" Carpe dentum ! Seize the teeth ! "
1.InLittle Miss Sunshine, there’s a hilarious scene where a cop pulls over the Hoovers and finds porn magazines Edwin bought earlier in the film, leading Richard to awkwardly act like they belong to him. In a funny little moment, he murmurs “sweet…sweetness” while the cop looks through the magazine. This was an ad-lib that the director liked and kept in.
2.This funny scene fromDead To MeSeason 1 where Judy and Jen talk about Steve’s peniswasimprovised. “I feel like in one take they didn’t quite get a line right, but then they ended up starting to talk about his penis. It was so funny and not something I would ever have written, you know?” Series creatorLiz Feldmansaid. “They just riffed on his penis and it was so funny because it felt so real. It felt like two friends. I feel like that was the first time that it really landed.” It actually prompted them to add more improv into the show.
3.Captain Holt’s “Hot damn!” fromBrooklyn Nine-Nine— after he correctly guesses why Amy is late—wasunscripted. It was such a different moment from the usually calm, cool, and collected character that it quickly became beloved.
4.According to Miffy Englefield, who played Sophie inThe Holiday,the Mr. Nakin-Head scenewasmostly improvised.Jude Law, in particular, improvised the part where Graham pretends to have a bad reaction to smoking, then tells his daughters that smoking is bad.
5.The funny, tiny moment whenTom Hanksaccidentally closed the door on his balloons (while also carrying a bag of fish that narrowly avoids meeting the same fate) inYou’ve Got Mailwasn’t scripted – ithappenedcompletely by accident. Running with it, Hanks opened the door and exclaimed, “Good thing it wasn’t the fish!”
6.Lamorne Morris’s Theodore K Mullins monologue onNew Girlwasimprovised. In this case, the writers actually came to Morris and asked if he had any voices. “I don’t know why, I started just thinking over-the-top, dramatic—like if Tyler Perry were to shoot a movie before he was ‘Tyler Perry,’ what those scenes would be.” During the “Secrets” episode, director David Wain told him to improvise, and Morris ran with the voice. It ended up being one of Winston’s most memorable early scenes.
7.This is a much smaller moment, but Jake Johnson added to the classic “gave you cookie, got me cookie” scene fromNew Girl.The original scriptsaid, “You gave me a cookie, so I got you a cookie! Gave-me-cookie, got-you-cookie! Okay? We’re even!” Johnson kept repeating the words and getting more and more upset, making it even more memorable, and many people’s favorite Nick and Schmidt scene.
8.Much of the hilarious and adorableCrazy Stupid Lovescene where Hannah sleeps over at Jacob’s — without the two actually sleeping together —wasimprovised. Writer Dan Fogelman called it his favorite scene, though at the time, he was pissed they were adding things in. “I thought everyone had lost their minds and that none of it would be in the movie — I left set early, irritated.” However, he later changed his tune. “I’m a dope.”
9.InAbbott Elementary,Sheryl Lee Ralphimprovisedthe line “sweet baby Jesus and the grown one, too!” It’s actually something she says with a friend of hers. “Norman and I will be up there working on something, and I’ll say, ‘Oh. Sweet Baby Jesus,’ and he says, ‘And the grown one too.’ It’s just something we always say, and when I was given the opportunity, I just said it,” Ralph said.
10.Janelle James also improvised her hilarious zombie line in the show. “I couldn’t believe they kept it. And they did. And it was hilarious, so I’m so happy,” shetoldEW.
11.Robin Williamsimprovisedthe line “Carpe Dentum! Seize the teeth!” when Mrs. Doubtfire’s teeth fall into her wine and she tries to fish them out with a fork inMrs. Doubtfire.
12.InHow to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,manyof Andie’s idiosyncrasies in the poker scene were just done in the moment by Kate Hudson. “She could have played that rather seriously, but she just went to town with it,” said director Donald Petrie. “It’s subtle stuff, but you see it all.” This includes Andie making Ben blow his nose in front of everyone…
13….Andie crying over the “love fern” dying…
14….And Andie throwing the vegetables on the veggie plate.
15.InDon’t Look Up, Ariana Grande improvised many of her lines. Director Adam McKaysaidshe added this line in the concert scene with Kid Cudi. “That was her riffing on the first scratch track of the melody, and the second I heard it, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s going in the movie.'” It actually became one of his favorite scenes. “You have pretty much the biggest pop star in the world singing beautifully, ‘we’re all gonna die.’ Every time I see it, it’s just this hilarious cognitive dissonance.”
