Inside Comedy

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Inside Comedy
Created by David Steinberg
Presented by David Steinberg
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 36
Production
Executive producer(s) David Steinberg
Steve Carell
Vance DeGeneres
Charlie Hartsock
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) Carousel Productions
Sunset Point Productions
Showtime Networks
Release
Original network Showtime
Picture format 1080i (16:9 HDTV)
Original release January 26, 2012 (2012-01-26) –
present
External links
Website

Inside Comedy is an American television interview program on Showtime hosted and directed by David Steinberg. During each episode, Steinberg interviews popular comedians from the worlds of stand-up, television, and film, showing clips from their careers. The show's first season ran from January 26 to March 29, 2012. Its second season premiered on February 11, 2013,[1] and ended on April 15, 2013. The third season aired from February 3[2] to April 7, 2014. The first three seasons each consisted of 10 episodes. The fourth season had six episodes, premiering May 5, 2015,[3] and ending June 9.

Production

Inside Comedy was initially intended as a feature-length documentary to be produced by Steve Carell and interviewer David Steinberg.[4] Steinberg and Carell's company, Carousel Productions, raised several million dollars and began filming interviews.[4] After it was decided that too much footage was shot for one film, the project was picked up as a television series by the Showtime cable TV network.[4]

Episodes

Season Episodes Season premiere Season finale
1 10 January 26, 2012 (2012-01-26) March 30, 2012 (2012-03-30)
2 10 February 11, 2013 (2013-02-11) April 15, 2013 (2013-04-15)
3 10 February 3, 2014 (2014-02-03) April 7, 2014 (2014-04-07)
4 6 May 5, 2015 (2015-05-05) June 9, 2015 (2015-06-09)

Season 1 (2012)

Inside Comedy season 1 episodes
No. # Guest(s) Original air date
1 1 Don Rickles & Jerry Seinfeld January 26, 2012
2 2 Chris Rock February 2, 2012
3 3 Steve Carell & Jane Lynch February 9, 2012
4 4 Billy Crystal, Martin Short, & Brad Garrett February 16, 2012
5 5 Larry David February 23, 2012
6 6 Sarah Silverman & Garry Shandling March 2, 2012
7 7 Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner March 9, 2012
8 8 Ellen DeGeneres & Tim Conway March 16, 2012
9 9 Kathy Griffin & Steven Wright March 23, 2012
10 10 Robin Williams & Jonathan Winters March 30, 2012

Season 2 (2013)

Inside Comedy season 2 episodes
No. # Guest(s) Original air date
11 1 Louis C.K. & Bob Newhart February 11, 2013
12 2 Judd Apatow & Tina Fey February 18, 2013
13 3 Drew Carey & Martin Mull February 25, 2013
14 4 Steve Martin & Lily Tomlin March 4, 2013
15 5 Jim Carrey & Keenen Ivory Wayans March 11, 2013
16 6 Will Ferrell & Betty White March 18, 2013
17 7 Susie Essman & Carol Burnett March 25, 2013
18 8 Ben Stiller & Mike Myers April 1, 2013
19 9 Robert Klein & Bill Maher April 8, 2013
20 10 Robert Schimmel April 15, 2013

Season 3 (2014)

Inside Comedy season 3 episodes
No. # Guest(s) Original air date
21 1 Jimmy Fallon & Zach Galifianakis February 3, 2014
22 2 Alan Arkin & Jonah Hill February 10, 2014
23 3 Bette Midler & Richard Belzer February 17, 2014
24 4 Andrew Dice Clay & Kevin Nealon February 24, 2014
25 5 Bob Einstein & Eric Idle March 3, 2014
26 6 Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Dick Van Dyke March 10, 2014
27 7 Gary Marshall, Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele March 17, 2014
28 8 Richard Lewis & Gilbert Gottfried March 24, 2014
29 9 Fred Willard & Catherine O'Hara March 31, 2014
30 10 Kevin Pollak, Bob Saget, & Larry Miller April 7, 2014

Season 4 (2015)

Inside Comedy season 4 episodes
No. # Guest(s) Original air date
31 1 Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart May 5, 2015 (2015-05-05)
32 2 Michael Keaton & Dan Aykroyd May 12, 2015 (2015-05-12)
33 3 Bryan Cranston & Carol Leifer May 19, 2015 (2015-05-19)
34 4 Ted Danson & Wanda Sykes May 26, 2015 (2015-05-26)
35 5 Cheech & Chong (Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong) & Dane Cook June 2, 2015 (2015-06-02)
36 6 Conan O'Brien & Jeffrey Tambor June 9, 2015 (2015-06-09)

Steinberg has also filmed interviews with Stephen Fry, Bonnie Hunt, David Koechner, Jon Lovitz, Kathy Najimy, Paula Poundstone, and Tommy Smothers.[5]

Reception

The show's first season garnered generally positive reviews from critics. Nancy deWolf Smith of The Wall Street Journal praised Steinberg for his interviewing: "He does not focus on himself but is exquisitely tuned in to his subjects, many of whom he knows well. This seems to have relaxed some of his guests to the point where they appear more natural, and less switched on—as entertaining as that can be—than they are with other interviewers."[6] Eric Gould of The Phoenix commented that "Steinberg's sly, understated style gave us a brilliant glimpse into comedy minds put on the spot, and artists at the top of the heap."[7]

Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times applauded the editing exhibited in the show's premiere episode: "Mr. Seinfeld and Mr. Rickles are interviewed separately, and what makes the episode so satisfying is the way their interviews are spliced together and enhanced with clips."[8]

At the outset of the show's second season, Don Steinberg of The Wall Street Journal commended the host's talent for interviewing: "Mr. Steinberg has an easy rapport with subjects. He stays out of their way as they jump to the good stuff, the things you imagine comedy people talk to other comedy people about."[4]

References

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External links