10: 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18, and 20
Season 11: 2, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17
Trivia[]
- The first rendition of this game was done with all four performers, with no props at all.
- The following couple playings brought it down to the usual three players, but still featured no props.