What started in the basement under a supermarket almost a decade ago has run its course.
The final episode of The Chris Gethard Show that aired at the end of May 2018 on truTV was the final episode of TCGS. Gethard confirmed the news today.
The Chris Gethard Show is no more. Thank you all for watching. I am a lucky human being who got to go on the best roller coaster ride of all time. THANK YOU to everyone who has supported TCGS and made my life what it is. More info and thoughts at https://t.co/DENN4I6hVD
— Chris Gethard (@ChrisGethard) August 6, 2018
Gethard has a new book coming out this fall called Lose Well. Truth is, though, Gethard continues to have the heart of a comedy champion.
Just watch how he used the series finale of TCGS to inspire some young viewer somewhere out there to make his/her own show and make it better than Gethard ever could!
And here is an excerpt from Gethard’s Facebook post (linked above)…
After our first episode of the most recent batch, there was a lot of discussion about what direction the show should head in. This ultimately lead to some tension. This tension got to me in a real bad way. I tried to flag it for people, but it was too late. Around 4:30 in the afternoon of our second of the ten episodes I had a full on panic attack. I’m talking full “curled up in the fetal position on the floor in my office with a couch cushion on me” level. It wasn’t pleasant. I hosted our episode featuring my old pal Cipha Sounds a few short hours later. It was terrifying.
That was when it started to dawn on me that this project had taken some turns where the pressure was at times outweighing the fun – and this show is too important to me to ever let that be the case. This season was really, really hard. It was tough on my health at times, and I saw it getting tough on the health of some of my long time collaborators as well. There was a stretch where things brightened and I started to think maybe we could keep going. At that point, Hallie stepped in as my wife and reminded me – health has to come first.
Career Suicide was all about that and it made me realize that I had to heed some of my own advice from that special.
Speaking of Career Suicideā¦ and Beautiful/Anonymous – I’ve been thinking a lot about how my more recent work is of a very different tone than TCGS. It’s a little slower and calmer and reflective of the fact that I’m now pushing 40. It’s been really interesting – in the past few weeks I’ve been listening to a TON of Howard Stern, who I have only touched base with occasionally in recent years. I go through stretches where I touch base with the old heroes, and found myself wondering why I’ve latched on to Howard to help get me through this.
And I realized – Howard has evolved. So many times, over and over again, he has evolved. He doesn’t throw baloney at naked people anymore. He’s a thoughtful interviewer and cultural commentator. It’s a beautiful evolution to witness, an inspiring one.
I think as an artist, I’ve been evolving too.
But The Chris Gethard Show has not. I’ll be honest and say that when caught in debates with various parties about the best way for an episode to go off, I often found myself thinking things like, “Why are we in a fight about the best way for me to get throw into a dunk tank full of ice water? I’m 38 years old.” I would have fought tooth and nail to do a bit like that my way five years ago. Now? It doesn’t feel like the fights we/I should be having.
Maybe, just maybe, TCGS hit a ceiling where it couldn’t change beyond what it’s always been. Maybe commercial television is more about capturing something reliable than fostering on-screen evolution. Maybe on some level my work is becoming smaller, and more about intimacy, and focused a little more on me personally than on being the leader of a band of people. I don’t know. Probably some combination of all of these factors has lead to the show reaching its limit. But it’s there, and I’d much rather recognize that than hide from it and try to trick anyone into thinking future episodes would have the same heart, spark, and fight in them. It was going to burn out at some point, and I’d like to end it before it does.
The show is the show and it isn’t changing anymore. We could all feel it on the inside. Part of the exhilaration, fun, and uniqueness of this show is always that it reflected us, the people making it.
When the show first took off on public access, I was a guy who lived in Brooklyn, stayed out dancing four nights a week, went to punk shows all the time, became single and had romantic flings, and also often freaked out and had panic attacks and lapses where I messed around with drugs.
Now I’m 38. I live in Queens. I’m married to the coolest girl in the world. I go home early. I’m tired a lot. I don’t really have spikes in my mental health issues, knock on wood. My main hobby lately has been going on real estate websites. It brings me great joy. I’m not planning on buying a house. I just find it fun to see what’s out there on the market.
I’m different. The show isn’t. It’s time to see what’s next.
So that’s where we’re at. I am so excited to see what everyone who was a part of this show makes moving forward. They’re battle tested badasses, from the people you saw on screen to the people working their way in on the production side of things. I have a feeling that big things will happen in the world of comedy and you’ll see familiar faces and names attached to them. We learned on our feet, but now we know how to do it. I will reiterate something I’ve said before – if you are in the comedy business, hire these people. They are warriors who get shit done.
I have no idea what I’m going to do next. It’s been a few years since I’ve been able to say that. It’s terrifying and exciting and what being an artist is really about. I can’t wait.
Huge, huge, massive thanks to every single person who gave their time and energy into working on this show. It changed my life. Literally every person who worked on it is someone I owe my life to.
If you want more, follow Gethard.
And pre-order his new book, Lose Well.