It was bound to happen. IFC has been green lighting off the wall projects from some of the most alternative comedians around, and they won't stop until they drop. Chris Gethard is the latest to get a series for the cable channel, which is already home to some of the absurdist comedy around (Comedy Bang Bang, Portlandia, Bunk). As per Deadline, IFC's new initiative "Adopt a Comedian" is in full swing. Created to seek out comedians with the channel's off center style, Chris has been nabbed as their first comedic talent to be brought under their wing.
IFC has ordered a pilot script of Gethard's book, A Bad Idea I'm About To Do: True Tales of Seriously Poor Juedgement and Stunningly Awkward Adventure. In addition, he'll host on-air programming intros and will create original content for IFC.com.
Now if they can only make our Chris fulfull his dream - picking up his public access show The Chris Gethard Showto series. This show is on Manhattan public access cable, and is crazy as Howard Stern and playfully odd like the oldUncle Floyd Show. Chris has mentioned in his blog that if he ever had a five year plan, that fith year would reward him doing that show as his career, even taking it to network.
Looks like that dream could come true, one step at a time.
I don't profess to be a professional making creative decisions for television; however, after years of following live performances in New York and Los Angeles, I've seen some smart live shows, and have heard unique podcasts that could easily be developed for television.
It's already being done. Marc Maron's WTF podcast inspired his upcoming new series tentatively titled Maron on IFC. Furthermore, Comedy Bang Bang, originally a stage show (formerly Comedy Death Ray) evolved into a popular podcast, and ultimately landed as an IFC series.
So I got to thinking about the shows I listen to and attend on a weekly or monthly basis that would make fun television shows.
The Paul F. Tompkins Show - Largo at the Coronet Theater - Monthly.
Paul's monthly show at Largo celebrated it's 10th anniversary in April. I hesitate to suggest that this special, intimate night of music, jokes, and sketch should be shared with a television audience. More people will bare witness to what only a few hundred get to see at the historic Coronet theater each month. However, Paul's ability to put on a live variety show with such grace and intelligence, bringing on some friends who happen to be major stars themselves to join in the fun (John C. Reilly, Fiona Apple, Pagett Brewster, Gillian Jacobs, Busy Phillips to name a handful) is a revelation. It has the sepia feel of vaudeville with a hint of Jack Paar in the honesty of his monologues and the Letterman quirkiness of his sketches. If you've seen his stand up on Comedy Central, you'll get an idea. Add in musical director Eben Schletter, and the show is pure magic. Paul's podcast 'The Pod F. Tomkast" is the cyber version of the stage show, and can be found on iTunes.
Another Tompkins project that would make perhaps a great TV special is Dead Authors, a monthly show at the Upright Citizens Brigade that benefits 826LA, a non-profit tutoring center for kids 6 to 18 that encourages creative writing. The premise: Paul portrays H. G. Wells and time travels backwards to talk to dead legends of literary history. Past performers have been Andy Daly as Edgar Allen Poe, James Adomian as Hunter F. Thompson and Scott Aukerman as Bram Stoker. It's all improvised and all for a great cause. Since kids are usually in the audience, Paul makes sure comedians tone down the naughtiness, so it's fun for all. It would amazing to see this as a PBS feature or something on Comedy Central where the power of telly would help raise money. The show is also recorded for podcast, and can be found on iTunes. Click through here.
Superego
This is a weird and wonderful podcast. Stars Matt Gourley, Mark McConville, Jeff Crocker and Jeremy Carter as doctors ready to explore the human mind. Each show unfolds with a variety of case studies (or sketches). The guests participate in bizarre vignettes as subjects with personality disorders that are so odd, you have to listen to believe it. Superego has also taken to the stage with live performances in Los Angeles. Guests have been Drew Carey, Jason Sudeikis and Patton Oswalt to name only a few. I'd love to see this on Adult Swim in a 15 minute per episode series, maybe alongside The Eric Andre Show. But that may be absurd overload. Their podcast is available on iTunes. Click here. The website is http://www.gosuperego.com/
The Chris Gethard Show
This show started on the stage of the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York in 2009. It's has evolved into a public access show, taped live in the MNN studios in New York City. It's like Romper Room for hipsters, a Chuck E Cheez for overgrown kids. There are live calls ins, celebrity drops ins, a list of competitive games, and mayhem. A few years back, Chris started a Twitter campaign to Diddy to participate in his show. Fans got so vocal, that he actually showed up. The sad thing is - The Chris Gethard Show was pitched to network television, but was way too risky to actually produce. But I see this as another IFC vehicle. If the crazy game show Bunk airs there, this might fit as a fun companion show.
**********************
So many great ideas out there, from stage to internet. With all the uninspired programming coming up this Fall, perhaps niche loving channels like IFC or Adult Swim can show some love for these comedy alternatives.
Maybe you watched Jimmy Fallon the other night. Perhaps you witnessed an appearance by the funny Chris Gethard who spoke enthusiastically about his public cable access show The Chris Gethard Show. Maybe you're interested in knowing what the hell that is. Well, here it is - a nine minute taste of the mayhem, insanity and disgusting behavior of young, funny comedians who somehow got loose from the UCB Theatre in New York. Check who's looking over your shoulder and mind your volume. This is NSFW.
When Executive Producers Adam McKay and Chris Henchy first captured Chris Gethard from the wild, they knew this wild child Ron Howard look-a-like could be made into a star. So, they booked him a role on their Comedy Central series Big Lake, premiering August 17th at 10pm ET/9pm CT.
Take a look into this amazing documentary short about the evolution of the Chris Gethard, New Jersey's nature boy.
From Will Farrell and Adam McKay, Comedy Central brings you 'Big Lake' premiering on August 17th 10pm ET/9pm CT. As mentioned in a previous post, up and coming comedian Chris Gethard co-stars with the awesome Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell.
As per blogger Sean McCarthy of The Comic's Comic, one of my favorite UCB people has joined the cast of a new Comedy Central show (yet to be named) starring Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell. Jon Heder was to be one of the leads, but mysteriously bowed out last week. Adam McKay is Executive Producer and the show will air sometime later this year.
Chris is a frequent performer at UCB's Sunday night ASSSSCAT and is a member of the Harold improv team Stepfathers. He also hosts The Chris Gethard Show on Saturday nights. He's one of the funniest, endearing, most incredibly insane people on the Upright Citizens Brigade roster today. I just hope we don't lose him to Los Angeles for a while. Too many of the funny people who started out here hitched their wagons west, and don't come 'round here any more.
Enough of my whining. Have a look at Chris Gethard in Erotic Fiction. More of his work can be found on UCBComedy.com. (Audio NSFW).
