![]() 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. 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 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. Provided that improv is your bag, it speaks to the bizarre places a single tale can go when it's not planned.Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz showcase some longform improv that's entirely too long in their Netflix special Middleditch & Schwartz. "Middleditch & Schwartz" captures the spirit of improv across its three episodes, in watching two friends crack each other up, find a narrative together, and show off their shared knack for characters, voices, and comedy. “Middleditch & Schwartz” has a fluidity that can balance the effect of the two sharing the frame together, as you might see them on stage, but also give their character even more emphasis with a close-up, as you’d only see because of a camera. As you watch it, the series' biggest laughs and comedic beats land as if a full production had planned them, but we're reminded by their sporadic fumbling through fake names (always endearing) that this was all obviously made up. One of the greatest accomplishments of this three-episode series is not immediately noticeable-the stage production’s swift visual transition into a medium that offers multiple points-of-views and editing. Improv is one of the hardest things to do. With only two chairs as their props, Middleditch & Schwartz bounce between different people, like when creating a dysfunctional wedding party in episode one, “Parking Lot Wedding.” And then there’s the secret door subplot that dominates law school anxieties in the second episode, “Law School Magic.” Or there’s the third episode, “Dream Job,” which requires them to even break character and refresh themselves on everything that had happened-a breaking of character that isn’t out of character (so to speak) for the two comedians. Middleditch & Schwartz: Completely Improvised But Not Completely Hilarious. ![]() With each episode starting off with a prompt received from the audience (each time it’s “What’s something coming up that you’re worried about?”), it’s a delight to see the two build multiple characters out of a real person’s woes, and then treat it with wacky plot turns like an author gradually losing their touch with reality. You simply can’t review improv the way you would a scripted production, but the series excels within the form's different rules: it’s funny, it’s sharp, and the energy of the performers is as exciting as their creativity. ![]()
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