Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz

Kickass News

Society & Culture, News

4.3 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2020

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley) and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Rec) talk about their improv training at Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade, the fateful day they joined forces to become the improv team of Middleditch & Schwartz, and how they still get a kick out of trying to make each other crack up on stage. They reveal what it’s like to make-up a 45 minute play as they go along, how they keep as many as 20 characters straight (and even switch characters during a performance), and what happens when one of them ends the sketch, but the other one keeps on going. Then they discuss the transition from doing a performance that exists entirely in the moment to recording them for all eternity for their new Netflix specials. Plus Middleditch and Schwartz talk about their obsession with Daniel Day Lewis, the night they played Carnegie Hall, and more. Their three completely improvised comedy specials Middleditch & Schwartz are now streaming on Netflix. Follow Thomas on Instagram at @Tombini, follow Ben on Twitter at @RejectedJokes, and visit their website www.middleditchandschwartz.com. Please subscribe to Kickass News on Apple Podcasts and follow us on Facebook at Kickass News or on Twitter at @KickassNewsPod. You can also visit www.kickassnews.com for more fun stuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:13.9	Why is it the comedy is just better in pairs?
1:17.5	Abbot in Costello, Laurel in Hardy, Riner in Brooks, Nichols in May, Keane Peel,
1:23.6	and then there's my guest today, Middle-Ditch in Schwartz.
1:27.6	Both of them have achieved fame in their own right.
1:30.4	Thomas Middle-Ditch has Richard Hendrix on HBO's Silicon Valley and Ben Schwartz
1:35.4	as Jean Raphael Saperstein on Parks and Rec.
1:38.8	But when they get together on stage, something magical happens.
1:43.2	Without so much as a script, an outline, or a single stage direction,
1:47.9	these masters of improvisation play off of each other so seamlessly,
	...

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