TV

Farewell, and all the POINTS! to @midnight with Chris Hardwick, grand comedian showcase masquerading as a game show

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:

  1. Ian Abramson
  2. Scott Adsit
  3. Dan Ahdoot
  4. Kevin Allison
  5. Mo Amer
  6. Eric Andre
  7. James Adomian
  8. Steve Agee
  9. Anna Akana
  10. Cristela Alonzo
  11. Louie Anderson
  12. Alex Anfanger
  13. Lucia Aniello
  14. Dave Anthony
  15. Fahim Anwar
  16. Judd Apatow
  17. Hale Appleman
  18. Marcella Arguello
  19. Katie Aselton
  20. Lauren Ash
  21. Anthony Atamanuik
  22. Scott Aukerman
  23. Sebastian Bach
  24. Diedrich Bader
  25. Dan Bakkedahl
  26. Tim Baltz
  27. Maria Bamford
  28. Nate Bargatze
  29. Ike Barinholtz
  30. Arj Barker
  31. Ashley Barnhill
  32. Suzi Barrett
  33. Todd Barry
  34. Aisling Bea
  35. Michelle Beadle
  36. Fozzie Bear
  37. Stephanie Beatriz
  38. Alison Becker
  39. Greg Behrendt
  40. Beth Behrs
  41. Jillian Bell
  42. Tone Bell
  43. W. Kamau Bell
  44. William Belli
  45. Owen Benjamin
  46. Doug Benson
  47. Kate Berlant
  48. Matt Besser
  49. Jason Biggs
  50. Mike Birbiglia
  51. Summer Bishil
  52. Jack Black
  53. Michael Ian Black
  54. Rachel Bloom
  55. Emmy Blotnick
  56. Amir Blumenfeld
  57. Joel Kim Booster
  58. Flula Borg
  59. Alex Borstein
  60. John Ross Bowie
  61. Wayne Brady
  62. Betsy Brandt
  63. Guy Branum
  64. Matt Braunger
  65. Kurt Braunohler
  66. Neal Brennan
  67. Paget Brewster
  68. Alison Brie
  69. Matthew Broussard
  70. Yvette Nicole Brown
  71. Hannibal Buress
  72. Owen Burke
  73. Bernie Burns
  74. Sarah Burns
  75. Rhea Butcher
  76. Michelle Buteau
  77. Nicole Byer
  78. Steve Byrne
  79. Vladimir Caamano
  80. Bryan Callen
  81. Bruce Campbell
  82. Heather Anne Campbell
  83. Blaine Capatch
  84. Drew Carey
  85. Jordan Carlos
  86. Jimmy Carr
  87. Carrot Top
  88. Dana Carvey
  89. Neko Case
  90. Neil Casey
  91. Aya Cash
  92. Jade Catta-Preta
  93. Adam Cayton-Holland
  94. Cedric the Entertainer
  95. Jessica Chaffin
  96. Jay Chandrasekhar
  97. Michael Che
  98. Kristin Chenowith
  99. Margaret Cho
  100. Jessica Chobot
  101. Camilla Cleese
  102. Jemaine Clement
  103. Lauren Cohan
  104. Deon Cole
  105. Katy Colloton
  106. Sarah Colonna
  107. Adam Conover
  108. Bill Corbett
  109. Rob Corddry
  110. Eugene Cordero
  111. Jonathan Coulton
  112. Eliza Coupe
  113. Stephanie Courtney
  114. Ana Marie Cox
  115. Chelsey Crisp
  116. Affion Crockett
  117. Chris Cubas
  118. Whitney Cummings
  119. Jen D’Angelo
  120. Chris D’Elia
  121. Thomas Dale
  122. Andy Daly
  123. Jon Daly
  124. Chad Daniels
  125. Rhys Darby
  126. James Davis
  127. Jeff B. Davis
  128. Lucy Davis
  129. Chelsea Davison
  130. Felicia Day
  131. Joe DeRosa
  132. Rob Delaney
  133. Mac DeMarco
  134. Jamie Denbo
  135. Greg “Storm” DiCostanzo
  136. John DiMaggio
  137. Gabriel Diani
  138. Chris Distefano
  139. Hot Dog
  140. Sean Donnelly
  141. Jon Dore
  142. Beth Dover
  143. Paul W. Downs
  144. Clark Duke
  145. Barbara Dunkelman
  146. Colton Dunn
  147. Kyle Dunnigan
  148. Kevin Durand
  149. Open Mike Eagle
  150. John Early
  151. Ashley Eckstein
  152. Alex Edelman
  153. Ian Edwards
  154. Rich Eisen
  155. Ophira Eisenberg
  156. Jenna Elfman
  157. Bridey Elliott
  158. Mary Elizabeth Ellis
  159. Tom Ellis
