The ABC television network may make a major production out of reviving all of our favorite game shows from the 1970s in primetime this summer.
But nobody, not even the revived edition of Match Game (sorry, Alec Baldwin), has recaptured the great giddy aesthetic of Match Game like @midnight with Chris Hardwick, which ends a 600-episode run tonight on Comedy Central.
It’s going to be a fond farewell and grand finale bash, most certainly. Check out the list of funny folks participating tonight!
The magic of @midnight actually began a few years before its premiere on Oct. 21, 2013.
In 2010, Comedy Central taped a couple of pilots for a game show called Tonight’s Funniest, hosted by Chris Hardwick, and featuring a panel of five comedians who weighed in with their best jokes on the day’s headlines for points, and the winner crowd “Tonight’s Funniest.”
That pilot didn’t get picked up, despite my interview between tapings with Hardwick:
But on the other side of America, Alex Blagg was not happy with his celebutard blogging job and decided to actually do something about an idea he’d written down called “Game show with comedians competing at hashtag jokes.”
Blagg quit that horrible website and teamed up with two others to form the production company, Serious Business. They pitched their game show idea as Twitterdome, found an in with Funny or Die, who teamed them up with Tom Lennon and Robert Ben Garant — and before long, they’d gotten their own pilot approved with Comedy Central.
Amid all of this, BBC America tried importing the “panel show” of comedians masquerading as “game show” to our side of the pond, in 2011’s Would You Rather with Graham Norton. It ran for 13 episodes, ending in February 2012.
By the start of 2013, Comedy Central decided not to move forward with Twitterdome, which had been renamed Tweeterdome; rather, the network suggested they work with Hardwick as their host and retool the show for a test run. Hardwick suggested the name @midnight, and his Nerdmelt theater hosted the early dry runs of the show.
Right from the start, @midnight took over Twitter with Hashtag Wars. And for better or worse, the show clogged your Twitter feed for several hours 598 more times before tonight. The Emmy Awards honored @midnight for its interactive ambitions.
@midnight, meanwhile, celebrated comedians by giving them a showcase to demonstrate just how funny they naturally are. Even if they sometimes had help from the show’s writing staff. Full disclosure: Joe Randazzo subletted a room from me before moving West to Los Angeles to take the @midnight head writing job. Jesse Joyce, another former neighbor of mine, not only was one of Comedy Central’s main hired guns for its Roasts, but also an @midnight writer who got to shine on the panel from time to time, too.
“I wanted to be involved in something that helped comedians and helped comedy,” Hardwick said, as quoted by UPROXX. “The great thing about it is, whenever a comic is on television doing comedy, they’re usually burning through their own material. There really aren’t a lot of shows anymore on which comedians can pop up. As many channels as there are, even the talk shows today don’t really feature comedians as often as they used to.”
By not forcing comedians to do their prepared bits, @midnight opened up the field not only for stand-up comedians, but also to YouTubers, broadcasters, actors, athletes and rock stars who could make us laugh just by riffing and being themselves. If you were fun and/or funny, you could hang.
