''The Earliest Show'' is an American comedy

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

starring

Ben Schwartz Benjamin Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He has guest starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'' and Clyde Oberholt on the Showtime series ''House of Lies''; voiced Randy C ...

and

Lauren Lapkus Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress and comedian. Lapkus is known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2014, 2019) and Jess in the HBO comed ...

. Produced by

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

, the series was sponsored by

Cap'n Crunch Cap'n Crunch is a maize, corn and oat breakfast cereal manufactured by Quaker Oats Company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo since 2001. After introducing the original cereal in 1963, marketed simply as ''Cap'n Crunch'', Quaker Oats has since introduced n ...

cereal as a form of branded content. It follows morning show co-hosts Josh Bath and Sam Newman who must deal with the aftermath of Josh's failed on-air wedding proposal. The show is largely improvised. ''The Earliest Show'' premiered on October 27, 2016 and consisted of six episodes.

Synopsis

Josh Bath (

) and Sam Newman (

) are co-hosts of ''The Earliest Show'', which broadcasts at 3:00AM. Josh surprises his girlfriend (Jessica Meraz) with an on-air proposal and begins to unravel emotionally after she rejects him. Each episode follows Josh going through a different stage of grief on-air.

Cast

as Samantha Newman, co-host *

as Josh Bath, co-host * Jessica Meraz as Emily Fernandez, Josh's ex-girlfriend * Joe Hartzler as Marc the producer *

Eugene Cordero Eugene Cordero is an American actor, writer, and comedian. Frequently appearing in comedic roles, he has been featured as a series regular on the comedies ''Other Space'' (2015), ''Bajillion Dollar Propertie$'' (2017–2019), ''Tacoma FD'' (2019 ...

as Chef Tommy *

Betsy Sodaro Betsy Sodaro is an American actress from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. Sodaro is best known for her appearances on comedy programs such as ''Another Period'', '' Duncanville'', '' Clipped'', ''Animal Practice'', '' Nailed ...

as Katie Veal *Ryan Stanger performs the in-show commercials for fake products

Guest starring

Jake Johnson Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger (born May 28, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, film producer and screenwriter best known for his role as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Ch ...

Thomas Middleditch Thomas Steven Middleditch (born March 10, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Richard Hendricks in the HBO series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019), earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award ...

Reggie Watts Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, actor, beatboxer, and musician. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. Watts refers to himself as a "disinf ...

Reggie Miller Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played his entire 18-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Indiana Pacers. Miller was known for his precision three-p ...

Pedro Pascal José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (born 2 April 1975) is a Chilean and American actor. He began his career guest-starring on various television shows before rising to prominence for portraying Oberyn Martell on the fourth season of the HBO fantasy ...

, and

Jane Levy Jane Colburn Levy ( ; born ) is an American actress. After attending the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, she debuted as the original Mandy Milkovich on the Showtime comedy-drama '' Shameless'' (2011). Levy left ''Shameless'' following its first ...

as themselves

Production

Development

had previously worked with

and approached Schwartz with an idea for a series meant to target a young demographic. He pitched a parody of a morning show based around a co-host whose rejection proposal causes him to spiral. Schwartz also served as the series' director and recruited former

Asssscat The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, ...

improv team member Lapkus as his co-host. Schwartz studied ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' and ''Live with Kelly'' to get a sense of morning talk show format, camera work, and set design. Each episode consisted largely of improvisation. An additional episode of over an hour of improvised bloopers was released as episode seven of the series.

Release

''The Earliest Show'' premiered on Funny Or Die on October 27, 2016, and one episode was released each Tuesday thereafter. The episodes were also released on

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 ...

. Each episode runs for 11 to 13 minutes. Two additional episodes, one of bloopers and one with extended interviews, were also released.

Accolades

Schwartz and Lapkus received 2017 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards nominations for acting in the Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category.

References

External links

''The Earliest Show''
on IMDB
''The Earliest Show''
on Funny or Die {{DEFAULTSORT:Earliest Show, The Funny or Die 2016 web series debuts American comedy web series Improvisational television series