@Midnight - General Discussion

[possibilities]

Is anyone clear on this week's schedule? I'm seeing the finale is on Friday? Am I confused?

[biakbiak]

26 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Is anyone clear on this week's schedule? I'm seeing the finale is on Friday? Am I confused?

That's what my DVR shows and that it's an hour and actually @ midnight.

[trow125]

The show's web site has a list of all the finale guests, and it is pretty much a run-down of all of their most-frequent/most popular contestants (Ron Funches, Arden Myrin, Paul F. Tompkins, Tom Lennon, Grace Helbig, Weird Al, etc.). Surprising to me is the lack of Doug Benson. He was never one of my personal favorites, but his absence is a bit odd since he's been on the show so many times.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, trow125 said:

. Surprising to me is the lack of Doug Benson. He was never one of my personal favorites, but his absence is a bit odd since he's been on the show so many times.

Last week Doug was on tour and hosting several things at the Traverse City Film Festival and has a sold out show in NY on Monday with some other things so it was most likely scheduling. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

On 7/30/2017 at 9:32 PM, biakbiak said:

That's what my DVR shows and that it's an hour and actually @ midnight.

Per Deadline, there will be 5 shows this week, and Friday Aug.4 show will make it the 600th episode of the series.

https://deadline.com/2017/07/midnight-canceled-end-run-comedy-central-600-episodes-four-seasons-1202130613/

[iMonrey]

Does anyone know if Doug Benson's "High Court" judge show was cancelled? Or is it just on hiatus? That might have something to do with him not showing up for the final week. Can't say as I'll miss him, to be honest. 

[biakbiak]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Does anyone know if Doug Benson's "High Court" judge show was cancelled? Or is it just on hiatus? That might have something to do with him not showing up for the final week. Can't say as I'll miss him, to be honest. 

It was cancelled but he has been on several times since then so I can't imagine that has anything to do with it.

[iMonrey]

Has he? I don't remember seeing him since his show ended. 

[PatternRec]

I listen to Doug Loves Movies and he sounded upset that @Midnight was going away when he mentioned it. Doug's pretty honest if there's beef between he and someone else and I haven't heard him say anything negative about the show ever.

The High Court was a horrible show but Doug got paid to get high on TV and give stupid people rulings on stuff. I'm sure he had a blast :D i can't see him having hard feelings toward CC.

[biakbiak]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Has he? I don't remember seeing him since his show ended. 

The show ended in March. He won the tournament of champions in April and has been on twice since then.

[biakbiak]

Based on IG they filmed the hour finale tonight.

[paigow]

3 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Based on IG they filmed the hour finale tonight.

But what if Sessions gets fired now????

[attica]

I don't know what I enjoyed more about the KitH show: that those three were there, that they were in great comic form, or that they seemed to be so pleased to be in each other's company.

[biakbiak]

Can someone explain to me what was up with Dave's hair?

[possibilities]

I am going to miss this show more than I anticipated I would.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Can someone explain to me what was up with Dave's hair?

I was distracted by that too. I loved Kids in the Hall back in the day but strangely this wasn't one of the strongest panels. Or maybe the games just weren't up to snuff. I'm definitely going to check out Kevin McDonald's podcast though. Sounds like it's a regular Kids in the Hall reunion on a regular basis.

[Phishbulb]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I am going to miss this show more than I anticipated I would.

It's a fun show in that all my favorite comedians have been on it pretty much and yet it's not a panel show where they have to seriously discuss topics. Too much of Comedy Central's late night slate lately is either Daily Show clones or panel discussion shows. Some of these have been all right (Nikki Glaser's show was OK) but most of them are unbearable (Moshe Kasher's show was pretty awful). But CC definitely seems like it's going in a more "We're the millennial news network!" direction lately, rather than having shows that are just light entertainment like @midnight.

[paigow]

30 minutes ago, Phishbulb said:

 But CC definitely seems like it's going in a more "We're the millennial news network!" direction lately, 

So everyone else has to watch HB_Old???

[ABay]

I didn't really notice anything special about Dave's hair,  but 29 Helens agree that he has some and it's brown. He was always my favorite Kid.

Edited August 3, 2017 by ABay

[attica]

I like PFT's commitment to the dandy styling, but he could have chosen a better top hat. Just sayin'.

This show goes away, yet Tosh lives on and on and on and...I suppose that's as much a commentary on the times in which we live as anything else.

[paigow]

"I have played your game Chris Hardwick, now release my family!!!"

[iMonrey]

I'm really going to miss Flula :-(

[biakbiak]

8 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm really going to miss Flula :-(

He's on Conan fairly frequently.

[catrox14]

On 8/3/2017 at 8:56 AM, possibilities said:

I am going to miss this show more than I anticipated I would.

Same. I love it because it's just so silly and I love the hashtag wars.

[PatternRec]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm really going to miss Flula :-(

Me too. I wanted to hate Flula at first but he's so endearing and enthusiastic with his dad jokes and Balkie accent :D

[2727]

Nice sendoff with all the comics there. The best part was no Sklars or D'Elia.

