Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS During After Midnight’s first week on the air in January, writer Skyler Higley tweeted a thumbnail from the show featuring Steve Harvey’s head on Pikachu’s body along with the following caption: “trying our best to make it as weird as we can on network TV.” During that night’s episode, halfway through a game in which contestants were shown inanimate objects that look like humans, contestant Robby Hoffman buzzed in at the sight of deli meat that resembled a butt and disregarded the prompt to imagine a quote it might say. “That looks like my great-uncle Eddie,” she said. “He used to take us swimming at the lake and his swim trunks would fall down. But now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t know if they fell down.” “It’s a game show, Robby!” host Taylor Tomlinson replied, half-entertained and half-distressed. “The next game is Tell Us a Traumatizing Childhood Memory, so just save it for that.”
These format-breaking moments have become increasingly common over the course of the show, which returned for its second season this week. And while each episode still gets inconsistent mileage from segments where contestants stand behind podiums and deliver canned, pre-written jokes — not to mention hearty doses of CBS and Paramount+ spon-con — the show has also leaned into chaos by booking delightful weirdos and anarchists and inventing games and segments that allow comedians more space to play. The result is a show that escapes the biggest pitfalls of its @midnight predecessor and frequently fulfills Higley’s promise: It’s as weird as a show can be on network TV. Here are ten moments since the show’s premiere that exemplify why, if you’re a fan of off-kilter late-night TV, After Midnight is worth your attention.
Pete Holmes, however, has taken a different approach, allowing his guests to weave themselves into the show’s narrative and ultimately become part of its fabric. This approach has led to some interesting results. Pete Holmes’ show, “Pete Holmes,” has become known for its conversational, improvisational style, allowing guests to freely express themselves and feel comfortable enough to share their vulnerabilities and personal stories.
Adam Pally Can’t Get Past the Show’s Logo (March 7) Adam Pally is nothing if not an accomplished little stinker, and early in After Midnight’s run, he brought this energy to the show by committing to an episode-length bit about the misplaced “@” symbol in the show’s logo. “The show is called After Midnight and the old show was called @midnight, but the logo is kind of the same,” he says immediately after being introduced. “I guess I’m just confused. What are we doing here? Where are we?” From there, Pally bends over backward to connect any prompt Tomlinson tees up back to this gripe. The next time he buzzes in, it’s ostensibly to deliver a joke about a novel way a celebrity could “quiet quit” their job, but of course that’s not what he wants to talk about. “It makes me think it’s going to be at a certain time,” he complains of the “@” symbol. Next, the host leads a game where contestants rename existing phenomena as if they’ve invented it, and Pally buzzes in again. “Punctuality,” he says to delayed laughs. “If you say something’s going to start at this time …” Tomlinson takes points away from him for the interjection.
Rob Haze Petitions to Be the Paramount+ Thumbnail (March 12) “I know my mom’s asleep, so my goal for this show is to be the thumbnail on Paramount+,” Rob Haze says after being introduced at the top of this episode. Sure enough, he spends the remainder of the episode striking presentational, eye-catching poses fitting for a streaming-service title card. During the above game, in which contestants filibuster guided meditations about topics like microwaves and NFTs, he mugs extra hard, prompting the whole crowd to erupt into a chant of “Thumbnail!” Some might say a joke about gaming late-night consumption platforms to maximize personal exposure is too inside baseball, but not After Midnight. Plus, it worked.
Morgan Murphy Hawks a Desk (April 17) After Midnight’s dedicated talk-show portion is a reliable highlight, because even when the questions and answers seem prepared ahead of time, the lack of rigid game structure gives the comedians lots of banter opportunities. Here, Morgan Murphy simply ignores the talk-show question she’s asked and chooses instead to try to pawn a used desk of hers off on someone in the audience. “What has this show become?” Marcella Arguello asks in confusion. But Murphy sticks to her guns: “When else would I have a chance to ask 100 people if they need a desk?”
Drew Carey Does Stand-up About Phish (April 24) In another great talk-show-portion moment, Drew Carey is asked what he’d say if he wasn’t being “filmed right now.” In response, he leaves his podium and performs a minute-long, extremely vivid stand-up routine about seeing Phish perform at the Sphere. “It was like being edged for four days straight,” he says. “And then right before the face-melting climax at the end on the fourth day, an angel comes down from heaven — Gabriel — and he shoots fucking heroin in your arm and he says, ‘Good luck now, fucker!’ And he leaves, and then you have an orgasm for 15 minutes while your eyeballs fall out of your head.” “I don’t think there’s any universe where we’re still doing bits after that,” fellow contestant Thomas Lennon chimes in when Tomlinson tries to move the show along.
This week’s episode of Sometimes After Midnight, however, felt like a random assortment of comedians with no clear connection. The episode featured a trio of high-octane TikTok duets, which were a jarring contrast to the show’s usual format. The duets, performed by comedians like Mike Birbiglia, Sam Jay, and Taylor Tomlinson, were a surprising and entertaining addition to the show.
Just Some Great Bit Milking (May 24) Whenever After Midnight throws caution to the wind and doesn’t even try to find a strained connection to the internet phenomena it purports to be about, it’s usually a sign that the segment in question is going to be unhinged. This one, in which Tomlinson asks comedians Arguello, Lennon, and Sarah Tiana to wear blindfolds and distinguish between containers of milk and water solely by feeling it with their hands, is one such segment. Lennon immediately makes the game overtly sexual; Tiana freaks out at the loss of her sight, prompting the other comedians to prank her; and Arguello goes full Conan O’Brien on Hot Ones, rubbing the liquids all over her chest and stomach. Imagine your elderly relative tuning in to CBS at 1 a.m. and seeing this.
* The Sklar Brothers’ podcast, “After Midnight,” has been criticized for its reliance on pre-written jokes. * Colton Dunn, a comedian and actor, has joined the podcast as a co-host, bringing a more improvisational style. * Dunn’s presence has led to a more natural flow and less reliance on pre-written jokes.
Chris Fleming’s new script “After Midnight” is being featured on the show. **Explanation:**
Chris Fleming is a comedian known for his distinctive, unconventional style. His comedic voice is characterized by a “bizarro sensibility,” which refers to a sense of humor that is outside the norm. Fleming’s new script, “After Midnight,” is a short, three-minute segment designed to be performed on a stand-up comedy show.