16.Also inDon’t Look Up,Jonah Hillimprovisedthe line in the post-credits scene where his character says, “I’m the last man on Earth…don’t forget to like and subscribe.” McKay shot the scene in only one take, and thought Hill nailed it on the first try.
17.Dave Bautistaimprovisedthe hilarious “why is Gamora” line inAvengers: Infinity War,in the memorable scene where the Guardians meet Tony, Peter, and Dr. Strange.
18.InThe Avengers, the reason Tony Stark offers Bruce Banner a blueberry is that Robert Downey Jr. kept randomlybringing snacksto set and eating them during scenes. He just improvised offering Steve one.
19.Billy Crystalimprovisedthe oft-quoted part inWhen Harry Met Sallywhen he talks about pecan pie in a silly voice. Meg Ryan went with it — but not before laughing and looking off-camera, which you can see in the final scene.
20.Cary Elwes wrote in his book that Billy Crystal improvised a ton inThe Princess Bride.This includes one of his most famous lines about the “MLT.”
21.InThe Gray Man,Suzanne replying “I will gladly punch you in the dick” to Lloyd wasimprovisedby Jessica Henwick. “I got a couple of zingers in there," Henwick said.
22.In Season 3 ofStranger Things, Joseph QuinnimprovisedEddie’s line to Steve, “Don’t ya, big boy.”
23.This is a tinyStranger Thingsmoment, but I find it hilarious. In the second season, Murray dropping his eggs and looking at Jonathan to say “oops” actually happened in the moment — it wasn’t in the script, and actor Brett Gelman just went with it. If you watch the clip, you can actually see Natalia Dyer trying not to laugh.
24.InThe Adam Project,Ryan Reynoldsimprovisedmany of the film’s funny lines when his character Adam meets his younger self. Like this one about his younger self having trouble understanding what “classified” means…
25….and his wound “farting” when he coughs.
26.Taika Waititi improvised a ton of his lines inFree Guy,and many didn’t make it in. One thatdidwas his line about “Albuquerque Boiled Turkey.” Screenwriter Matt Lieberman said, “There are 80 percent of his lines that are on a cutting room floor somewhere.”
27.John CenaimprovisedPeacemaker’s rant about who Economos could’ve framed instead of his dad in Peacemaker. Steve Agee, who plays John Economos, said the original script mentioned Ariana Grande and maybe one other person, but that the director, James Gunn, told Cena to just start listing off people. There areouttakeswhere Cena lists even more people, if you’re interested.
28.Catherine O’Haraimprovisedpronouncing “baby” in the strange way she did onSchitt’s Creek, which became a running gag on the show. “I said ‘bebe’ as a joke or a mistake the first time,” shetoldVulture. “Once I hit on ‘bebe’ and got a laugh from the crew, that was it.”
29.InStar Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,when Han Solo and Luke break in to save Leia and Han is pretending to be a stormtrooper, Harrison Fordimprovisedthe awkward “how are you” moment — and it’s one of the funniest moments in the film.
30.While Oliver and Charles are following Mabel inOnly Murders in the Building, they start making jokes about getting STIs in Long Island. Oliver then launches into a song about it — this wasimprovised byMartin Short.
31.Many of Faye’s one-liners inEuphoriawereimprovisedby Chloe Cherry, including “you’re probably fucking eating that ginger’s ass”…
32….And when she asks Cal if he and Nate “fuck people together.”
33.Andrew Garfieldimprovisedthe hilariously awkward “I love you guys” line that he tells the other two Spider-Men inNo Way Home.
34.InThe Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,Nicolas Cageimprovisedscreaming, “Nic fuckiiiiiiiiing-ow-wow Cage!” Writer-director Tom Gormican recalled, “We call action on this thing, and we’re watching the scene go down. I have no idea what’s going to happen. He just does it. We call cut and take off the headphones, and Nic gets up, walks over to the monitors where we’re sitting, 20 feet away, and he looks at us, and goes, ‘I wanted it to be transcendent!'”
35.InLoki,Tom Hiddlestonimprovisedthe moment when he threw down his drink and yelled “another!” as a funny nod to a similar improvised moment inThor.
36.One last Marvel one — inBlack Panther,“Hey, Auntie"was an improvised linefrom Michael B. Jordan.
37.And finally, one of my favorite TV lines of all timeisimprovised — it’s Chris Pratt’s line about “network connectivity problems” inParks and Recreation.
