I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen a thread for it yet. It’s become regular viewing in our household, and it’s one of the few shows that consistently makes me laugh out loud.
For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a “game show” featuring three funny contestants (mostly stand-up and improv comedians, with a few actors and musicians thrown in there) and hosted by Chris Hardwick (who developed it with Tom Lennon and Ben Gurant). The weirder segments of the internet are the launching points for various games, the goals of which are really just to make people laugh.
Like most ventures of this type, it’s a bit hit-and-miss, mostly dependent on the guests on any particular night. It’s best when you get three comedians who know each other or have worked together in the past, as it essentially just turns into each person trying to make the other comedians crack up. For example, last Thursday the guests were Patton Oswalt, Blaine Kapatch, and Brian Posehn. They’ve all done stand-up together in various permutations over the years, and are friends, so they played off each other really, really well.
Anyway, count me as a fan, and I hope it sticks around for a while.
They were in the same D&D group for two years! Really! Or not. Could have been a joke.
It almost always works, although I have to believe that the comedians are given the some clips ahead of time, especially the 60-second quip-offs. Every once in a while you can see them reading a “quip” off their screens. The Internet is such a sinkhole of weirdness that adding their jokes is often an anticlimax. It absolutely destroys Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, which my wife made me listen to recently. You can’t do it without mean snark.
TDS, Colbert and @midnight back-to-back-to-back four nights a week. If Comedy Central adds a fourth must-see show, I’m in big trouble.
It depends. If I haven’t listened to the nerdist podcast yet and I like at least one of the comedians, I’ll watch it. But if I don’t like or know any of them or I’ve already had a dose of Hardwick in the last 24ish hours, I give it a pass.
I got into this show in a big way a couple of weeks ago. Not unlike a good MPSIMS thread, it’s a good place to turn to watch funny people make jokes about something ridiculous from the internet. Except of course on the show it’s a group of professional comedians and writers and actors, and it’s that much more fun when you see them crack each other up.
I’ve heard both Hardwick and Posehn talk about their D&D group in the past. I think that would be a great show in and of itself - just put a couple of cameras on that crowd playing D&D for a couple of hours.
I, too, like the arbitrary points. Hardwick has said that he modeled @midnight after British shows like Q.I., where the “game show” is just a conceit. It’s really about funny people being funny. Apparently, they had to be a bit more “real” with the points on @midnight because people they were pitching the show to just didn’t get how a game show would work if the points weren’t awarded fairly.
I see Doug Benson was on again last night. How someone that consistently high can be that consistently funny is beyond me, but I love watching him.
I’m a fan. Did you see Chris Jericho from the WWE on a month or two ago? I was shocked at how funny he way.
I was at a bar a few weeks ago, and people were playing cornhole. Someone made a big throw, put his arms in the air, and yelled “Points!” I’m not sure anyone else in the room got it, but I laughed.
Hmm, I’m a big fan of the irreverent quiz shows staring A- through D-list stars from the UK. Always wondered how they’d do in the US. Will have to check it out!
It’s a much watch for me too. I agree some of it has got to be scripted (but actually funny) but then they’ll just riff on something and that’s when it’s at its best. Love it! (And between it and TWD, getting a nerdly crush on Hardwick.)
Another fan. Didn’t notice it was scripted, but one thing I do notice is that there must be parts cut from the show because sometimes people’s scores will be noticeably higher from time to time for no apparent reason.
Not only higher but lower. Monday’s show had a weird cutting glitch. In the first segment the scores suddenly soared to 700 and 800 and then after the next answer were back down to 100 and 200.
It’s a funny show, but every time I watch I feel like the panelists always feel a little uncomfortable. I feel like it’s a little too formal / structured to foster a laid-back improv-y atmosphere, but not enough to really play like an actual game show. I think they’ll dial in that balance better as it continues.
