News – Page 98 – The Comedy Bureau

Please Enjoy the Fantastically Absurd First Episode of Three Busy Debras

March 30, 2020

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The Three Busy Debras, Sandy Honig, Mitra Jouhari, and Alyssa Stonoha, have always been hysterical with their fantastical, absurd, and satirically feminist with their sketches over the years (or that one time where they got to play Carnegie Hall).

Thus, we were thrilled to find out that they were getting a full-fledged, live action Adult Swim series and have been hotly anticipating it for all the months since we heard the announcement.

Three Busy Debras premiered last night on Adult Swim and completely lived up to their reputation of keeping things silly and subversive, pointing a chic, well-lit mirror right back at the patriarchy. It certainly it takes you to whole other world that is so wonderfully bonkers that you’ll maybe forget, for 10 minutes, about the one you currently live in.

So, with all of that said, enjoy the first episode of Three Busy Debras for FREE here at AdultSwim.com.

Late Night’s Back (Sort of)

March 30, 2020

News

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Though Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah, and Jimmy Fallon have all being doing various bits from the comfort of their own homes for the last couple of weeks, it would seem that the lion’s share of late night talk/panel shows are returning starting tomorrow.

Already, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee did an entire episode on TBS from the woods of Sam Bee’s home with their aid of her husband Jason Jones and her kids, complete with remote segments and remote interviews. Last Week Tonight just aired an episode shot from Oliver’s house, but it seemed to maintain the tone, energy, vibe, and even look of the original show.

Through very clever set-ups that will feature perhaps the smallest crews (maybe 1 or 2 people max?) and monologue jokes and bits written and submitted remotely from writers that are maintaining sheltering at home and social distancing, the likes of Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Desus & Mero, and A Little Late with Lilly Singh will return tonight at their regularly scheduled times.

We’ll really get to see how far the quality of a video shot on mobile devices and via video conferencing will really go on broadcast TV, but, no matter what happens, any shred of normalcy is more than welcome right now. Thus far, many of the bits from Conan along with the monologues from Colbert, Kimmel, and Meyers maintain a lot of the integrity from a typical episode of their show, just without a fancy set and professional grade broadcast quality cameras.

All things considered, this might be a quietly historic night of television in establishing a hopefully temporary new normal for the first wave of TV shows to return to air/production.

If we had to take a guess, the future late night in general will very likely be done more remotely and venture outside of the studio or involve video conferencing/live streaming way more than they have in the past when all is said and done with staying indoors.

Since Grant Lyon’s Album Release Parties for “Scheduled Fun Time” Got Cancelled, He Made a Digital One

March 27, 2020

News

album release party, comedy album, grant lyon, stand up comedy

As everything involving people gathering got shut down a few weeks ago, performers of all kinds, set to put on shows on all throughout March and April, had to reconfigure everything and drastically dive into rescheduling, postponing, etc. When it comes to the prospect of releasing your new comedy album with accompanying live release shows, one might have to get pretty clever with how to go forward in these times.

Thus, Grant Lyon, who did indeed release a brand new stand-up comedy album Scheduled Fun Time this week, was unable to do the multiple album release shows that he intended to do right around now. Instead, he made a digital release party complete with a vast line-up of guests and some truly great stories about Grant, all stitched together from videos shot remotely and clips of their stand-up from the before times.

On Lyon’s release show are the likes of Cameron Esposito, Jake Weisman, Brent Weinbach, Dave Ross, Zach Sherwin, Shane Mauss, Ryan O’Flanagan, Dave Waite, Mitch Burrow, and so many more. We don’t all get to be a single venue to hear all of this together, but this still is quite the release show given the circumstances.

Please enjoy all 45 min. of Grant Lyon’s Album Release Party Show here.

Also, go get the aforementioned album Scheduled Fun Time by Grant Lyon that was the impetus for this digital release party. Lyon shows off his meticulous crafting of observational humor as well as having one of the best stories about being a comedian winning in court of all time. Get/listen to Scheduled Fun Time here.

“Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss” Trailer Hints at a Dark, Yet Fun “Cult” Comedy

March 27, 2020

News

dan harmon, kate micucci, taika waititi

Having played the festival circuit two years ago, Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss from director Vivieno Caldinelli and writers Clayton Hewitson, Christopher Hewitson, and Justin Jones came out last week, online of course (at Amazon), as a curious, dark (yet slightly upbeat?) comedy. It follows a couples’ new home that also seems to be a site for a cult’s ritual suicide. Rather than pack everything back into boxes, they opt to stick around and maybe help the cult members in their journey? A nice, absurdist premise could be pretty handy right now.

Featuring a very robust cast of comedy favorites including a star turn from Kate Micucci as well as Dan Harmon, Taika Waititi, Maria Bamford, Dana Gould, Mark McKinney, and more, the trailer for Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss has our curiosity peaked. See for yourself here.

If anything, seeing Taika Waititi as a cult leader is an oddly refreshing image.

Desus & Mero Return to Air (from Home) on Showtime This Coming Monday

March 26, 2020

News

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Desus & Mero are joining in the rest of ranks of late night by continuing to tape new episodes, but doing so outside of their studios from the comfort of their own homes without an audience. They’ll be back on their normal schedule of 11PM on Mondays and Thursdays on Showtime starting March 30th.

The duo of Desus Nice and The Kid Mero pretty much just riff back and forth for the majority of their episodes (partially with a guest) and, from the looks of it, that will definitely remain intact in this remotely done version of their groundbreaking late night show.

Also, it looks you’ll get a sneak peek into Desus’ sneaker collection.

All of TCB’s Old Posts, Going Back to 2010, Are Finally Here

March 26, 2020

News

In launching TCB 3.0, you might have noticed that much of our old content that all lived off of Tumblr had not transitioned over to this brand new spiffy site yet. Well, that has a little to do with the fact that there were almost 17,000 posts (going all the way back to 2010) to transfer and we had the feeling that was going to take some time that we didn’t have a month ago.

These days, we definitely had some time and now, all of our old stuff is finally here! So, feel free to peruse the thousands upon thousands of news items, album and specials write-ups, featured short films and sketches, etc. etc. that we’ve (Jake Kroeger) posted for the last decade.

We have no doubt it’ll be a great way to pass the time as well as revisit more innocent times free of Trump and COVID-19.

Definitely, if you’re looking for stuff to watch/listen to/read/consume, our 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2019 is a fantastic place to start.

Please Get David Venhuizen’s Marvelously Silly Debut Album “Barn Door Open”

March 26, 2020

News

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David Venhuizen has always stuck to his guns of being one of the abjectly sillier comedians in the LA scene for as long as we’ve seen him go up. His commitment to his bits, never breaking is something to behold.

While listening to this debut album, Barn Door Open, we were reminded of that fact that in the 10 or so years that we’ve seen Venhuizen go up around town, we’ve never seen him break even though the progression of his bits are so absurd and out of nowhere and truly go to places that you don’t expect. Often, he’ll start from a very grounded, organic place of very specific observations of his life, but David then oscillates to something fantastical or meta or even shout a rant that’s also joyfully out of left field.

Thus, Barn Door Open, really is a journey of a comedy album that will definitely make you enjoy forgetting about getting to any sort of destination (though there is one and it usually is very silly even when Venhuizen gets vulnerable near the end of the hour).

So, go get Barn Door Open, available now, here on Apple Music.

Justin Roiland’s Latest Series “Solar Opposites” Gets a Teaser

March 26, 2020

News

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While you’re waiting for new episodes of Rick & Morty, well, actually, while you’re waiting for a lot of stuff to get back to the way they were, it’s nice to know that Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland has a new animated series on the way, Solar Opposites, coming to Hulu.

