Middleditch and schwartz3/8/2023 ![]() ![]() He’s hellbent on destroying Ben’s career so I’m not really supposed to bring him up, but man oh man does he have some choice zingers.ī en: Rupert Middleditch, Thomas’s kind chef uncle. ![]() T homas: Demetrius Schwartz, Ben’s evil twin brother. Thomas: I don’t think I’ve ever laughed during a movie as hard as when that puppet barfed for five minutes straight in Team America. The writing, acting, directing: all of it helped change the landscape of TV. They’re perfect.īen: The Larry Sanders Show is one of my favourite television shows of all time. The way it was so brilliantly funny but mixed with hidden sadness. Thomas: The British version of The Office and also Extras. ![]() Later on, Mr Show had some great ones, too. Thomas: I grew up on the Kids in the Hall, so they hold a special place. I can’t think of one particular sketch but remember sitting in front of the TV in heaven that I could watch live comedy. Schwartz breaks to tell Middleditch that he thinks he will actually beat him, and the two share the exchange as friends, and Middleditch seems genuinely afraid for the made up consequences of his loss, and the fact that it's all pretend makes the moment authentically funny, even though the stakes are nonexistent.Ben Schwartz: Most recently I’ve loved I Think You Should Leave, but growing up, SNL was enormous for me. In the same scene, the characters play Rock, Paper, Scissors, but it's really Middleditch and Schwartz playing. Seeing Schwartz break out of a scene after Middleditch mimes wiping his rear end to ask, "How do you wipe in real life? For real," has the whimsy of two children playing pretend, rather than two professional improv partners. The fact that the two have performed so many ridiculous characters like the clown-killing "short" Paul or the overly excited Maryland law student that they're mostly unphased by ridiculous characters. What makes the breaks funnier is that they're more prone to make the performers laugh. It's a human moment in an otherwise ridiculous show. ![]() "This character makes me nervous," he says. Middleditch portrays a Lorne Michaels-like character at various points in the sketch, but about halfway through Middleditch breaks. This happens the most in the third episode, "Dream Job."Īfter learning that an audience member is interviewing for an internship with Saturday Night Live, the pair parody the dystopian reality of automated video job interviews that so many millennials are familiar with. The moments when the two break are much funnier than when they riff on a terrible best man at a wedding or an alien living in a law school closet. The whole show is spontaneous, but moments when the two are trying to help the other out are the most amusing. The pair struggle to remember what Schwartz's name is before the crowd yells it out. During the "Parking Lot Wedding" show, there's a moment when Schwartz introduces himself, even though Middleditch had already assigned the character a name. What's perhaps most entertaining is seeing Schwartz and Middleditch trying to figure out each character as they go. In the second story, a passing mention that Harrisburg, Pennsylvania might have aliens sculpts the whole story from a scene in the world's silliest law school class trying to figure out how online contracts work to a heartwarming tale about a family sacrificing their Yu-Gi-Oh loving son to an extraterrestrial.Ĭomedians Middleditch & Schwartz - Ben Schwartz (Plaid shirt) and Thomas Middleditch perform during Nashville Comedy Festival on Apat Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. What's most fascinating is feeing how the pair can make random details spring up throughout the story. Where a solid hour-long standup set from a comedian can take years for even a pro to write, Schwartz and Middleditch can silly their way through with gravitas. The duo take the mundane stories about wedding planning, law school finals, and going for a job interview and make compelling and hilarious stories filled with multiple (admittedly sometimes confusing characters). Actors Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz, both improv veterans from Chicago's Second City and New York's UCB respectively, create absurdly funny short two-man plays with a complete story arc based solely on stories that they get from the audience at the top of each performance. ![]()
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