One of the late-to-the-game things I did in 2013 was get really into comedy podcasts. Obviously you know and try out stuff like Nerdist and WTF, which are easy listening, and as an avid fan of Community, I was pre-disposed early on to the weekly enabling festival that is Harmontown, and the TV show indoctrinated me into Comedy Bang Bang's world.
When I ran out of those, however, I started digging deeper. Partially through the help of The AV Club's Podmass feature, though some just through sheer figuring out all the guests on all the other podcasts all had podcasts of their own, I started to consume everything. I now have about 15 or 16 shows that I'll listen to either on a weekly basis, or build up my library for holidays and long drives.
The great thing about professional encourager and Nerdist host Chris Hardwick's nightly Comedy Central hybrid game show, @Midnight, is that it's really the first mainstream show to try and do most of the leg work for you. It's the first talk show where I've seen comedians mainly come on the program to promote their podcasts, at least.
@Midnight, which got picked up for an entire year following a month-long test run, follows a pretty simple format: comedians throwing jokes at stuff that the internet spent most of the day already making jokes about. It's hit or miss depending who's on the show (Kumail Nanjiani is, as in most places, a standout guest, as are typical podcast creatures Nikki Glaser, Scott Aukerman and Doug Benson) but the fun is that it's mostly tapping into the insane, yet still under the radar, comedy boon that's happening unlike any other show.
The show can get a little too precious and can (as you'd expect) run out of jokes at points, but it's awesome that something like this exists. There's also the annoying factor that Hardwick is part of the last generation of nerds that sees things like sports as a natural enemy, therefore making the series exclusionary at times. However, I find myself DVR'ing it every night, laughing out loud at least once, and usually finding a new person whose standup or sketch act or podcast I've yet to discover. You can't do much better than that with a nightly show.
Towards the end of their initial run, more "famous" comedy people like Judd Apatow and David Spade guested, so the show isn't exactly insular. (Nor should it be.) But you almost wish it would stay this easygoing gathering of comedy people transferring business back to their podcasts. Just… please, tone it down with your Twitter activity, it's making my timeline unbearable.
