Don’t you just love silly, improvised moments? Wow, see, like that one! I completely improvised that! I am such a pro.
But this article isn’t about me. It’s about the best improvised moments on TV.
“The Simpsons”: The Hammock District
In this episode where Homer gets a new boss played by Albert Brooks, he needs to find a place where he can get hammocks. The boss, Hank Scorpio, rattles off some different hammock stores, which are of course all on third street because that’s the hammock district.
The Animal cracker scene from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” was ad libbed
If you ask a true Buffy fan what nationality monkey animal crackers are, they’ll probably bring up this adorkable moment between Oz and Willow.
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If you’re a “The Office” fan, you’ll recognize this moment.
And now you know that it was completely improvised. In the original script, Michael was supposed to kiss Oscar on the cheek. But Steve Carrell decided to make a more powerful statement… or at least Michael Scott decided too.
All of the actors on “Parks and Recreation” improvised their “drunk off snake juice” reactions.
When the cast of Parks and Rec were all hilariously acting drunk during “The Fight” episode, they were actually trying to make the director laugh.
Amy Poehler was directing the scene and funny moments like when Ron was dancing in Janet Snakehole’s hate were all part of an effort to make Poehler laugh.
This moment on “Supernatural” where Dean screamed his catchphrase
Dean often uses his catchphrase, son of a b-word on the show, but it was this particular moment where he screams it that got it his costar. If you look closely, Jared Padalecki (also known as “Sam”) is trying really hard not to laugh.
This is not a marriage…
This is the world’s worst hangover! This line from Racheal in Friends was completely improvised by Jennifer Aniston.
According to the book Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to “Friends” the original line was: “Stop saying marriage!” which I think we can all agree is significantly less funny.
The “Psych” pineapples
This seven season-long gag was spawned from a moment of improvisation by actor James Roday during the pilot.
On the way to a lakeside cabin, Shawn (James’ character) grabs a pineapple and asks “should I slice this up for the road?” and ever since they’ve hidden a pineapple in every single episode.
Some of The Janitor’s lines on “Scrubs” were improvised
In fact, in the scripts where they were, the line would just read “Whatever Neil says”.
They also only had him interact with J.D. for some very spoliery reasons.
The Memphis barbershop scene on “This is Us.”
In a brief moment during the “Memphis” episode of This Is US , Randall and William get haircuts and talk about their first trip to the barbershop.
It turns out that the entire scene was improvised and that Sterling K. Brown and Ron Cephas Jones were telling true stories of their own first trips to the barbershop.
Chris Pratt improvised some of the funniest “Parks and Recreation” moments
One of the writers called this moment in particular : “the funniest line ever spoken on the show”. He goes on to say that “as a writer, it made me furious.” Jokingly… we hope.
The Killer BOB character on “Twin Peaks”
Frank Silva was an on-set dresser when he accidentally wound up in a shot during the filming Twin Peaks’ pilot episode.
When the co-creator David Lynch saw Silva’s reflection in the mirror, the idea for Killer BOB was born and Silva’s job was upgraded to ‘actor.’
Abed’s Nicholas Cage monologue on “Community”
During the episode: “Introduction to Teaching”, Abed watches the entire filmography of the well-known over-the-top actor for his class about… well, the well-known over-the-top actor. During a presentation about him, he launches into the totally off the wall, totally improvised speech about Mr. Cage.
“The Thanksgiving Song” was totally made up by actor John Roberts
In a top ten list by Vulture , it was revealed that this absolute holiday classic was totally improvised by the matriarch of the Belcher family Linda’s actor, a man named John Roberts. Yes, you read that right.
The infamous “Gibbs slap” on “NCIS” was improvised.
Everyone knows Leroy Jethro Gibbs for his slaps, but did you know that the first slap was completely improvised?
Turns out that actor Mark Harmon who plays Gibbs was so irritated with his co-star Michael Weatherly that he just decided to whack him upside the head.
Stefon’s iconic pose was out of necessity
Writer John Mulaney would come up with things for Stefon actor Bill Hader to say as the show went on , so the City Correspondent’s iconic pose was Hader’s first reaction to seeing these new lines.
This scene from “Game Of Thrones” was improvised.
The scene where Tormund is staring at Brienne as they leave Castle Black, then smiles at her when she looks over. She… gives a less than impressed look.
K.J. Appa hurts his hand on “Riverdale”
When Archie tries to save Cheryl Blossom from an icy death, he smashes through the ice with his hand. At this moment, Archie is less of a man and more of a redheaded ape.
But, this part wasn’t supposed to be in the script. In an interview with TV Line he said about the moment: “That was a gnarly day of shooting, I’ll tell you that much. I wasn’t really punching the ice, but I got a little bit too excited. I was punching a foam mat … [that was] sitting on the ice. … It was cold, so I didn’t really feel it. It wasn’t until 20 minutes after that I realized I broke my hand. I didn’t tell anyone.”
The moment Jason Segal found out Marshall’s dad died on “How I Met Your Mother.”
Jason Segal wanted to be surprised by whatever Alyson Hannigan’s character Lily was about to reveal to him, so he didn’t read any of her dialogue.
His reaction to Marshall’s dad dying is a genuine one and the line, “I’m not ready for this” was completely off-script.
Holly calls for mama on “Breaking Bad”
After kidnapping his daughter and assaulting his wife, Walter White is brought to tears when Holly calls out for her mother over and over again. In the original script, Holly didn’t say a word.
And so, our list of improvised TV moments comes to an end.
Did we forget any of the best ones? Oh, see, I just came up with that right this moment. Darn, I’m good. Maybe I should be an actor.
