‘After Midnight’ Says Goodnight: Comics Reflect on the Show That Let Them Be Weird

Photos: CBS

When After Midnight signs off for the last time at 1:37am tonight, it will mark the end of a bold experiment in institutional silliness—one that began its life on Comedy Central as @midnight with Chris Hardwick over five seasons from 2013-2017, and was reborn some seven years later on CBS with host Taylor Tomlinson. 

Like so many of its other regular viewers, we here at LateNighter will miss the show, but the dozens of funny folks who appeared as contestants will almost certainly miss it more. 

We reached out to a handful of those guest comedians with some simple prompts to get their  thoughts. What we got back ranged from the hilarious to the heartfelt. (Responses have been edited for length and clarity.)

What was great/unique about the show? Especially as a showcase for you and funny people you like.  

Paul F. Tompkins (10 appearances/5 wins): 
I was thrilled that this show was being brought back and revamped. I was so flattered to be  asked to do the new show. For me it was especially meaningful because I didn’t know if I’d  ever be on television as a comedian ever again. There haven’t been any real showcases for  comics on TV for a while now and soon there won’t be again. It’s sad! But it was really great  while it lasted.  

The crew and writers were the best. Everyone really seemed to be having a ball there, and you  could really feel it as soon as you set foot in the building. They all made us feel funny and  comfortable and taken care of, and they also let us be as spontaneous as we wanted to be. We  could come up with bits during the show, even on the fly. There was no rigidity to it. They  wanted it to be as funny as the comedians wanted it to be. 

Lisa Gilroy (4 appearances/1 win): 
After Midnight was a McDonald’s play place for comedians; it’s a little dirty and doesn’t have a  ton of bells and whistles, but boy oh boy is it fun as hell. and we’re playing in it unsupervised, so you could even hold someone’s head under the ball pit for a long time and not get in trouble. 

Guy Branum (7 appearances/2 wins): 
After Midnight was the rare reboot that didn’t feel like a walking corpse. Taylor, head writer Jo Firestone, producers Stephen and Evie Colbert, everyone involved worked to create a space  that was open to all the beauty and chaos the contestants onstage could bring. The show  never stopped evolving, never stopped trying to find new ways of having fun. Booker Marianne  Ways slapping Tom Sandoval, Bob the Drag Queen and Dylan Efron on one episode? The  show tried to make magic every night, and it frequently did. 

Marcella Arguello (5 appearances /2 wins): 
It’s almost impossible to find spaces, let alone tv shows, that encourage you to be your full self  as a performer and comedian, and that is what has made this show incredibly special. Comedy  is subjective, and most audiences only want what’s best for themselves, when in reality what’s  best for everyone is a wide array of comedic entertainment that gives you exactly what you’re  not expecting! The staff and crew were exceptional – especially when they were kept on their  toes. Thank you to everyo,ne but I really want to give a loving shout out to Jo Firestone’s hot  brother. 

Kurt Braunohler (8 appearances/0 wins): 
It was the only show on network TV that regularly promoted stand-ups. That’s such a huge deal.  We’re not all celebrities—the overwhelming majority of working comedians are only known by a group of devoted fans. And to be given a national stage to be funny on, that is such a cool  thing for the comedy community. It will be missed. Remember CBS, you can always bring back  my IFC comedy game show from 2012, BUNK. I promise to not wear shoes, which is what  America badly needs right now: a white man with no shoes hosting a late-night show. 

Maria Bamford (7 appearances/2 wins):  
Taylor Tomlinson and Jo Firestone and the entire crew made TV show taping the most fun, most low pressure  and inviting writing and performing experience I’ve ever had. Joy comes from the top down,  and the vibe was consistently delightful, welcoming, and enthusiastic to whatever the comics brought to the show.  

They allowed everyone to do exactly what they do best—bringing their exact sense of  humor to the show without the sometimes invisible censorship that grows out in high-pressure,  highly-produced shows where there is less room for surprise and improvisation (from shyer comics like myself anyways). I always felt encouraged to “Take the Stage”! That is very unusual  and a lovely feeling. 

Jerry O’Connell (3 appearances/0 wins): 
It was like getting ready for a game. You come in, meet with your coach/producer, come up with  a game plan and WIN. I never actually “won,” but boy-did-I-have-fun-losing. GREAT  ENVIRONMENT! 

Irene Tu (3 appearances/0 wins): 
The best part of After Midnight was never knowing what was going to happen on the show.  Sure, there were “games” and “rules,” but the points were arbitrary and the goal was just to be  funny. Or at least that’s what I tell myself as a three-time loser of the show. And the final games  were absurd. No other show is having you guess if a guy is named Chris or Nick to win a bunch  of Tupperware lids. 

Dave Hill (1 appearance/0 wins): 
After Midnight has so far been the only late night network show with the temerity to book me.  And for this I am forever grateful. Also, they put really good snacks in my dressing room, which  is the main reason I got into show business. 

Chris Fleming (5 appearances/0 wins): 
Usually you go into these shows thinking they’re gonna try to rein you in, but every single  person who worked there encouraged us to do ANYTHING we wanted and they really meant it.  [Talent producer] Maddy Martin would call me and say “of course!” to ANY whim. I’m so so  grateful for it, every single time was such a positive experience. 