  160. Ethan Embry
  161. Cameron Esposito
  162. Bridget Everett
  163. Chris Fairbanks
  164. Donald Faison
  165. Nat Faxon
  166. Paul Feig
  167. Fortune Feimster
  168. Rachel Feinstein
  169. Spike Feresten
  170. Craig Ferguson
  171. Nate Fernald
  172. Johnathan Fernandez
  173. Shelby Fero
  174. Jerry Ferrara
  175. Noel Fielding
  176. Greg Fitzsimmons
  177. Emily Fleming
  178. Jim Florentine
  179. Dave Foley
  180. Erin Foley
  181. Will Forte
  182. Jermaine Fowler
  183. Lexxi Foxx
  184. Marina Franklin
  185. Gavin Free
  186. Judah Friedlander
  187. Jena Friedman
  188. Rich Fulcher
  189. Ron Funches
  190. Brittany Furlan
  191. Kenny G
  192. Jon Gabrus
  193. Jim Gaffigan
  194. Megan Gailey
  195. Ben Garant
  196. Chris Garcia
  197. Ralph Garman
  198. Janeane Garofalo
  199. Kyle Gass
  200. Brett Gelman
  201. John Gemberling
  202. Chris Gethard
  203. Erin Gibson
  204. Annabeth Gish
  205. Nikki Glaser
  206. Todd Glass
  207. Rick Glassman
  208. Eliot Glazer
  209. Ilana Glazer
  210. Ben Gleib
  211. Godfrey
  212. Paul Goebel
  213. Adam Goldberg
  214. Bobcat Goldthwait
  215. Josh Gondelman
  216. Ginger Gonzaga
  217. Emily V. Gordon
  218. Gilbert Gottfried
  219. Dana Gould
  220. Matthew Gray Gulber
  221. Ari Graynor
  222. Seth Green
  223. Judy Greer
  224. David Alan Grier
  225. Erik Griffin
  226. Rene Gube
  227. Gary Gulman
  228. Tiffany Haddish
  229. Kathryn Hahn
  230. Tony Hale
  231. Mike Hanford
  232. Colin Hanks
  233. Phil Hanley
  234. Dan Harmon
  235. Rachael Harris
  236. Hannah Hart
  237. Mamrie Hart
  238. Erinn Hayes
  239. Jon Heder
  240. Kevin Heffernan
  241. Grace Helbig
  242. Emily Heller
  243. Ed Helms
  244. Seth Herzog
  245. Maeve Higgins
  246. Dave Hill
  247. Tymberlee Hill
  248. Tony Hinchcliffe
  249. Cheryl Hines
  250. Hari Kondabolu
  251. John Hodgman
  252. Mary Holland
  253. Dave Holmes
  254. Pete Holmes
  255. Kirby Howell Baptiste
  256. Rob Huebel
  257. Jake Hurwitz
  258. Brian Huskey
  259. Ice Cube
  260. Eddie Izzard
  261. Al Jackson
  262. Gillian Jacobs
  263. Abbi Jacobson
  264. Lenny Jacobson
  265. Janelle James
  266. Jim Jefferies
  267. Ken Jennings
  268. Ken Jeong
  269. Chris Jericho
  270. Jessica Lowe
  271. Richard Jeter
  272. Penn Jillette
  273. Maz Jobrani
  274. Tommy Johnagin
  275. Brandon Johnson
  276. Jenny Johnson
  277. Josh Johnson
  278. Slink Johnson
  279. Matt Jones
  280. Orlando Jones
  281. Jesse Joyce
  282. Amir K
  283. Kato Kaelin
  284. Bianca Kajlich
  285. Bess Kalb
  286. Myq Kaplan
  287. Jensen Karp
  288. Moshe Kasher
  289. Jackie Kashian
  290. Martha Kelly
  291. Kerri Kenney-Silver
  292. Tom Kenny
  293. Keegan-Michael Key
  294. Laurie Kilmartin
  295. Kyle Kinane
  296. Andy Kindler
  297. Georgia King
  298. Jaime King
  299. Jen Kirkman
  300. Robert Kirkman
  301. Matt Kirshen
  302. Jessica Kirson
  303. Jonathan Kite
  304. Julie Klausner
  305. Jordan Klepper
  306. Chris Kluwe
  307. Jak Knight
  308. David Koechner
  309. Michael Kosta
  310. Jo Koy
  311. Howard Kremer
  312. Nick Kroll
  313. Ben Kronberg
  314. David Krumholtz
  315. Esther Ku
  316. Tyler Labine
  317. Jon Lajoie
  318. Matteo Lane
  319. Artie Lange
  320. Lauren Lapkus
  321. Jay Larson
  322. Mike Lawrence
  323. Annie Lederman
  324. Bobby Lee
  325. Jamie Lee
