1.
In Little 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 from Dead To Me Season 1 where Judy and Jen talk about Steve’s penis was improvised. “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 creator Liz Feldman said. “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!” from Brooklyn Nine-Nine — after he correctly guesses why Amy is late — was unscripted. It was such a different moment from the usually calm, cool, and collected character that it quickly became beloved.
5.
The funny, tiny moment when Tom Hanks accidentally closed the door on his balloons (while also carrying a bag of fish that narrowly avoids meeting the same fate) in You’ve Got Mail wasn’t scripted – it happened completely 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 on New Girl was improvised. 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 from New Girl. The original script said, “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 adorable Crazy Stupid Love scene where Hannah sleeps over at Jacob’s — without the two actually sleeping together — was improvised. 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.
In Abbott Elementary, Sheryl Lee Ralph improvised the 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,” she told EW.
11.
Robin Williams improvised the 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 in Mrs. Doubtfire.
12.
In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, many of 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.
In Don’t Look Up, Ariana Grande improvised many of her lines. Director Adam McKay said she 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 in Don’t Look Up, Jonah Hill improvised the 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 Bautista improvised the hilarious “why is Gamora” line in Avengers: Infinity War, in the memorable scene where the Guardians meet Tony, Peter, and Dr. Strange.
18.
In The Avengers, the reason Tony Stark offers Bruce Banner a blueberry is that Robert Downey Jr. kept randomly bringing snacks to set and eating them during scenes. He just improvised offering Steve one.
19.
Billy Crystal improvised the oft-quoted part in When Harry Met Sally when 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 in The Princess Bride. This includes one of his most famous lines about the “MLT.”
21.
In The Gray Man, Suzanne replying “I will gladly punch you in the dick” to Lloyd was improvised by Jessica Henwick. “I got a couple of zingers in there,” Henwick said.
22.
In Season 3 of Stranger Things, Joseph Quinn improvised Eddie’s line to Steve, “Don’t ya, big boy.”
23.
This is a tiny Stranger Things moment, 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.
In The Adam Project, Ryan Reynolds improvised many 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 in Free Guy, and many didn’t make it in. One that did was 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 Cena improvised Peacemaker’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 are outtakes where Cena lists even more people, if you’re interested.
28.
Catherine O’Hara improvised pronouncing “baby” in the strange way she did on Schitt’s Creek, which became a running gag on the show. “I said ‘bebe’ as a joke or a mistake the first time,” she told Vulture. “Once I hit on ‘bebe’ and got a laugh from the crew, that was it.”
29.
In Star 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 Ford improvised the awkward “how are you” moment — and it’s one of the funniest moments in the film.
30.
While Oliver and Charles are following Mabel in Only Murders in the Building, they start making jokes about getting STIs in Long Island. Oliver then launches into a song about it — this was improvised by Martin Short.
31.
Many of Faye’s one-liners in Euphoria were improvised by 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 Garfield improvised the hilariously awkward “I love you guys” line that he tells the other two Spider-Men in No Way Home.
34.
In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Nicolas Cage improvised screaming, “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.
In Loki, Tom Hiddleston improvised the moment when he threw down his drink and yelled “another!” as a funny nod to a similar improvised moment in Thor.
37.
And finally, one of my favorite TV lines of all time is improvised — it’s Chris Pratt’s line about “network connectivity problems” in Parks and Recreation.
What’s your favorite improvised line or line that an actor suggested be added to a script? Let us know in the comments!
