On July 18, 2017, Comedy Central, Chris Hardwick, and Funny or Die mutually agreed to end @midnight with Chris Hardwick.[7] The final episode, the 600th, aired on August 4, 2017.[8] In February 2023, it was reported that Comedy Central's current sister broadcast network CBS was considering a revival of @midnight to serve as a replacement for The Late Late Show after the end of James Corden's tenure. On November 1, 2023, executive producer Stephen Colbert announced Taylor Tomlinson will be the host of the rebooted panel talk show, rebranded as After Midnight, accounting for the 12:30am timeslot.
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 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.[9] Other games run daily include "Hashtag Wars" in which contestants buzz in with a phrase based on the given hashtag theme, and where fans can submit their own tweets which may show up in the game,[10] and "Live Challenges" where the contestants write their answers over the commercial break. Hardwick would shout "Points!" and give the contestants arbitrary amounts.[10]
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)"[11] 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".[11]
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 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 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 eBayThe Price Is Right style.
Etsy Pitchmen: The panelists write taglines to boost the appeal of bizarre Etsy 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 videos.
Iron Sheik: Real or Jabroni: Chris reads a topic that The Iron Sheik 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 dating profile description of a Juggalo is real.
Linked Out: The panelists come up with ridiculous job titles that one might find on LinkedIn.
Name That Vine: The panelists name the shown Vine video.
Photobomb: The panelists decide if an edited out photobomb 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 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 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.
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.[12][13]
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.[1]
In February 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that CBS (which, following the re-merger of CBS Corporation with Viacom, had once again became a sister to Comedy Central) was considering a revival of the series to replace The Late Late Show, after James Corden concluded his tenure on the program later in the year. The network had explored replacing the Late Late Show franchise with other, more cost-effective concepts besides a traditional late-night talk show. The report indicated that Stephen Colbert (who hosts its lead-in The Late Show, and formerly hosted Comedy Central's The Colbert Report) would serve as executive producer, and that Hardwick would not be involved.[15] Pre-production of the series was halted due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.[16]
In a June 2023 panel hosted by Deadline, CBS CEO George Cheeks stated that the network wanted to "experiment and try new things" in the post-Late Show timeslot, and explained of Colbert's involvement that "in a world when you're trying so hard to sort of drive awareness of the show's launch, to have Colbert, the number one late-night show, as executive producer and the integrated support he's going to have, because he's actually invested in the success of the show."[16] On November 1, 2023, CBS announced the revival under the title After Midnight for a premiere on January 16, 2024, with Jack Martin retained as showrunner alongside Eric Pierce.[17] On that night's episode of The Late Show, Colbert subsequently revealed stand-up comedian Taylor Tomlinson as the show's new host.[18]
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, E!'s Chelsea Lately, and TBS's The Pete Holmes Show.[19] It also had the youngest audience of any late-night television show.[20]
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 as the most-watched late-night program on cable in the 18–34 demographic.[21]