  326. Natasha Leggero
  327. Steve Lemme
  328. Damien Lemon
  329. Tom Lenk
  330. Tom Lennon
  331. Yassir Lester
  332. Samm Levine
  333. Cash Levy
  334. Dan Levy
  335. Wendy Liebman
  336. Gabe Liedman
  337. Randy Liedtke
  338. Nikki Limo
  339. Riki Lindhome
  340. Jared Logan
  341. Josie Long
  342. Justin Long
  343. Jessica Lovelace-Chandler
  344. Matt Lucas
  345. Carmen Lynch
  346. Ron Lynch
  347. Natasha Lyonne
  348. Hayes MacArthur
  349. Al Madrigal
  350. Howie Mandel
  351. Jay Mandyam
  352. Aimee Mann
  353. Taryn Manning
  354. Ken Marino
  355. Marc Maron
  356. Ross Marquand
  357. Justin Martindale
  358. J Mascis
  359. Alanna Masterson
  360. Christopher Masterson
  361. Danny Masterson
  362. Jack McBrayer
  363. Matt McCarthy
  364. Julian McCullough
  365. Josh McDermitt
  366. Kevin McDonald
  367. Griffin McElroy
  368. Justin McElroy
  369. Travis McElroy
  370. Bonnie Mcfarlane
  371. Charlotte McKinney
  372. Rove McManus
  373. Jessica McKenna
  374. The Kid Mero
  375. Kurt Metzger
  376. Jason Mewes
  377. Kate Micucci
  378. Thomas Middleditch
  379. Rhett Miller
  380. T.J. Miller
  381. Tim Minchin
  382. Hasan Minhaj
  383. Ginger Minj
  384. Jerry Minor
  385. Matt Mira
  386. Eugene Mirman
  387. Mike Mitchell
  388. Dominic Monaghan
  389. Brian Monarch
  390. Nate Mooney
  391. Trevor Moore
  392. Natalie Morales
  393. Harley Morenstein
  394. Brent Morin
  395. Sam Morril
  396. Jordan Morris
  397. Lamorne Morris
  398. Seth Morris
  399. Brian Moses
  400. John Mulaney
  401. Kevin Murphy
  402. Morgan Murphy
  403. Arden Myrin
  404. Suzy Nakamura
  405. Aparna Nancherla
  406. Kumail Nanjiani
  407. Jason Nash
  408. Kevin Nealon
  409. Lucas Neff
  410. Jamar Neighbors
  411. Mike Nelson
  412. Megan Neuringer
  413. Charlotte Newhouse
  414. Adam Newman
  415. Tawny Newsome
  416. Desus Nice
  417. Jenny Nicholson
  418. Mark Normand
  419. Jim Norton
  420. Ify Nwadiwe
  421. Katie O’Brien
  422. Sean O’Connor
  423. Claudia O’Doherty
  424. David O’Doherty
  425. Big Jay Oakerson
  426. Matt Oberg
  427. Bob Odenkirk
  428. Nick Offerman
  429. Andrew Orvedahl
  430. Andi Osho
  431. Patton Oswalt
  432. Rick Overton
  433. Kelly Oxford
  434. Adam Pally
  435. Danielle Panabaker
  436. Tom Papa
  437. Jimmy Pardo
  438. Lennon Parham
  439. Randall Park
  440. Pardis Parker
  441. Chris Parnell
  442. Nimesh Patel
  443. Sean Patton
  444. Logan Paul
  445. Zack Pearlman
  446. Artemis Pebdani
  447. Jessiame Peluso
  448. Johnny Pemberton
  449. Eddie Pepitone
  450. Kevin Pereira
  451. Russell Peters
  452. Jay Pharoah
  453. Busy Phillips
  454. Emo Philips
  455. Henry Phillips
  456. Dannah Phirman
  457. Mike Phirman
  458. Ryan Pinkston
  459. Aubrey Plaza
  460. Kevin Pollak
  461. Brian Posehn
  462. Esther Povitsky
  463. Greg Proops
  464. Danny Pudi
  465. Mary Lynn Rajskub
  466. Francisco Ramos
  467. Vanessa Ramos
  468. Joe Randazzo
  469. Steve Rannazzisi
  470. June Diane Raphael
  471. Jim Rash
  472. Meaghan Rath
  473. Donnell Rawlings
  474. Adam Ray
  475. Jonah Ray
  476. Diona Reasonover
  477. Brian Redban
  478. Chris Redd
  479. David Rees
  480. Simon Rex
  481. Erica Rhodes
  482. Tom Rhodes
  483. Alison Rich
  484. April Richardson
  485. Sam Richardson
  486. Andy Richter
  487. Rob Riggle
  488. Jason Ritter
