‘After Midnight’ Says Goodnight: Comics Mirror on the Present That Let Them Be Bizarre
When After Midnight indicators off for the final time at 1:37am tonight, it would mark the top of a daring experiment in institutional silliness—one which started its life on Comedy Central as @midnight with Chris Hardwick over 5 seasons from 2013-2017, and was reborn some seven years in a while CBS with host Taylor Tomlinson.
Like so a lot of its different common viewers, we right here at LateNighter will miss the present, however the dozens of humorous of us who appeared as contestants will virtually actually miss it extra.
We reached out to a handful of these visitor comedians with some easy prompts to get their ideas. What we received again ranged from the hilarious to the heartfelt. (Responses have been edited for size and readability.)
What was nice/distinctive concerning the present? Particularly as a showcase for you and humorous folks you want.
Paul F. Tompkins (10 appearances/5 wins):
I used to be thrilled that this present was being introduced again and revamped. I used to be so flattered to be requested to do the brand new present. For me it was particularly significant as a result of I didn’t know if I’d ever be on tv as a comic ever once more. There haven’t been any actual showcases for comics on TV for some time now and shortly there gained’t be once more. It’s unhappy! Nevertheless it was actually nice whereas it lasted.
The crew and writers had been the most effective. Everybody actually appeared to be having a ball there, and also you may actually really feel it as quickly as you set foot within the constructing. All of them made us really feel humorous and snug and brought care of, and so they additionally allow us to be as spontaneous as we wished to be. We may provide you with bits in the course of the present, even on the fly. There was no rigidity to it. They wished it to be as humorous because the comedians wished it to be.
Lisa Gilroy (4 appearances/1 win):
After Midnight was a McDonald’s play place for comedians; it’s just a little soiled and doesn’t have a ton of bells and whistles, however boy oh boy is it enjoyable as hell. and we’re taking part in in it unsupervised, so you can even maintain somebody’s head underneath the ball pit for a very long time and never get in bother.
Man Branum (7 appearances/2 wins):
After Midnight was the uncommon reboot that didn’t really feel like a strolling corpse. Taylor, head author Jo Firestone, producers Stephen and Evie Colbert, everybody concerned labored to create an area that was open to all the sweetness and chaos the contestants onstage may deliver. The present by no means stopped evolving, by no means stopped looking for new methods of getting enjoyable. Booker Marianne Methods slapping Tom Sandoval, Bob the Drag Queen and Dylan Efron on one episode? The present tried to make magic each night time, and it ceaselessly did.
Marcella Arguello (5 appearances /2 wins):
It’s virtually not possible to search out areas, not to mention television reveals, that encourage you to be your full self as a performer and comic, and that’s what has made this present extremely particular. Comedy is subjective, and most audiences solely need what’s finest for themselves, when in actuality what’s finest for everybody is a wide selection of comedic leisure that provides you precisely what you’re not anticipating! The employees and crew had been distinctive – particularly once they had been saved on their toes. Thanks to everyo,ne however I actually wish to give a loving shout out to Jo Firestone’s scorching brother.
Kurt Braunohler (8 appearances/0 wins):
It was the one present on community TV that recurrently promoted stand-ups. That’s such an enormous deal. We’re not all celebrities—the overwhelming majority of working comedians are solely identified by a group of devoted followers. And to be given a nationwide stage to be humorous on, that’s such a cool factor for the comedy group. It will likely be missed. Keep in mind CBS, you’ll be able to all the time deliver again my IFC comedy recreation present from 2012, BUNK. I promise to not put on sneakers, which is what America badly wants proper now: a white man with no sneakers internet hosting a late-night present.
Maria Bamford (7 appearances/2 wins):
Taylor Tomlinson and Jo Firestone and the complete crew made TV present taping essentially the most enjoyable, most low stress and welcoming writing and performing expertise I’ve ever had. Pleasure comes from the highest down, and the vibe was constantly pleasant, welcoming, and enthusiastic to regardless of the comics dropped at the present.
They allowed everybody to do precisely what they do finest—bringing their actual sense of humor to the present with out the generally invisible censorship that grows out in high-pressure, highly-produced reveals the place there’s much less room for shock and improvisation (from shyer comics like myself anyhow). I all the time felt inspired to “Take the Stage”! That could be very uncommon and a stunning feeling.
Jerry O’Connell (3 appearances/0 wins):
It was like preparing for a recreation. You are available, meet together with your coach/producer, provide you with a recreation plan and WIN. I by no means really “gained,” however boy-did-I-have-fun-losing. GREAT ENVIRONMENT!
Irene Tu (3 appearances/0 wins):
One of the best a part of After Midnight was by no means figuring out what was going to occur on the present. Positive, there have been “video games” and “guidelines,” however the factors had been arbitrary and the purpose was simply to be humorous. Or at the very least that’s what I inform myself as a three-time loser of the present. And the ultimate video games had been absurd. No different present is having you guess if a man is called Chris or Nick to win a bunch of Tupperware lids.
Dave Hill (1 look/0 wins):
After Midnight has up to now been the one late night time community present with the temerity to e book me. And for this I’m ceaselessly grateful. Additionally, they put actually good snacks in my dressing room, which is the principle cause I received into present enterprise.
Chris Fleming (5 appearances/0 wins):
Normally you go into these reveals pondering they’re gonna attempt to rein you in, however each single one that labored there inspired us to do ANYTHING we wished and so they actually meant it. [Talent producer] Maddy Martin would name me and say “after all!” to ANY whim. I’m so so grateful for it, each single time was such a optimistic expertise.