And booker Bart Coleman had a knack for finding just the right fit for each night’s trio.
How many received the @midnight shine? Allow me to count them all for you, in alphabetical order:
- Ian Abramson
- Scott Adsit
- Dan Ahdoot
- Kevin Allison
- Mo Amer
- Eric Andre
- James Adomian
- Steve Agee
- Anna Akana
- Cristela Alonzo
- Louie Anderson
- Alex Anfanger
- Lucia Aniello
- Dave Anthony
- Fahim Anwar
- Judd Apatow
- Hale Appleman
- Marcella Arguello
- Katie Aselton
- Lauren Ash
- Anthony Atamanuik
- Scott Aukerman
- Sebastian Bach
- Diedrich Bader
- Dan Bakkedahl
- Tim Baltz
- Maria Bamford
- Nate Bargatze
- Ike Barinholtz
- Arj Barker
- Ashley Barnhill
- Suzi Barrett
- Todd Barry
- Aisling Bea
- Michelle Beadle
- Fozzie Bear
- Stephanie Beatriz
- Alison Becker
- Greg Behrendt
- Beth Behrs
- Jillian Bell
- Tone Bell
- W. Kamau Bell
- William Belli
- Owen Benjamin
- Doug Benson
- Kate Berlant
- Matt Besser
- Jason Biggs
- Mike Birbiglia
- Summer Bishil
- Jack Black
- Michael Ian Black
- Rachel Bloom
- Emmy Blotnick
- Amir Blumenfeld
- Joel Kim Booster
- Flula Borg
- Alex Borstein
- John Ross Bowie
- Wayne Brady
- Betsy Brandt
- Guy Branum
- Matt Braunger
- Kurt Braunohler
- Neal Brennan
- Paget Brewster
- Alison Brie
- Matthew Broussard
- Yvette Nicole Brown
- Hannibal Buress
- Owen Burke
- Bernie Burns
- Sarah Burns
- Rhea Butcher
- Michelle Buteau
- Nicole Byer
- Steve Byrne
- Vladimir Caamano
- Bryan Callen
- Bruce Campbell
- Heather Anne Campbell
- Blaine Capatch
- Drew Carey
- Jordan Carlos
- Jimmy Carr
- Carrot Top
- Dana Carvey
- Neko Case
- Neil Casey
- Aya Cash
- Jade Catta-Preta
- Adam Cayton-Holland
- Cedric the Entertainer
- Jessica Chaffin
- Jay Chandrasekhar
- Michael Che
- Kristin Chenowith
- Margaret Cho
- Jessica Chobot
- Camilla Cleese
- Jemaine Clement
- Lauren Cohan
- Deon Cole
- Katy Colloton
- Sarah Colonna
- Adam Conover
- Bill Corbett
- Rob Corddry
- Eugene Cordero
- Jonathan Coulton
- Eliza Coupe
- Stephanie Courtney
- Ana Marie Cox
- Chelsey Crisp
- Affion Crockett
- Chris Cubas
- Whitney Cummings
- Jen D’Angelo
- Chris D’Elia
- Thomas Dale
- Andy Daly
- Jon Daly
- Chad Daniels
- Rhys Darby
- James Davis
- Jeff B. Davis
- Lucy Davis
- Chelsea Davison
- Felicia Day
- Joe DeRosa
- Rob Delaney
- Mac DeMarco
- Jamie Denbo
- Greg “Storm” DiCostanzo
- John DiMaggio
- Gabriel Diani
- Chris Distefano
- Hot Dog
- Sean Donnelly
- Jon Dore
- Beth Dover
- Paul W. Downs
- Clark Duke
- Barbara Dunkelman
- Colton Dunn
- Kyle Dunnigan
- Kevin Durand
- Open Mike Eagle
- John Early
- Ashley Eckstein
- Alex Edelman
- Ian Edwards
- Rich Eisen
- Ophira Eisenberg
- Jenna Elfman
- Bridey Elliott
- Mary Elizabeth Ellis
- Tom Ellis
- Ethan Embry
- Cameron Esposito
- Bridget Everett
- Chris Fairbanks
- Donald Faison
- Nat Faxon
- Paul Feig
- Fortune Feimster
- Rachel Feinstein
- Spike Feresten
- Craig Ferguson
- Nate Fernald
- Johnathan Fernandez
- Shelby Fero
- Jerry Ferrara
- Noel Fielding
- Greg Fitzsimmons
- Emily Fleming
- Jim Florentine
- Dave Foley
- Erin Foley
- Will Forte
- Jermaine Fowler
- Lexxi Foxx
- Marina Franklin
- Gavin Free
- Judah Friedlander
- Jena Friedman
- Rich Fulcher
- Ron Funches
- Brittany Furlan
- Kenny G
- Jon Gabrus
- Jim Gaffigan
- Megan Gailey
- Ben Garant
- Chris Garcia
- Ralph Garman
- Janeane Garofalo
- Kyle Gass
- Brett Gelman
- John Gemberling
- Chris Gethard
- Erin Gibson