I didn't even mind Chris jumping on the panel. My vote for best game would have been the emoji stories. 

Bye, show!

[attica]

I agree with the internet that Hugs or Thugs was a reliable winner. I feel, however,  that the 'dick' mention count was low. Surely they did more than twice per  show!

I was a little discombobulated with the swapping out of panellists at first. Maybe Chris  could have set that up better to manage my expectations?

Ron Funches looks so different with that  haircut. 

Snif! I'll  miss you, show!

[iMonrey]

Quote

The best part was no Sklars or D'Elia.

Amen to that.

I'm guessing the editors had their work cut out for them because I couldn't figure out how they kept switching the panel for every question! I kept saying "how are they doing that??" They must have had to stop the camera and change or else they had all the panels doing all the same questions and then cutting it together so a different panel represented each question. The whole thing was just strange. Would have been very interesting to be in the live audience.

They went out on a high note, gotta give them that. Very positive ending overall.

[ABay]

I got a little verklempt. I will miss this fun little show. Between the Nightly Show and this, CC is not winning me over to anymore  new shows. Now I'm only there for The Daily Show.

Did anyone catch whose picture was Paul Schleer holding up? It didn't look like Doug but that's the only frequent flyer, so to speak, who was missing. Well, other than the Sklars, for which I was grateful.

@attica, I agree the "dick" count seemed low. I can't believe there was even one show without it.

Edited August 5, 2017 by ABay

[attica]

I checked out the twitter feed; they have photos of all the FTW submissions, so we can see who has nice handwriting (which is something that always interests me, for whatever reason)!

[Unusual Suspect]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm really going to miss Flula :-(

He's hit or miss with me, but I had to pause because his "let my family go, Hardwick!" was effin hilarious.

[ganesh]

But how many times did they say "2 in the__ 1 in the__?" 

[ABay]

Or variations on 2 girls, 1 cup.

[ottoDbusdriver]

39 minutes ago, ganesh said:

But how many times did they say "2 in the__ 1 in the__?" 

That phrase occurred on nearly every show.

I like that Tom Lennon's FTW tweet was a callback to the "burned my genitals on your loaded baked potatoes.  How bout a retweet" from many episodes ago.

Whitney Cummings FTW tweet was pretty good too -- "For Sale: 3 podiums, 1 working buzzer, and 130 non-working comedians", especially the 1 working buzzer part.  I remember the one episode where Chris D'Elia's buzzer didn't work at all, and he just powered through getting more fed up as the show went on.

Colton Dunn's FTW tweet was a Pulp fiction reference.  Nice !!

The hashtag war to to end all hashtag wars was pretty awesome.

I'm glad that they are holding to that FTW last tweet as the final tweet in the Twitter channel.

It's been a fun 4 years. I'm going to miss this little 'Jeopardy with dick jokes' show.

Who knows -- in 10 years they may bring it back.  

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Who knows -- in 10 years they may bring it back.

These days?  Probably 10 months.

[ganesh]

It's weird, but I never thought of Hardwick as a comedian. He's always been a tv personality who likes nerd things and pop culture. Which I like too, but that what I thought the show was about. 

[trow125]

4 hours ago, ABay said:

Or variations on 2 girls, 1 cup.

And don't forget "my neck, my back, my pussy and my crack."

I just can't get over how different Funches looks without the facial hair.

[ottoDbusdriver]

2 hours ago, trow125 said:

I just can't get over how different Funches looks without the facial hair.

Plus he lost about a 100 lbs.

[PatternRec]

I just rewatched the finale. I'm gonna miss this show. 

Marcella Arguelo is so tall and statuesque she looks like she should be giving advice to Special Agent Dale Cooper. 

[possibilities]

23 hours ago, ganesh said:

But how many times did they say "2 in the__ 1 in the__?" 

 

23 hours ago, ABay said:

Or variations on 2 girls, 1 cup.

or "queef"

20 hours ago, ganesh said:

It's weird, but I never thought of Hardwick as a comedian. He's always been a tv personality who likes nerd things and pop culture. Which I like too, but that what I thought the show was about. 

Comedy Central aired his "Hard and Phirm" show, and also his "Funcomfortable" special, and that's how I found out he's also a comedian, not just a host.

Be nice to each other, Goddammit.

[iMonrey]

Quote

It's weird, but I never thought of Hardwick as a comedian. He's always been a tv personality who likes nerd things and pop culture. Which I like too, but that what I thought the show was about.

I saw Hardwick's stand-up special and still don't think of him as a comedian. I like him fine as a host but his stand-up isn't very good IMO.

[juno]

I absolutely loved this show from day 1. This cancellation/ending was really crushing for me. Unfortunately I am blaming Hardwick completely.

What started out was 3 comedians making jokes turned into Hardwick's personal forum and 3 comedians. Then Personal forum, personal political themes and 3 comedians.

Once Hardwick's started using the beginning to start venting I started fast forwarding, then the "guests" (Trump impersonator, debates) and I fast forwarded more. Then when the show got bigger actors/musicians started coming on the show which was hit or miss.