In fact, Solar Opposites doesn’t seem to be all that far off from Rick & Morty (maybe living in one of the other universes within the Rick & Morty-verse). It follows an alien family trying they best they can to acclimatize to earth, but, of course, dealing with all the sorts of chaos Roiland has founded his entire career on. Intergalactic warfare, zombie outbreaks, a plethora of jauntily named fictional creatures, and plenty of family squabbling are all part of this new show.

See all of that and enjoy the teaser here, then look for the series premiere of Solar Opposites on Hulu, starting May 8th (even though we’ll probably be let out of our houses at that point).

Moontower Comedy Festival Rescheduled for Sept. 16th-19th

March 25, 2020

News, Uncategorized

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Large gatherings/events of all kinds all over the world in March and April got cancelled and postponed due to COVID-19. Even this year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo might get pushed back. Certainly, live comedy has had to take a pause right along with the rest of the world.

Inevitably, the postponements will get followed up by rescheduling (which we ought to note might be subject to change as everything currently is). Still, it’s hopeful to hear that Austin’s big time annual comedy shindig, The Moontower Comedy Festival is, for now, set to return Wed. Sept. 16th- Sat. Sept. 19th. Hopefully, by then (even before then would be better), there will be some relative return to normalcy and going out and gathering with folks will be allowed again.

Line-up, tickets, and specifics have yet to be announced, but we will absolutely keep you updated.

Ian Abramson Truly Did a Live Episode of SNL by Himself Via Twitch and It Was Glorious

March 25, 2020

News

In these times of being sheltered at home, comedians of all kinds have very, very, VERY quickly pivoted to the technology that had been, perhaps, waiting for them, livestreaming. Livestreaming comedy of all kinds has pervaded the platforms of Instagram, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live, and even the mainly-meant-for-business-meetings video-conferencing platform, Zoom over the last week.

With this new wave of digital/virtual comedy, it would seem that comedy has been dropkicked into the not so distant future and thus, lots of very funny people are figuring out how to adjust to not having a live audience, doing things remotely, switching between feeds, etc. etc.

Always one for a high concept, high risk bit, Ian Abramson took it upon himself to do an entire episode of Saturday Night Live solo (well, with the help of pre-taped sketches from Sarah Squirm, Nick Ciarelli & Brad Evans, Tommy McNamara, and more and even a Weekend Update with Tim Barnes playing both Colin Jost and Michael Che) last Saturday. Even without dealing with the self-isolation forced by a global pandemic, that’s a mighty tall order, but undeniably intriguing. Add the anxiety of said global pandemic and there’s something even more special about Abramson’s daring attempt a feat that already seemed impossible and just got made harder.

Abramson went live on Twitch pretty much on time at 8:30PM PST and truly did an episode of Saturday Night Live with opening credits and pre-taped sketches in between, scurrying between performing, changing costumes, and flipping the feeds between live camera and pre-loaded segments. Yes, there were technically difficulties, but that only perfectly accents the times we’re living in and adds to the charm of what Abramson was doing here. The DIY-ness of it all, the meta look of what it takes to do an entire TV broadcast by oneself (you really did get to see Ian’s desktop throughout the broadcast), the entire chaotic nature of moments like having Ian having half his face painted like Anderson Cooper and the other half painted like Trump in order to do a version of SNL’s cold open is astounding and spellbinding and, more importantly, so damn funny.

We’d like to think that Ian’s gumption for this might recall the early days of SNL when things were uncertain, performers were diving in without much experience of what exactly they were getting into, and everything was done with abandon. Saturday Night Quarantine with Ian Abramson is just one of the things that we’ll have to look at closely when going forward with live sketch comedy after these strange times are past us.

Saturday Night Quarantine with Ian Abramson is going to go live once again at 8:30PM PST this Saturday at Ian’s Twitch here.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and Last Week Tonight Also Set to Return via Taping at Home

March 25, 2020

News

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Already, you’ve seen the likes of late night hosts Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon all keep the wheels of their late night empires spinning by getting really creative and taping episodes remotely, often utilizing videos shot on their smartphones or tablets.