  489. Ramon Rivas II
  490. Ian Roberts
  491. Phoebe Robinson
  492. Jordan Rock
  493. Seth Rogen
  494. Kelly Rohrbach
  495. Ray Romano
  496. Alison Rosen
  497. Jeff Ross
  498. Eli Roth
  499. Barry Rothbart
  500. Craig Rowin
  501. Ben Roy
  502. John Roy
  503. Sam Rubin
  504. Hal Rudnick
  505. Jon Rudnitsky
  506. Paul Rust
  507. Nick Rutherford
  508. Paul Sabourin
  509. Katee Sackhoff
  510. Thomas Sadoski
  511. Bryan Safi
  512. Bob Saget
  513. Tami Sagher
  514. Vance Sanders
  515. Andrew Santino
  516. Nico Santos
  517. Horatio Sanz
  518. Will Sasso
  519. Adam Savage
  520. Andrea Savage
  521. Kristen Schaal
  522. Sara Schaefer
  523. Paul Scheer
  524. Star Schlessinger
  525. Danielle Schneider
  526. Stephen Schneider
  527. Reid Scott
  528. Rory Scovel
  529. Amanda Seales
  530. Rhea Seehorn
  531. Peter Serafinowicz
  532. Ari Shaffir
  533. Michael Shannon
  534. Kevin Shinick
  535. Iliza Shlesinger
  536. Pauly Shore
  537. Michael Showalter
  538. Iman Shumpert
  539. Ali Siddiq
  540. Andy Signore
  541. Sarah Silverman
  542. Max Silvestri
  543. Stephanie Simbari
  544. Nick Simmons
  545. Timothy Simons
  546. Sinbad
  547. Eliza Skinner
  548. Chuck Sklar
  549. Jason Sklar
  550. Randy Sklar
  551. Jenny Slate
  552. Dulce Sloan
  553. Linsday Sloane
  554. Daniel Sloss
  555. Brendon Small
  556. Sherrod Small
  557. Yakoff Smirnoff
  558. Kevin Smith
  559. Dan Soder
  560. Gus Sorola
  561. Jessica St. Clair
  562. Dan St. Germain
  563. Michael Starr
  564. Beth Stelling
  565. Brody Stevens
  566. Ryan Stout
  567. Nick Swardson
  568. Amber Tamblyn
  569. Drew Tarver
  570. Jimmy Tatro
  571. Olivia Taylor Dudley
  572. Dan Telfer
  573. Teller
  574. Maria Thayer
  575. Robin Thede
  576. Dave Thomason
  577. Scott Thompson
  578. Alaska Thunderf**k 5000
  579. Nick Thune
  580. Baratunde Thurston
  581. Sarah Tiana
  582. Ashley Tisdale
  583. Stephen Tobolowsky
  584. Paul F. Tompkins
  585. Liza Treyger
  586. Angela Trimbur
  587. Alan Tudyk
  588. Jeff Tweedy
  589. Aisha Tyler
  590. Alanna Ubach
  591. James Urbaniak
  592. Murray Valeriano
  593. Brooke Van Poppelen
  594. Maronzio Vance
  595. Arielle Vandenberg
  596. Janet Varney
  597. Baron Vaughn
  598. Milana Vayntrub
  599. Ricky Velez
  600. Andree Vermeulen
  601. Kulap Vilaysack
  602. Melissa Villasenor
  603. Theo Von
  604. David Wain
  605. Taikia Waititi
  606. Kate Walsh
  607. Brendon Walsh
  608. Matt Walsh
  609. Brandon Wardell
  610. Alexi Wasser
  611. Derek Waters
  612. Michaela Watkins
  613. Reggie Watts
  614. Marlon Wayans
  615. Brent Weinbach
  616. Noel Wells
  617. Alice Wetterlund
  618. Wil Wheaton
  619. Brooks Wheelan
  620. Jaleel White
  621. Mae Whitman
  622. Ashley Williams
  623. Justin Willman
  624. Emma Willmann
  625. Michelle Wolf
  626. Ali Wong
  627. Roy Wood Jr.
  628. Alan Yang
  629. Jimmy O. Yang
  630. Weird Al Yankovic
  631. Mike Yard
  632. Gina Yashere
  633. Hampton Yount
  634. Nick Youssef
  635. Stix Zadinia
  636. Sasheer Zamata
  637. Katya Zamolodchikova
  638. Dweezil Zappa
  639. Vitaly Zdorovetskiy
  640. Henry Zebrowski
  641. Dolph Ziggler
  642. Jenny Zigrino

Congratulations to everyone at @midnight for a job well done!

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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