Ideas about Taylor Tomlinson? Anybody else on the manufacturing group?
Maria Bamford:
Taylor is the most effective! She ran a enjoyable, mild, actually supportive, however tight ship, and any comic I do know who received an opportunity to be concerned had an exquisite time.
Man Branum:
Taylor is an incredible comedian, she has been since she was younger, and she or he’s by no means stopped rising. She had the stage acumen to step into the present and run it like a professional from the starting. She had the authority, velocity, and attraction late night time has all the time been in search of… It’s fascinating to me that she selected to step away from the present, and it says a lot about how comedy is altering, how media is altering, and what the way forward for arise appears to be like like. I don’t know WHAT it says, but it surely says a bunch of stuff.
Kurt Braunohler:
I’ve identified Taylor for years! She’s simply so good. Her actual ability is a simple efficiency type that masks obsessively written materials. Her tags have tags, man. And there’s not a phrase wasted. I love that type of effectivity in joke writing. Plus she’s a legitimately good individual? Which is WILD on this enterprise. “
Paul F. Tompkins:
My first look on After Midnight occurred within the very first week—possibly the second episode? And I used to be struck by how at dwelling Taylor already was. Internet hosting is a ability and never quite a bit of individuals have the pure reward for it, however Taylor does. She was instantly in command and welcoming on display and off.
Lisa Gilroy:
Taylor is a queen and the proper individual to have on the helm. Her power is equal components captain of the ship but additionally mermaid on the rocks—she’s in cost however you don’t know if she’s going to maintain you in line or steer you in direction of chaos. I’m so terrified of her and so in love together with her.
Humorous ladies RULE the present—Jo Firestone and Caroline Ulwick and Nori Reed and Sophie Buddle and so many of the writers are all the way down to play and collaborate in a approach that you just actually don’t see fairly often. Folks appear to be genuinely having fun with their jobs and making one another giggle. The power is infectious. It’s a really particular place overflowing with wildly proficient freakazoids.
Dave Hill:
Taylor Tomlinson, Jo Firestone, and Marianne Methods are all completely pleasant!
Chris Fleming:
I used to be so blown away by Taylor each time. She has such presence. Irreplaceable. Jo is wonderful. Maddy labored SO a lot with me and revered my bullsh*t approach greater than I deserved—they had been all so artist-friendly, it was insane. I’d be texting photos to Maddy of the demon child I used to be constructing for a sketch being like “do you suppose it ought to have a soul patch?” “In fact it ought to!” I kinda went into the entire thing pondering how can I’m going rogue and sneak stuff in, however I by no means needed to as a result of they had been so cooperative and inventive. A number of us are fairly unhappy that it’s over as a result of it actually felt anomalous to different reveals within the sense that they revered us and wished us to attempt sh*t out. Sharon [Everitt] is an absolute dream of a director. And author Sam Taggart is my muse.
Man Branum:
Oh, and f*cking Percy Rustomji, the nice and cozy up man. Really the best showman in Los Angeles. He’d do kick strains every single day, he did the total choreo to “Be Our Visitor” earlier than each present, and Taylor and everybody on that present revered that he was the best showman there. They knew the important thing to an important comedy present is a good heat up comedian, and Percy bled every single day to give that present his power.
Chris Fleming:
Percy deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award for protecting that viewers juiced—he created a actually trippy power the place you can do stuff that no regular studio viewers would even acknowledge as humor and so they’d giggle anyway.
Maria Bamford:
Percy the warmup comedian is an epic performer, and I hope there’s a present constructed completely on his wonderful pep!!
Any favourite reminiscences?
Paul F. Tompkins:
I had a good time each time I did the present. My two favourite reminiscences could be Tom Lennon and I standing on more and more larger packing containers subsequent to massive Joe Manganiello and getting taller and taller with every section…
…and when Greta Titleman instantly sank a nothing-but-net bucket in the course of the After Midnight Mania finals. Greta, Bob the Drag Queen and I practiced for 20-Half-hour earlier than taping and assumed we’d every go at the very least twice earlier than somebody received one in and Greta simply threw it in there very first thing.
Marcella Arguello:
My favourite reminiscence is once I misplaced the primary time and I used to be requested to get again on the ground after industrial break. So many individuals on-line hated that I did that and it solely made it funnier.
Man Branum:
On my first episode, I used to be taking part in with Marcella Arguello and Lisa Gilroy, and each of them are so humorous, so energetic, and from my first moments on that stage, I knew I had to make use of each little bit of wit and functionality I needed to sustain. That’s the most effective emotions as a comic book.
Getting tipsy within the inexperienced room, as a result of they knew it made for a smoother present, forcing Sam Taggart to assist me write new jokes for my solutions, then having him level out that the writers had already written that punchline. Feeling, typically, as if I had been household.
Kurt Braunohler:
One of many early episodes, there was a bit the place, in case you misplaced, you had been presupposed to name somebody and inform them you misplaced. And so I requested Taylor if I may get kicked off the present first as a result of I had an thought for a bit. (I’m sorry I’m pulling again the curtain and revealing it’s not a actual recreation present!) She was kindly up for it. And once I misplaced, I known as my spouse to inform her. And we had agreed that she’d make me inform our 6 year-old – you recognize, that I had failed as a father. And let’s simply say it turned out higher than we may have imagined.
Chris Fleming:
I actually loved any time Taylor slapped me on air.
After Midnight‘s sequence finale airs on CBS tonight at 12:37am and can stream the following day on Paramount+.