Joining them will be Full Frontal with Samantha Bee who had already been taping segments from her home in the woods (and calling it Little Show in the Big Woods) and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver who will be taping remotely from his own home as well. These episodes will air in the usual time slots, Sam Bee on Wednesdays at 10:30PM on TBS and Oliver going on Sundays at 11PM on HBO.

Both are airing this Wednesday and Sunday, respectively, just another sign of a new (hopefully temporary) normal of how TV is made and still brought to us in a somewhat familiar way.

Also, as a silver lining, seeing late night’s host have to incorporate their family into their bits is a bit heartwarming.

This Teaser for Hulu’s The Great Seems Like Spiritual Sequel to The Favourite

March 24, 2020

News

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There’s a certain mischievous panache to Hulu’s upcoming historical comedy that reimagines the rise of Catherine the Great aptly titled, The Great. If you watch this teaser and see said panache and are even somewhat reminded of the fantastic satirical historical comedy The Favourite, that might have something to do with The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara being at the helm here.

Given that this is also following a struggle for power by a very clever woman at a time centuries ago when women were afforded much much less equality than now, this very easily could be considered as a sequel of sorts to The Favourite. Also, we could it seeing being a spiritual prequel to Death of Stalin with the bits of sharp dialogue we’ve gotten to see thus far.

In any case, we’ll be looking forward to seeing The Great drop on Hulu on Fri. May 15th.

Please Enjoy This Latest Short from The Dress Up Gang “A Day with Demorge”

March 24, 2020

News

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Not only is this a marvelous short from The Dress Up Gang (NOTE: TBS continues to keep their show on their shelf even though this is an even better time to put their entire brilliant series out on some sort platform) starring DeMorge Brown that is so playfully strange and offbeat, but it has absolutely nothing to do with COVID-19.

Enjoy 5 minutes and then some of DeMorge being an absolute joy and The Dress Up Gang nailing the weird minutia of daily life with A Day with DeMorge here.

Comedy Quarantine Is Becoming a Nightly Stand-up Livestream (That Allows You to Pay Comedians Performing)

March 24, 2020

News

comedy quarantine, live stream

The very first @ComedyQuarantine offered dozens and dozens of the best comedians in and around LA to not only perform and give all of us a bit of a break, but get a chance to get so much needed support as so much work has dried up.

Now, what we thought might have been a one-off livestream is going to become a nightly one, Monday-Friday, bringing more of LA comedy’s favorites that, up until two weeks ago were performing at the plethora of weekly stand-up shows all around town. Last night’s line-up was pretty stellar including The Puterbaugh Sisters, Casey Ley, Clark Jones, and Molly Ruben-Long.

Tune in to @ComedyQuarantine on Instagram Live (and also check who’s playing on their IG feed) with hosts Teresa Lee and Barbara Gray Mon.-Fri. at 7PM PST/10PM EST with new line-ups every single night.

Please Enjoy The Puterbaugh Sisters’ Delightfully Demented Web Series “Kitchen Women”

March 23, 2020

News

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The wondrous comedy duo, The Puterbaugh Sisters, have just released their latest work, a madcap feminist satirical web series Kitchen Women. Danielle and Tiffany Puterbaugh revisit life as a woman in the 50s, back when the notion of women belonging in the kitchen was unfortunately all too commonplace.

Fortunately, they revisit such times with a darkly comedic lens highlighting the cracks in the veneer of such a life fettered with broken glass and vodka. There is plenty of hysterical bedlam (as well as plenty of cameos by LA comedy favorites like Marcella Arguello, Ever Mainard, and more) through all six episodes.

So, without further adieu, please enjoy all episodes of The Puterbaugh Sisters‘ Kitchen Women here.

First Look of Return of Reno 911 at Quibi

March 23, 2020

News

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If the intriguing short form streaming service Quibi indeed gets to launch next month as planned, we’ll all get to see the return of Reno 911, the beloved parody of long running docu-series Cops.

