''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') was an American late night

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

-themed

panel game show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

, hosted by

Chris Hardwick Christopher Ryan Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosts ''Talking Dead'', an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series '' The ...

, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, 2013 and August 4, 2017 on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

. ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' premiered on October 21, 2013. It was syndicated internationally in Australia on

SBS2 SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

and

The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Servi ...

, in the United Kingdom on

Comedy Central Extra Comedy Central Extra is a European pay television channel that launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2003. Followed by the Netherlands in 2011 were it was visible till 31 december 2022. Between 2012 and 2020 it was also available in par ...

, and in Canada formerly on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

and later on

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octo ...

. ''@midnight'' received a nomination for Outstanding Interactive Program at the

66th Primetime Emmy Awards The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2013 until May 31, 2014, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Monday, August 25, 2014, at the Noki ...

. It received a nomination and win for Outstanding Social TV Experience at the

67th Primetime Emmy Awards The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2014 until May 31, 2015, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at the Mi ...

. On July 18, 2017, Comedy Central, Chris Hardwick, and Funny or Die mutually agreed to end ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick''. The final episode, the 600th, aired on August 4, 2017.

Format

Three guests compete in a series of Internet-themed improv games. "Rapid Refresh" is a game where contestants craft a funny response or choose an answer based on an

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

or trending news headline. On Thursdays during the run-up to the 2016 presidential primaries, this round was alternately referred to as "Panderdome" and focused on the candidates' gaffes and antics. Other games run daily include "Hashtag Wars" in which contestants buzz in with a phrase based on the given

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

theme, and where fans can submit their own tweets which may show up in the game, and "Live Challenges" where the contestants write their answers over the commercial break. Hardwick would shout "Points!" and give the contestants arbitrary amounts. Towards the end of the game, the third-place contestant is eliminated (with some rare exceptions), the scores are erased with a gesture, and the remaining two contestants play the final round called "FTW (For The Win)" Hardwick would read a question and the contestants would write down a response. The responses would then be read back anonymously and the winner would be decided by one whose response generates the most laughter/applause from the studio audience. The winner "wins the Internet for the next 23.5 hours".

Recurring games

* Audio Quiz: The panelists must identify the source of a sound from a list of possibilities. * Confession Bear: Chris gives the panel partial confessions from

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

that use the Confession Bear meme, and the panelists must complete them. * Cringe-Worthy: Based on the popular Reddit forum of the same name, the panelists come up with three-word phrases to make Chris cringe. * Defriend Me: The panelists create

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

statuses that would lead to Chris removing them as friends. * eBay Price Is Right: The panelists attempt to guess the "buy it now" price of strange items for sale on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...

'' style. * Etsy Pitchmen: The panelists write taglines to boost the appeal of bizarre

Etsy Etsy, Inc. is an American e-commerce company focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including jewelry, bags, clothing, home décor and furniture, toys, art, as well as craft su ...

products. * Free on Craigslist: A sixty-second game where the panelists list things they would give away for free. * Goth Confessions: The panelists must guess which admissions goth kids made in their

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

videos. * Iron Sheik: Real or Jabroni: Chris reads a topic that

The Iron Sheik Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri ( fa, حسین خسرو علی وزیری, romanized: Hossein Xosrô 'Ali Vaziri; born March 15, 1942), better known by his ring name the Iron Sheik, is an Iranian retired professional wrestler, amateur wrestler and a ...

has tweeted about, and the contestants must decide if the wrestler loves or hates the subject. The tweet is read after the contestant is told they are right or wrong. * JuggalOK Cupid: The panelists must figure out which bizarre

OkCupid OkCupid (often abbreviated as OKC, but officially OkC) is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating, friendship, and formerly also a social networking website and application. It features multiple-choice questions to match members. ...

dating profile description of a

Juggalo A juggalo (feminine juggalette, or juggala in Spanish) is a fan of the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse or any other hip hop group signed to Psychopathic Records. Juggalos have developed their own idioms, slang, and characteristics. Th ...

is real. * Linked Out: The panelists come up with ridiculous job titles that one might find on

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

. * Name That Vine: The panelists name the shown

Vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

video. * Photobomb: The panelists decide if an edited out

photobomb Photobombing is the act of purposely putting oneself into the view of a photograph, often in order to play a practical joke on the photographer or the subjects. Photobombing has received significant coverage since 2009. In discussing a "stingray ...

is creepy or cute. * Rich Cat or Poor Cat: The panelists decide if it is a cash cat or a cat being humiliated by someone else on the internet. * Sweet Emoji: The panelists translate

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...

sentences. * Texts from Last Night: The panelists respond to embarrassing drunk text messages. * Thug Life or Hug Life: The panelists are shown the image of a child from a YouTube video and have to guess whether the video content would be thug or cute hug worthy. * TumblReality: The panelists must figure out which bizarre

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

blog title is real. * Tumblr? I Hardly Know Her: The panelists think up new Tumblr blogs that are just strange enough to be real. * Yahoo Answers: Chris asks the panelists to come up with funnier responses than the ones on

Yahoo! Answers Yahoo! Answers was a community-driven question-and-answer (Q&A) website or knowledge market owned by Yahoo! where users would ask questions and answer those submitted by others, and upvote them to increase their visibility. Questions were orga ...

Other gimmicks

The ''@midnight'' website provided a complete list of guests who have appeared on the show to date with a leaderboard that indicated who appeared the most and who had the most wins.

Production

The initial pilot for the show was called "Tweeter Dome" and was hosted by Thomas Lennon. It was revamped with Chris Hardwick as host, and trialed in the summer before airing at The Meltdown Comics store backroom. Lennon remained as co-executive producer throughout the run. The show was shot on Stage 2 of the

Hollywood Center Studios Sunset Las Palmas Studios, formerly General Service Studios and Hollywood Center Studios, is an American independent entertainment production lot located at 1040 North Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, providing stage facil ...

, where the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

series ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...

'' was originally shot.

Reception

During its initial 2013 run, the series averaged 453,000 viewers in the 18–49 ratings demographic, putting it above Bravo's ''

Watch What Happens Live ''Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen'' (abbreviated ''WWHL'', previously named ''Watch What Happens Live!'') is an American pop culture-based late-night talk show hosted by Andy Cohen, that premiered on Bravo on July 16, 2009. The show feat ...

'', E!'s ''

Chelsea Lately ''Chelsea Lately'' is an American Late night television, late night Television comedy, comedy talk show created by Brody Stevens and hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler which was broadcast on E! The show debuted on July 16, 2007, and was produced ...

'', and TBS's ''

The Pete Holmes Show ''The Pete Holmes Show'' is an American late-night talk show starring comedian Pete Holmes. It aired Monday through Thursday at midnight on TBS, from October 28, 2013 until June 18, 2014. The show was atypical among late-night talk shows for havi ...

''. It also had the youngest audience of any late-night television show. The week of February 17, 2014, was reported to be the show's highest rated to date; the show had 731,000 total viewers, and it tied ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'' as the most-watched late-night program on cable in the 18–34 demographic.

Awards

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight 2013 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings 2010s American late-night television series 2010s American comedy game shows Comedy Central late-night programming Comedy Central original programming Improvisational television series Mass media about Internet culture Nerdist Industries Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television series by Funny or Die Comedy Central game shows