Thoughts about Taylor Tomlinson? Anyone else on the production team? 

Maria Bamford: 
Taylor is the best! She ran a fun, light, really supportive, but tight ship, and any comedian I know  who got a chance to be involved had a wonderful time. 

Guy Branum: 
Taylor is an amazing comic, she has been since she was young, and she’s never stopped  growing. She had the stage acumen to step into the show and run it like a pro from the  beginning. She had the authority, speed, and charm late night has always been looking for… It is fascinating to me that she chose to step away from the show, and it says so much  about how comedy is changing, how media is changing, and what the future of stand up looks  like. I don’t know WHAT it says, but it says a bunch of stuff. 

Kurt Braunohler: 
I’ve known Taylor for years! She’s just so good. Her real skill is an effortless performance style that  masks obsessively written material. Her tags have tags, man. And there’s not a word wasted. I  love that kind of efficiency in joke writing. Plus she’s a legitimately nice person? Which is WILD  in this business. “

Paul F. Tompkins: 
My first appearance on After Midnight happened in the very first week—maybe the second  episode? And I was struck by how at home Taylor already was. Hosting is a skill and not a lot  of people have the natural gift for it, but Taylor does. She was immediately in command and  welcoming on screen and off. 

Lisa Gilroy: 
Taylor is a queen and the perfect person to have at the helm. Her energy is equal parts captain  of the ship but also mermaid on the rocks—she’s in charge but you don’t know if she’s going  to keep you in line or steer you towards chaos. I’m so scared of her and so in love with her.  

Funny women RULE the show—Jo Firestone and Caroline Ulwick and Nori Reed and Sophie Buddle and so many  of the writers are down to play and collaborate in a way that you really don’t see very often.  People seem to be genuinely enjoying their jobs and making each other laugh. The energy is  infectious. It’s a very special place overflowing with wildly talented freakazoids. 

Dave Hill: 
Taylor Tomlinson, Jo Firestone, and Marianne Ways are all absolutely delightful! 

Chris Fleming: 
I was so blown away by Taylor every time. She has such presence. Irreplaceable. Jo is  amazing. Maddy worked SO much with me and respected my bullsh*t way more than I deserved—they were all so artist-friendly, it was insane. I’d be texting pictures to Maddy of the  demon baby I was building for a sketch being like “do you think it should have a soul patch?”  “Of course it should!” I kinda went into the whole thing thinking how can I go rogue and  sneak stuff in, but I never had to because they were so cooperative and creative. A lot of us are  quite sad that it’s over because it really felt anomalous to other shows in the sense that they  respected us and wanted us to try sh*t out. Sharon [Everitt] is an absolute dream of a director.  And writer Sam Taggart is my muse. 

Guy Branum: 
Oh, and f*cking Percy Rustomji, the warm up guy. Truly the greatest showman in Los Angeles.  He’d do kick lines every day, he did the full choreo to “Be Our Guest” before every show, and  Taylor and everyone on that show respected that he was the greatest showman there. They  knew the key to a great comedy show is a great warm up comic, and Percy bled every day to  give that show his energy. 

Chris Fleming: 
Percy deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award for keeping that audience juiced—he created a  really trippy energy where you could do stuff that no normal studio audience would even  recognize as humor and they’d laugh anyway. 

Maria Bamford: 
Percy the warmup comic is an epic performer, and I hope there is a show built entirely on his glorious pep!! 

Any favorite memories?  

Paul F. Tompkins: 
I had a great time every time I did the show. My two favorite memories would be Tom Lennon  and I standing on increasingly higher boxes next to giant Joe Manganiello and getting taller  and taller with each segment… 

…and when Greta Titleman immediately sank a nothing-but-net bucket during the After  Midnight Mania finals. Greta, Bob the Drag Queen and I practiced for 20-30 minutes before  taping and assumed we’d each go at least twice before someone got one in and Greta just  threw it in there first thing.  

Marcella Arguello: 
My favorite memory is when I lost the first time and I was asked to get back on the floor after  commercial break. So many people online hated that I did that and it only made it funnier.  

Guy Branum: 
On my first episode, I was playing with Marcella Arguello and Lisa Gilroy, and both of them are so funny, so  energetic, and from my first moments on that stage, I knew I had to use every bit of wit and  capability I had to keep up. That’s one of the best feelings as a comic. 

Getting tipsy in the green room, because they knew it made for a smoother show, forcing Sam  Taggart to help me write new jokes for my answers, then having him point out that the writers  had already written that punchline. Feeling, generally, as though I were family. 

Kurt Braunohler: 
One of the early episodes, there was a bit where, if you lost, you were supposed to call  someone and tell them you lost. And so I asked Taylor if I could get kicked off the show first  because I had an idea for a bit. (I’m sorry I’m pulling back the curtain and revealing it’s not a  real game show!) She was kindly up for it. And when I lost, I called my wife to tell her. And we  had agreed that she’d make me tell our 6 year-old – you know, that I had failed as a father. And  let’s just say it turned out better than we could have imagined. 

Chris Fleming: 
I really enjoyed any time Taylor slapped me on air.

After Midnight‘s series finale airs on CBS tonight at 12:37am and will stream the next day on Paramount+.