Looks like the whole cast is back in action and their dynamic is picking up right where they left off. See for yourself in this sneak peek here.

As it stands right now, the current launch date for Quibi is April 6th, but, as with everything right now, that is subject to change.

Hot Tub with Kurt & Kristen Is Back On! (via Livestream)

March 23, 2020

News

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One of the pillars of LA comedy is the amazing, weekly Monday (mostly) stand-up show, Hot Tub with Kurt & Kristen. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to plenty of suspensions of live comedy shows across the board right now leading to a big wave of livestreaming, especially in the last week.

Thus, Hot Tub is joining in, starting tonight, on said wave, thankfully, at its same time, 8PM on Mondays with yet another fantastic line-up. In fact, it might be the first time that Hot Tub has ever done this and this might be the first live comedy show in LA to return via livestreaming.

This first livestreamed Hot Tub has a line-up of:

Ian Abramson
Dana Donnelly
Chris Garcia
Maya May
Caleb Synan
Sarah Tollemache
Nick Turner
Nick Ciarelli and Brad Evans

You’ll just have to watch it on Twitch at 8PM PDT/11PM EST. Tune in via Twitch here: http://bit.ly/hottubstream. Also, they’ll be taking donations during the show via Twitch, but you can donate to the comedians performing before the show here.

Poster by Adrienne Lobl

What We Do in the Shadows Season 2’s Full Trailer Is Here

March 20, 2020

News

The return of What We Do in The Shadows is a few weeks away and, as such, we’re getting more of a taste of what they’ve got up their ruffled sleeves and damn it looks fun. Not only do you have Nandor, Nadia, Lazlo, and Guillermo trying their very best, but still falling short of being exemplary vampires, but we’re really looking forward to seeing “energy vampire” Colin Robinson’s evolution with intentionally bad jokes.

See all of this for yourself in the full season 2 trailer for What We Do In The Shadows here. Look for it on FX starting Wed. Apr. 15th.

“It Started As A Joke” Documentary About Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival Gets a Trailer and Apr. 3rd Release Date

March 20, 2020

News, Uncategorized

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As you quickly work through binging stuff you had been thinking about watching for weeks, months, years in these weird times, you undoubtedly will be looking forward to something entirely new to watch.

Unless you managed to catch It Started as a Joke at SXSW last year, there will be a never-before-seen insiders look into the decade long run of the beloved Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, helmed by, of course, the one and only Eugene Mirman. As far as comedy festivals go, that’s more than an impressive run and, in this doc, you’ll get to see exclusive interviews with Michael Ian Black, Kristen, Schaal, Wyatt Cenac, Ira Glass, John Hodgman, Kumail Nanjiani, Reggie Watts and Michael Showalter and performances by Daniel Kitson, Janeane Garofalo, Jim Gaffigan, Jon Glaser, Mike Birbiglia, Bobcat Goldthwait, and more.

You’ll only have to wait until April 3rd to stream on Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, FandangoNow, Sony, and Microsoft Xbox. You can pre-order It Started As A Joke via Apple right now.

Here’s a List of Local Comedians That Really Need Financial Support Because of COVID-19 Pandemic

March 19, 2020

News

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In addition to great comedy livestream benefits that are happening like Comedy Quarantine and King Lear From Home or a GoFundMe for venue staff at Lyric Hyperion, a Google Doc has been assembled for comedians and comedy folks in LA that are financially affected the most as nearly all live, in-person entertainment has effectively shuddered for the coming weeks.

Per the doc:

What is this: Comedians rely on live performances to make their living, and many comedians are losing or canceling paid work due to covid-19 and CDC recommendations. There are other ways to support your favorite comedians – many of them have merch, albums, or skills that can be booked that don’t require seeing them in person (notes on scripts, graphic design, etc!).