- Annabeth Gish
- Nikki Glaser
- Todd Glass
- Rick Glassman
- Eliot Glazer
- Ilana Glazer
- Ben Gleib
- Godfrey
- Paul Goebel
- Adam Goldberg
- Bobcat Goldthwait
- Josh Gondelman
- Ginger Gonzaga
- Emily V. Gordon
- Gilbert Gottfried
- Dana Gould
- Matthew Gray Gulber
- Ari Graynor
- Seth Green
- Judy Greer
- David Alan Grier
- Erik Griffin
- Rene Gube
- Gary Gulman
- Tiffany Haddish
- Kathryn Hahn
- Tony Hale
- Mike Hanford
- Colin Hanks
- Phil Hanley
- Dan Harmon
- Rachael Harris
- Hannah Hart
- Mamrie Hart
- Erinn Hayes
- Jon Heder
- Kevin Heffernan
- Grace Helbig
- Emily Heller
- Ed Helms
- Seth Herzog
- Maeve Higgins
- Dave Hill
- Tymberlee Hill
- Tony Hinchcliffe
- Cheryl Hines
- Hari Kondabolu
- John Hodgman
- Mary Holland
- Dave Holmes
- Pete Holmes
- Kirby Howell Baptiste
- Rob Huebel
- Jake Hurwitz
- Brian Huskey
- Ice Cube
- Eddie Izzard
- Al Jackson
- Gillian Jacobs
- Abbi Jacobson
- Lenny Jacobson
- Janelle James
- Jim Jefferies
- Ken Jennings
- Ken Jeong
- Chris Jericho
- Jessica Lowe
- Richard Jeter
- Penn Jillette
- Maz Jobrani
- Tommy Johnagin
- Brandon Johnson
- Jenny Johnson
- Josh Johnson
- Slink Johnson
- Matt Jones
- Orlando Jones
- Jesse Joyce
- Amir K
- Kato Kaelin
- Bianca Kajlich
- Bess Kalb
- Myq Kaplan
- Jensen Karp
- Moshe Kasher
- Jackie Kashian
- Martha Kelly
- Kerri Kenney-Silver
- Tom Kenny
- Keegan-Michael Key
- Laurie Kilmartin
- Kyle Kinane
- Andy Kindler
- Georgia King
- Jaime King
- Jen Kirkman
- Robert Kirkman
- Matt Kirshen
- Jessica Kirson
- Jonathan Kite
- Julie Klausner
- Jordan Klepper
- Chris Kluwe
- Jak Knight
- David Koechner
- Michael Kosta
- Jo Koy
- Howard Kremer
- Nick Kroll
- Ben Kronberg
- David Krumholtz
- Esther Ku
- Tyler Labine
- Jon Lajoie
- Matteo Lane
- Artie Lange
- Lauren Lapkus
- Jay Larson
- Mike Lawrence
- Annie Lederman
- Bobby Lee
- Jamie Lee
- Natasha Leggero
- Steve Lemme
- Damien Lemon
- Tom Lenk
- Tom Lennon
- Yassir Lester
- Samm Levine
- Cash Levy
- Dan Levy
- Wendy Liebman
- Gabe Liedman
- Randy Liedtke
- Nikki Limo
- Riki Lindhome
- Jared Logan
- Josie Long
- Justin Long
- Jessica Lovelace-Chandler
- Matt Lucas
- Carmen Lynch
- Ron Lynch
- Natasha Lyonne
- Hayes MacArthur
- Al Madrigal
- Howie Mandel
- Jay Mandyam
- Aimee Mann
- Taryn Manning
- Ken Marino
- Marc Maron
- Ross Marquand
- Justin Martindale
- J Mascis
- Alanna Masterson
- Christopher Masterson
- Danny Masterson
- Jack McBrayer
- Matt McCarthy
- Julian McCullough
- Josh McDermitt
- Kevin McDonald
- Griffin McElroy
- Justin McElroy
- Travis McElroy
- Bonnie Mcfarlane
- Charlotte McKinney
- Rove McManus
- Jessica McKenna
- The Kid Mero
- Kurt Metzger
- Jason Mewes
- Kate Micucci
- Thomas Middleditch
- Rhett Miller
- T.J. Miller
- Tim Minchin
- Hasan Minhaj
- Ginger Minj
- Jerry Minor
- Matt Mira
- Eugene Mirman
- Mike Mitchell
- Dominic Monaghan
- Brian Monarch
- Nate Mooney
- Trevor Moore
- Natalie Morales
- Harley Morenstein
- Brent Morin
- Sam Morril
- Jordan Morris
- Lamorne Morris
- Seth Morris
- Brian Moses
- John Mulaney
- Kevin Murphy
- Morgan Murphy
- Arden Myrin
- Suzy Nakamura
- Aparna Nancherla
- Kumail Nanjiani
- Jason Nash
- Kevin Nealon
- Lucas Neff
- Jamar Neighbors
- Mike Nelson
- Megan Neuringer
- Charlotte Newhouse
- Adam Newman
- Tawny Newsome
- Desus Nice
- Jenny Nicholson
- Mark Normand
- Jim Norton
- Ify Nwadiwe
- Katie O’Brien
- Sean O’Connor
- Claudia O’Doherty
- David O’Doherty
- Big Jay Oakerson
- Matt Oberg
- Bob Odenkirk
- Nick Offerman
