'Okay, Mariner.' said Boimler, in a slightly irritated tone, as he arrived outside the holodeck. 'What have you guys been doing?'

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you!' Mariner replied from within the entrance, where Tendi and Rutherford were working on the controls of the holodeck arch.

'Try me!'

'Well, after what happened with Rutherford's old memories nearly overwhelming him, Tendi and Doc T'ana thought it would be a good idea, as part of his rehabilitation, for him to help us create a new holoprogram, based on a pre warp Earth entertainment show'

'What kind of show?'

'Improvisational comedy'

Noticing the puzzled look on Boimler's face, Rutherford turned away from the panel, where he and Tendi were running their final checks. 'According to the historical archives, there was a publicly broadcast show in the late 20th Century, called Whose Line is it Anyway, where entertainers would improvise comedy scenes and songs on the spot, in front of an audience.'

'Wait a minute.' said Boimler anxiously, as Rutherford resumed his checking. 'Are you planning to recreate this show?'

'Well, just one episode' said Tendi. 'Could be fun!'

'Are you sure?'

'Relax, Boims,' sighed Mariner. 'What's the worst that can happen!'

'Do you really expect me to answer that?'

'Okay, guys, were ready!' Rutherford called from the arch. 'Computer, load Whose Line Holoshow 001 setting ABC.

As Boimler and the others passed through the arch, the yellow on black holo grid was instantly replaced with a medium sized broadcast studio. As the quartet walked into the holodeck, the arch disappeared behind them.

At the far end was a multicoloured wall, with a raised area in front of it. At the back of this were four chairs, with wooden circular tables in front of the gaps, located between two square wooden columns. In front of the chairs and tables was a clear space leading to a pair of steps, matched on either side, and covered with purple carpet. In front of this was a tiled area. On the right was a piano and a selection of musical instruments and, slightly further back, a horizontally draped green cloth, behind a primitive broadcast camera on a stand, all on a tiled floor.

Next to the other short step was a wooden box like desk, with a pink neon light along the edge of the rectangular cut tout at the front, with rows of seating behind it. As the four looked round, they noticed two further banks of seating, with a narrow set of stairs where the arch was, with two more cameras on stands, on tiled flooring in front of the seating. Above the clear centre area, the ceiling held a constellation of tube shaped lamps, and a number of angled monitors, positioned so they could be viewed by people in the seats.

'Okay' said Mariner, who was rubbing her hands together. 'That's the setting done! Let's take our seats, before we bring people in!'

Once they were seated, in the front row of the desk side of the stairs, Rutherford checked his PADD, and then looked up. 'Computer, please provide a suitable, accurately responsive audience, plus appropriate cast and crew.'

Immediately, the empty seats were full of happy, smily people, and the cameras had operators standing behind them. Sitting on the chairs at the back were what Boimler assumed to be the performers. At the extreme left was a young to middle aged African American man, dressed in light brown polo shirt, black trousers and brown shoes. In the next chair sat a cheery looking blonde woman in a green jumper, navy slacks and black pumps. Beside her was an older man with thinning brown hair, wearing a pale blue short sleeve business shirt, brown trousers and black leather shoes. In the right hand chair was a taller, middle aged man, wearing a blue checked shirt, faded jeans and brown and white spats.. Behind the desk was a stout, balding man, with spectacles, wearing a grey suit and tie, with blue shirt.

'Okay folks.' said a voice from the ceiling. 'Please start cheering, we are about to start recording!'

As the audience began cheering, the monitors began showing footage from a camera, apparently zooming towards the performers from upper right, while a speaker began playing the show's intro music. When the music stopped, the man at the desk started speaking, while the monitors showed each performer in turn, who smiled at the camera, before returning to the host.

'Good evening everybody, and welcome to Whose Line Is It Anyway? On tonight's show, Reduce speed, Wayne Brady, Dangerous curve, Kathy Greenwood, Soft shoulders, Colin Mochrie, Slippery when wet, Ryan Stiles, and I'm your host, Drew Carey. Come on, let's have some fun!

When the cheering subsided, Drew looked at the far camera and said 'Welcome to Whose Line is it Anyway, the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter, like airbrakes on a moon rocket!.

This led to laughter from many people in the audience, prompting Boimler to turn to Mariner.

'People actually watched this?'

'Oh yeah!'

NOTES:

This story takes place immediately after the events of the Lower Decks episode Reflections.

Contestant intros from US Season 4 episode 29.