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Many examples of [[Throw It In]] are because of this, with the actor just goofing around with the script in between takes. It can also be used to produce [[Enforced Method Acting]], if one actor is turned loose to improvise in order to get a realistic reaction from another actor.
One way to see where a show or movie tends to use this is when there are [[Hilarious Outtakes]] and a certain line changes depending on the take that was used.
Compare [[Harpo Does Something Funny]] where the script has a gap left with only the instruction "[actor] does something funny here."
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* [[Charlie Chaplin]] was renowned - and hated by his crew - for this. He would often begin the shoot with no script, instead making up and trying stuff on the fly until something worked... Which some days, wouldn't happen. He also had a bad temper which showed when he got frustrated not being able to find just the right gag.
** Of course, Charlie Chaplin is still Charlie Chaplin. There's a set-piece gag in ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' where Chaplin's barber shaves a customer in time with the (frighteningly fast) Hungarian dance on the radio. The intention was to do the shave repeatedly and then patch it together with the music in editing. Chaplin had the music playing on-set, though. Result: The shave was filmed perfect in one take. The first one.
* [[Buster Keaton]] generally worked from an outline instead of a complete script, and was famous for playing baseball with his crew while waiting for inspiration to strike.
** In ''Three Ages'', Buster attempts to jump from one rooftop to another using an improvised springboard and doesn't quite make it. Instead of reshooting they kept the fall and created a sequence involving multiple awnings, a drainpipe and a firefighters' pole to get the character to ground level in one piece.
* Nick Frost ad-libs during the scene in ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'', where Ed describes the pub regulars in an effort to cheer Shaun up. There are several different takes of the scene where he describes the old woman as an ex-pornstar, all apparently unscripted. Simon Pegg's laughter is genuine as a result of this.
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** When Sellers is doing the aforementioned evil hand scene, you can see the guy who plays the Russian ambassador trying his hardest not to burst into fits of laughter, complete with shaking and much biting of the lip.
** In the final scene, Dr. Strangelove suddenly stands up and screams "I can walk!" delightedly. Supposedly, Sellers forgot that Strangelove was supposed to be a cripple, and shouted out the line to cover his mistake.
** The most spectacular Sellers example might be ''[[The Party]]'', which was mostly improvised from an outline provided to him and the other actors with the director's help.
** In ''[[Being There]]'', his response to the television producer's declaration of how many people will be watching him and the producer's reaction are also ad libs.
* Most of [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|R. Lee Ermey's dialogue]] in ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' was improvised, thus making him one of the very, very few actors allowed to go off-script in a Kubrick film. [[Urban Legend|Allegedly]], after the first take featuring the line "I'll bet you're the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around!" Kubrick approached Ermey and asked what the term meant. Ermey explained. Kubrick's reply was something to the effect of "Oh. Do some more of that."
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* In ''[[Gremlins]]'' the script had very little written for the Gremlins, so the voice actors made up a bunch of stuff they thought was funny for them to say; Frank Welker (voice of Stripe and others) said that he just made a bunch of random noises into the microphone. The recording staff thought it was so good they [[Throw It In|decided to leave it in]] and had the others follow on his example.
* In ''[[Mars Attacks!]]'' no dialogue was written for the Martians so Frank Welker made up his own language for them.
* In ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', the whole anecdote about the girl and the barn was ad libbed by Matt Damon.
* In ''[[Romy and Michele's High School Reunion]]'', Lisa Kudrow made up the entire glue formula on the spot.
{{quote|Um, well, ordinarily when you make glue first you need to thermoset your resin and then after it cools you have to mix in an epoxide, which is really just a fancy-schmancy name for any simple oxygenated adhesive, right? And then I thought maybe, just maybe, you could raise the viscosity by adding a complex glucose derivative during the emulsification process and it turns out I was right. }}
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* The scripts of [[The Mighty Boosh]] are only loosely written, usually only specifying a few things the actors need to say to further the plot, with much of the rest being improvised. The performers often change their lines between takes to keep their delivery fresh. This is even more the case with the original radio show which was less rehearsed than the TV show.
* ''Outnumbered'', a British sitcom about life with three kids, uses a fair amount of improvisation. It produces remarkably realistic acting from the child actors, as they're allowed and encouraged to say things in their own words.
* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' easily popularized the knowledge of improv games to general audiences.
** Evidently, the same can be said of ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', who had quite a few cast members translate between the two shows. The "Drew Live" episodes were at least partially improvised.
** As well as its spiritual successors ''Drew Carey's Green Screen Show'' and ''Improv-A-Ganza''.
* ''[[Mock the Week]]'', who was created by the same people as ''Whose Line'', mixes this with a satirical [[Panel Show]].
* The night-time soap opera ''[[Knots Landing]]'' had an entire episode that was improvised by all the actors. The "script" for the episode merely gave the actors guidelines as to what should have happened by the time the episode was over, but in no way limited the actors on how they were supposed to accomplish their character's agenda.