- Andrew Orvedahl
- Andi Osho
- Patton Oswalt
- Rick Overton
- Kelly Oxford
- Adam Pally
- Danielle Panabaker
- Tom Papa
- Jimmy Pardo
- Lennon Parham
- Randall Park
- Pardis Parker
- Chris Parnell
- Nimesh Patel
- Sean Patton
- Logan Paul
- Zack Pearlman
- Artemis Pebdani
- Jessiame Peluso
- Johnny Pemberton
- Eddie Pepitone
- Kevin Pereira
- Russell Peters
- Jay Pharoah
- Busy Phillips
- Emo Philips
- Henry Phillips
- Dannah Phirman
- Mike Phirman
- Ryan Pinkston
- Aubrey Plaza
- Kevin Pollak
- Brian Posehn
- Esther Povitsky
- Greg Proops
- Danny Pudi
- Mary Lynn Rajskub
- Francisco Ramos
- Vanessa Ramos
- Joe Randazzo
- Steve Rannazzisi
- June Diane Raphael
- Jim Rash
- Meaghan Rath
- Donnell Rawlings
- Adam Ray
- Jonah Ray
- Diona Reasonover
- Brian Redban
- Chris Redd
- David Rees
- Simon Rex
- Erica Rhodes
- Tom Rhodes
- Alison Rich
- April Richardson
- Sam Richardson
- Andy Richter
- Rob Riggle
- Jason Ritter
- Ramon Rivas II
- Ian Roberts
- Phoebe Robinson
- Jordan Rock
- Seth Rogen
- Kelly Rohrbach
- Ray Romano
- Alison Rosen
- Jeff Ross
- Eli Roth
- Barry Rothbart
- Craig Rowin
- Ben Roy
- John Roy
- Sam Rubin
- Hal Rudnick
- Jon Rudnitsky
- Paul Rust
- Nick Rutherford
- Paul Sabourin
- Katee Sackhoff
- Thomas Sadoski
- Bryan Safi
- Bob Saget
- Tami Sagher
- Vance Sanders
- Andrew Santino
- Nico Santos
- Horatio Sanz
- Will Sasso
- Adam Savage
- Andrea Savage
- Kristen Schaal
- Sara Schaefer
- Paul Scheer
- Star Schlessinger
- Danielle Schneider
- Stephen Schneider
- Reid Scott
- Rory Scovel
- Amanda Seales
- Rhea Seehorn
- Peter Serafinowicz
- Ari Shaffir
- Michael Shannon
- Kevin Shinick
- Iliza Shlesinger
- Pauly Shore
- Michael Showalter
- Iman Shumpert
- Ali Siddiq
- Andy Signore
- Sarah Silverman
- Max Silvestri
- Stephanie Simbari
- Nick Simmons
- Timothy Simons
- Sinbad
- Eliza Skinner
- Chuck Sklar
- Jason Sklar
- Randy Sklar
- Jenny Slate
- Dulce Sloan
- Linsday Sloane
- Daniel Sloss
- Brendon Small
- Sherrod Small
- Yakoff Smirnoff
- Kevin Smith
- Dan Soder
- Gus Sorola
- Jessica St. Clair
- Dan St. Germain
- Michael Starr
- Beth Stelling
- Brody Stevens
- Ryan Stout
- Nick Swardson
- Amber Tamblyn
- Drew Tarver
- Jimmy Tatro
- Olivia Taylor Dudley
- Dan Telfer
- Teller
- Maria Thayer
- Robin Thede
- Dave Thomason
- Scott Thompson
- Alaska Thunderf**k 5000
- Nick Thune
- Baratunde Thurston
- Sarah Tiana
- Ashley Tisdale
- Stephen Tobolowsky
- Paul F. Tompkins
- Liza Treyger
- Angela Trimbur
- Alan Tudyk
- Jeff Tweedy
- Aisha Tyler
- Alanna Ubach
- James Urbaniak
- Murray Valeriano
- Brooke Van Poppelen
- Maronzio Vance
- Arielle Vandenberg
- Janet Varney
- Baron Vaughn
- Milana Vayntrub
- Ricky Velez
- Andree Vermeulen
- Kulap Vilaysack
- Melissa Villasenor
- Theo Von
- David Wain
- Taikia Waititi
- Kate Walsh
- Brendon Walsh
- Matt Walsh
- Brandon Wardell
- Alexi Wasser
- Derek Waters
- Michaela Watkins
- Reggie Watts
- Marlon Wayans
- Brent Weinbach
- Noel Wells
- Alice Wetterlund
- Wil Wheaton
- Brooks Wheelan
- Jaleel White
- Mae Whitman
- Ashley Williams
- Justin Willman
- Emma Willmann
- Michelle Wolf
- Ali Wong
- Roy Wood Jr.
- Alan Yang
- Jimmy O. Yang
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Mike Yard
- Gina Yashere
- Hampton Yount
- Nick Youssef
- Stix Zadinia
- Sasheer Zamata
- Katya Zamolodchikova
- Dweezil Zappa
- Vitaly Zdorovetskiy
- Henry Zebrowski
- Dolph Ziggler
- Jenny Zigrino
Congratulations to everyone at @midnight for a job well done!