The greatest part of this show was it was completely original in that it gave comedians an organic place to be funny but after awhile more and more of the show was used up with venting, bits and skits.

It may have died anyway but I miss what this show was.

[trow125]

I feel like the pressure to make the show more political may have come from Comedy Central, based on this article.

Quote

 

"Maybe @midnight might have become more political or had a more organic fit with The Daily Show as far as the audience was concerned," [network president] Alterman says. "At a certain point, Jordan emerged as such a potent voice on The Daily Show, especially last summer through the presidential campaign and on through the election. Trevor was a big supporter of fostering Jordan taking over 11:30."

"We wanted to have a show that felt integrated and simpatico with The Daily Show, and there couldn't be any more organic an expression of that than to have someone like Jordan host," Alterman says.

 

Though he suggests it might come back (!):

Quote

 

Also not out of the question is reviving @midnight — potentially without Hardwick as its host.

To hear the exec tell it, the decision to wrap @midnight after 600 episodes stemmed from a conversation he had with Hardwick. The discussion included potentially relocating the show back to its pre-Nightly Show cancellation home at midnight.

"We never were looking to penalize the show, but at a certain point, the ratings were sliding a bit as The Daily Show's ratings were growing," Alterman says. "We had a very organic conversation about what would make the most sense; if we commit to a political show like Jordan Klepper at 11:30, should we keep going and move it back to midnight? We collectively came to the point of realizing that there's no shame in walking away after 600 episodes. … We don't rule out that we could bring @midnight back. We are having creative conversations about what would we do with this show if we wanted to reinvent it with the creative team. We have put a pin in it, but could be with Chris, I don't know that he'd necessarily host it; he feels like he's done, but I don't want to speak for him. There's no guarantees, but we're open to exploring if there is a 2.0 version of it."

 

[juno]

Thanks trow125. Seems like a big mistake that Comedy Central made. Unlike the Daily Show which is political @Midnight was never political (except for a few jokes). While I dislike the present administation, I didn't want to see Hardwick's editorials about it or the network version of sympatico. I just wanted comedians making funny. If this article is correct either CC or Hardwick or both wrecked this show. However, it may not have been all the skits and political stuff that killed the show. Maybe it had run its course. Although funny never seems to run its course.

[PatternRec]

I'm gonna miss this show a lot but I agree that Chris dominating the show after it got big was a bit of a downer for me. I don't dislike Hardwick like some do, but I was a bit put off when he started more and more shows with his rants and such. 

[ganesh]

Given that it's a show about twitter, and the president is all over twitter, I think it's hard to avoid that. I don't think this was a network decision more than a growing political awareness by people in general. 

I didn't like Chris' rants either, especially his hatred of sports. It made it seem like he had huge issues. I didn't like the "it's my show!" bits either. 

[PatternRec]

There were a few times where guests seemed to be silently rolling their eyes at him while he ranted. . 

[7-Zark-7]

On 7/30/2017 at 9:40 PM, trow125 said:

Surprising to me is the lack of Doug Benson. He was never one of my personal favorites, but his absence is a bit odd since he's been on the show so many times.

I was listening to an episode of Doug Loves Movies, and he was talking to Kumail Nanjiani about the finale of @midnight. They both thought it was strange that they were on the very first episode, but neither of them were on the finale, and neither was asked to attend. Doug hoped it was because they knew his schedule was booked and that he couldn't have made it anyway.

On 8/4/2017 at 11:56 AM, iMonrey said:

I'm really going to miss Flula :-(

On 8/4/2017 at 8:37 PM, biakbiak said:

He's on Conan fairly frequently.

I'm going to miss having a place for comedians to get together and crack each other up. I hope Conan brings a couple of comedians to play video games with him.

There really isn't another show where comedians (who aren't at the level of selling out arenas or doing specials) can get a half hour of airtime.  I may not be inclined to sit through a comedy set of someone I don't know on The Tonight Show, Conan, Seth, etc., but if they were on @midnight and could come up with some witty replies, then I was more likely to pay attention to them when they appeared in other venues.

[PatternRec]

17 hours ago, 7-Zark-7 said:

There really isn't another show where comedians (who aren't at the level of selling out arenas or doing specials) can get a half hour of airtime.  I may not be inclined to sit through a comedy set of someone I don't know on The Tonight Show, Conan, Seth, etc., but if they were on @midnight and could come up with some witty replies, then I was more likely to pay attention to them when they appeared in other venues.

Podcasts fill this need for me. How Did This Get Made and Doug Loves Movies have a lot of the same DNA as @midnight as far as guests go (which usually means people who came up in comedy through Upright Citizens Brigade). Also Comedy Bang Bang (for those who have the patience for it), Spontaneanation (Paul F Thompkins' podcast) and Jordan Jesse Go. The "Jordan" in Jordon Jesse Go is Jordan Morris who was a full time writer on @midnight and sometimes appeared on the show as one of the comedians. 

[iMonrey]

It still sounds like "spin" from CC and they basically sacrificed @midnight for the Jordan Klepper show - or at least for the sake of "branding." They want more shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report and maybe The President Show and @midnight just doesn't fit that formula.