It’s the wide variety of characters, distinctly brought to life, that make this episode as hilarious as it is. They create a whole host of characters, and one of the funniest parts is seeing them switch between characters - and playing each other’s characters - at a moment’s notice. Once they start to act it out, it only keeps getting funnier. The prompt from the selected audience members is funny from the getgo, before Middleditch and Schwartz even have a chance to play around with it. As I sat to watch this, one thing I kept asking myself was how they could make this continuously entertaining and engaging for an entire hour? For the first episode, at least, they definitely found out how.Įntitled Parking Lot Wedding, the first episode is absolute genius. Middleditch and Schwartz take turns becoming different characters, seeing where the story takes them. They unearth narrative points, side characters, and larger goals that all become fuel for the next hour of entertainment - created completely on the spot.
#Middleditch and schwartz series#
They then proceed to ask a series of follow-up questions to get a wider story. Middleditch and Schwartz asks a broad question to the audience, and narrow in on one person’s answer. Three hour-long episodes have dropped on Netflix, filmed in various theaters containing completely improvised shows. Now, Netflix brings that show directly to your living room. Additionally, Middleditch and Schwartz tour the country together performing long-form improvisation comedy shows. Fewer may recognize Thomas Middleditch, though he’s popped up as smaller parts in many things, such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Tag. Many will recognize Ben Schwartz as the ridiculously eccentric Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Recreation, as well as the voice of Sonic in this year’s Sonic the Hedgehog (read Incluvie’s review here). With Netflix’s new miniseries, Middleditch & Schwartz, Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz do just that. It takes incredibly skilled performers to pull off improv if you’re trying to actively keep it funny and engaging, and especially when you’re doing it for an extended period of time. I’ve taken a few acting classes, both in high school and in college, and in those classes we spent time working on improv, utilizing different games to get us in the mindset to be able to create entire characters and scenarios on the spot.
If you're a hardcore improv fan there are flashes of greatness, but the picture overall lacks the level of humor required to make it work consistently.Improv is one of the hardest things to do. I don't envy improv actors, their craft is truly one of the most difficult acting jobs, but Middleditch & Schwartz come across as amateurish throughout. There are only so many laughs to be collected from the fact that the improv actors can't remember a character's name, or facts about a character that had been established prior and this is what comprises most of the laughs in the second half of these episodes. There are good pieces in here, but the format needs more focus and/or more variety. But by the second half of each episode I began to long for the days of Whose Line is it Anyway? where the bits never overstayed their welcome and the participants were infinitely more prepared (an oxymoronic take given the format, but there's no denying the sense one gets that the actors in Whose Line were just quicker-witted overall). Perhaps I'm just not a fan of longform improv. Perhaps the series would have benefitted from being ten minutes longer in order to fit two smaller improv pieces in a single episode. The second half of each episode is peppered with a few funny moments and not much else. The subject matter is simply too threadbare to warrant 50+ minutes each time and the viewer can almost pinpoint when the air starts to let out of the whole thing.
It's towards the middle section of the runtime that the format starts to fall apart. It's a catchy and simple format that starts strong in each episode. Each hourlong episode features a quick Q&A with an audience member at the beginning which forms the basis for that episode's improvisational comedy. Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz showcase some longform improv that's entirely too long in their Netflix special Middleditch & Schwartz.
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