See, share, potentially join in on (NOTE: Please use your best judgment when including your needs on this document; if you have a full-time job with benefits and are not losing financial income, this might not be the document for you) the Alternate Income for Comedians! here: bit.ly/HelpComediansCOVID19

Conan To Return March 30th (with a Quarantine Friendly Version)

March 19, 2020

News

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You probably have already seen that Conan O’Brien has been providing us with the sort of bits and tomfoolery that made him famous from the comfort and CDC recommended location of his own home. Leave it to the likes of Conan O’Brien to keep the silliness alive during these anxious times of this COVID-19 pandemic.

Other late night hosts have been also “broadcasting” from home, but the ever clever O’Brien has devised a way to do his show by shooting on an iPhone and utilizing video chat to interview guests.

Thus, Conan, will continue to air in this stripped down version (that’s oddly both lo-fi and high-tech) on TBS starting Mon. Mar. 30th at his normal air time of 11PM ET/PT. Technically, that makes Conan entirely a remote segment, which is where O’Brien has truly thrived in the last few years.

We can’t wait to see Conan do what he does best, make TV history, and inadvertently be a great ad for the iPhone’s video capabilities.

Here Are Some Delicious Teasers for What We Do In the Shadows Season 2

March 18, 2020

News, Uncategorized

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Season 1 of What We Do In the Shadows managed to expertly pull off both adapting the beloved movie of the same name from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement into a TV show, staying faithful to the look and tone as well as introduce a new facet of the “grounded” vampire universe with a whole new cast of new characters.

Truly, one of the best things we saw last year.

Season 2 is right around the corner as you can see in these teasers and, thankfully, it’ll be one thing (probably) that won’t get postponed. Look for season 2 of What We Do In the Shadows to premiere on Wed. Apr. 15th on FX.

Chris Gethard Presents Is Continuing Their Marathon Livestream on Twitch

March 18, 2020

News

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In the ongoing quest of finding things to do during these weird times, might we suggest something that you haven’t look to yet because you’ve probably spent a lot of time binging on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime etc. etc.

A few months back Chris Gethard returned to his public access TV roots to highlight his favorite comedians and also give them a platform to make a show the way they want with Chris Gethard Presents. They’ve already featured such wondrous talents from all around NYC as Sam Taggart & Max Wittert, Megan Stalter, Mary Houlihan, Monroe Martin, Christi Chiello.

You can watch clips over at their YouTube channel OR you could watch the full episodes as they were intended to be watched during an ongoing (even as we typed this out and posted this) marathon over at Twitch. They’ve got episodes streaming back-to-back throughout all hours of the days today and tomorrow (and maybe even more).

Community to Stream on Both Netflix and Hulu

March 17, 2020

News, Uncategorized

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(via Variety)

Due to the notion of self-distancing and, in general, staying home in these weird times, we have no doubt that you’re indulging every show and movie that you ever thought about watching/rewatching.

So, now is about as good a time as ever to find out that the landmark sitcom Community created by Dan Harmon will not only be on one streaming service, but, due to a nifty deal that Sony Pictures TV struck, be available on both Hulu and Netflix. The series is already on Hulu and will begin streaming on Netflix on Apr. 1st.

There are six seasons to watch and maybe this will lead to #sixseasonsandamovie becoming a reality.

The Midnight Gospel Teaser Hints at Netflix Animation Getting as Trippy as It Has Ever Been

March 17, 2020

News, Uncategorized

adult swim, duncan trussell, netflix, pendelton ward, the midnight gospel

Combining the otherworldliness of both Pendelton Ward, creator of Adventure Time, and comedian Duncan Trussell can only amount to something super trippy, wildly colorful, and mischievously subversive. To be those things at Netflix (considering their animation line-up already including BoJack Horseman, Tuca & Bertie, and LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS) is quite a feat.

Thus, The Midnight Gospel has been born or, rather, is set to be born on April 20th when all episodes stream on Netflix.

Get a taste of how they’re going to expand and tickle your mind with this teaser (we don’t even want to giveaway too much in order to let you let the idea of The Midnight Gospel wash over you sans any hints)

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