* In the US version of ''[[The Office]]'', all the actors are given complete scripts, but are allowed to improvise as they go along. The absolute [[Crowning Moment of Funny|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 [[
{{quote|'''Jenna Fischer''': "Those looks of shock/giddiness/confusion on our faces are real. We were all on the edge of our seats wondering what would happen next. I can't believe we held it together for as long as we did. I'm not sure we've ever laughed so hard on set."}}
* When auditioning for ''[[Cheers]]'', John Ratzenberger originally read for the role of Norm. After badly botching his audition, he asked the producers if the show included a bar know-it-all, and proceeded to wander around the room ad-libbing lines that might be appropriate for such a character. A week later, he was called back and offered the newly-written role of [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All|Cliff]].
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== Music ==
* Improvisation happens a lot in the music world, especially jazz. Improvisations in the world of jazz music are varied, depending on the subgenre. Swing musicians usually just "riffed" on the melody, while the bebop musicians played extended solos on the chord changes. Miles Davis edited hours of recordings of his musicians loose improvisations to create "Bitches Brew". Ornette Coleman pioneered free jazz, improvisation using no chord changes at all. And the genre continues...
** Jazz musicians spend HOURS working on improvisation. John Coltrane and [[Charlie Parker]] were well-known for extremely long practice sessions, sometimes lasting up to 14 hours.
** One of the landmarks in jazz improvisation came from saxophonist Coleman Hawkins's recording of Johnny Green's "Body and Soul" in 1939. Instead of playing the melody and then soloing, Hawkins stated the melody for about 4 bars and went on a long, intricate exploration of the chord changes for the rest of the verse and another one. Disliked by the general public at the time, Hawkins' solo is considered an evolutionary leap and a defining factor in modern jazz improvisation.
* In baroque and classical concertos there is a section called a cadenza, where the soloist goes on an unaccompanied flight of fancy, before leading the orchestra in to finish the cadenza. It used to be customary to improvise these, but in modern times, cadenzas are almost always written out beforehand, and in romantic concertos, the composer often writes the cadenza as well.
* Organists are expected to be able to improvise, and improvisation is a component of high-level exams in most conservatories.
* Blues, rock and to a lesser degree [[Heavy Metal]] are some other genres that tend to feature a lot of instrumental improvisation. Like in jazz, improvisation in these genres is usually based on the "pentatonic blues scale".
* George Gershwin found out about his being booked to write and perform a new piece for an upcoming concert only three weeks before the concert was supposed to go on. The score he turned in for "Rhapsody in Blue," which he'd composed in those three weeks, had blank spaces where his piano solos were supposed to go, with the notation "Wait For Nod" to tell the conductor when to bring the rest of the orchestra back in.
* The Frogs' songs are often improvisation heavy, and sometimes this will include clearly flubbing a lyric, then quickly trying to find a way to make it still work, often while in character. One particularly obvious case of this is the following passage of "I'm Hungry": "You can't eat food with a bent throat! ''YOU'' try fooding eat - You eat... Yeah, ''you'' eat all right! I ''watch'' you eat! I never get no food...."
* In the music video for New Found Glory's cover of "Kiss Me", one of the band members hands a kid with a cape his guitar during the solo. The kid, who was one of the many extras that were recruited to simply run around the set in a crazed manner, just happened to be right in front of the band at that instant and froze in confusion, so he was given the guitar in an improvised moment.
* 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.
* The acoustic guitar solo at the start of "And You and I" by Yes was an unplanned improv. They were gearing up to start recording the track, and Steve Howe was doodling and checking the tuning on his guitar. Jon Anderson thought it sounded "beautiful" and signalled to Eddie Offord to start recording. The whole thing [[Throw It In|made it into the album mix]], including Eddie responding "OK" to Jon's signal after he starts the tape.
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== Radio ==
* BBC radio show ''[[The Masterson Inheritance]]'' is improvised from a set of plot elements given by the audience. (It shares a few cast members with ''Whose Line...'')
* Central to the legend -- if not always the actual performance -- of comedy team [[Bob and Ray|Bob & Ray]]. Their act began literally as two guys batting it around on-air, and never stopped sounding like it, regardless of an increasing reliance on scripts as their performance workload got heavier.
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* Formalised in [[Theatresports]]
* ''The Complete Works of William Shakespeare '' by the [[Reduced Shakespeare Company]] 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.
* [[Evelyn Evelyn]]: The "Ask Evelyn Evelyn" bit of the stage show. The sisters give their answers one word at a time, trying to form a full sentence by following up on each other's words... which mostly involves Amanda and Jason trying to think of words that the other could not possibly follow up on.
* Many comedic theatre troupes are known for developing sketches from improvisation. Some of the prominent ones are:
** Second City - Chicago, Toronto, other locations of varying permanence
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** Improv Asylum - Boston
** The Comedy Store Players- London. Many of the early cast of ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'', started off there, and the BBC radio show ''The Masterson Inheritance'' is basically one long Players sketch per episode.
* Australian comedy team [[The Umbilical Brothers]]. A few of their routines are improvised, including suggestions from the audience.
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== Other ==
* [[Improv Everywhere]]. One of the more famous demonstrations of improv, it's a (now ''huge'') [{{[http|//improveverywhere.com/ organization of people}} who get together and "cause scenes" (that are all perfectly legal), with interactions of shocked bystanders being completely improvised.
* Literally every major city (at least, in America) usually has an improv comedy show. ''Second City'' has very much popularized the art that lead to wider exposure on ''Whose Line''.
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