Thomas Middleditch Breaks Out of His ‘Silicon Valley’ Box

The Last Laugh

The Daily Beast

Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Interviews, Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Tv, Movies, Film

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2020

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thomas Middleditch is best known for playing Richard Hendricks on six seasons of HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley.’ Now, he is leaving that ultra-specific persona behind to take on dozens of different characters alongside his friend Ben Schwartz in three new improvised comedy specials for Netflix called—what else?—‘Middleditch & Schwartz.’ In this episode, Thomas breaks down the tricky business of bringing live improv to the screen. Plus, he looks back on his big SNL audition, recalls almost starring in a spinoff of ‘The Office,’ expresses regret over telling ‘Playboy’ that swinging “saved” his marriage and a lot more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Last Laugh.
0:06.0	I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and my guest today is the very funny Thomas Middle Ditch.
0:13.0	As we talk about on this week's episode, Thomas is best known for playing Richard Hendrix for six seasons on HBO's Silicon Valley. He portrays
0:22.6	that awkward tech nerd so well, in fact, that you would be forgiven for thinking he's actually
0:27.8	like that in real life. The desire to break out of that pigeonhole box is why the actor and
0:34.4	comedian is so excited to show the world what else he can do in the three
0:38.8	new improvised specials that premiered this month on Netflix. Thomas has teamed up with
0:45.2	fellow improv comic and previous last laugh guest Ben Schwartz to present Middletch and Schwartz,
0:51.3	their live two-man show that he describes as 90% Improv, 10% Vodgville Act.
0:58.0	Not since Whose Line Is It Anyway, has improv worked this well on screen.
1:03.1	Here's a clip from the opening of one of their three new specials, in which the comedy duo explain how it all works.
1:10.4	That is a good crowd.
1:12.3	Will we disappoint you?
1:14.0	Who knows?
1:15.0	We don't know.
1:16.4	We don't know what will happen.
1:18.3	No. Why, Thomas?
1:19.7	Because this is a completely improvised show.
1:22.0	What does that mean?
1:22.9	Everything's made up.
1:24.1	What do you mean everything's made up?
1:25.6	You say something?
	...

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