Middleditch & Schwartz, named after its stars — <br>Thomas Middleditch, who looks like Seth Meyers if he didn’t have to be presentable every night, and Ben Schwartz, who looks like Andrew Garfield if he were 100 percent Jewish — is a two-man long-form improv show in which every part is improvised by the performers, including the structure of the show and the scenarios within it. At the start of the program, instead of just asking for suggestions from the audience, they interview one randomly selected member about “something coming up in the future that [they] are either excited for or dreading.”
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Using nothing but their own bodies, voices, and a couple of chairs, Middleditch and Schwartz sweep up the audience in an entrancing, electric kind of energy. The chemistry that sizzles between them and the way they build off of each other is a rare thing to see.
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The two have cut their teeth in improv over the years in some truly incredible fashions. Schwartz's role in [**Funny or Die**](https://www.funnyordie.com/)'s improvised morning news show called [**The Earliest Show**](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6372026/) is an underrated gem, while Middleditch has been doing incomprehensibly impressive Shakespearean improv with a company since 2005.
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Filmed at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, these three 50-minute performances come from an audience suggestion. A few moments of back-and-forth Q&A with a single member of the crowd — in these cases, conversations about an upcoming wedding, law school, and a job interview — give Middleditch and Schwartz the tiny story milestones they’re free to disperse however they choose.
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For a show that only involves two people, this is also an impressive showcase for director Ryan Polito. Middleditch and Schwartz make full use of the stage, using the physical space between them as jokes almost as much as the words they’re saying. It’s not that they’re running around the auditorium at all times, but the fact that the camera catches them in the sporadic moments when they do start to move helps mark the switches between characters. And like a standup special, there are certain jokes that hit harder with a specific reaction that a wide shot of the stage wouldn’t pick up. This all goes far beyond setting up a few stationary cameras and cutting between them.
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There are no black-out lighting cues or applause breaks to transition from one scene to the next. Instead, we just see the two comedians bound across the stage to inhabit a new character, sometimes flipping into each other’s characters; sometimes, also, forgetting who they’re supposed to be.
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Some viewers might not have the patience for the times when the two lose track of a growing roster of fictional people within a single room, but the idea of suddenly remembering a character they’d established a half hour ago or mixing up a name or two is sometimes part of the appeal. Mixing the kind of specificity that makes for good improv with Middleditch and Schwartz’s carefree spirit will lead to some points where the pair overshoot their marks. What makes these two so compelling to watch is how they adjust on the fly and make those slip-ups feel baked into the process.
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Some of the best moments are the fourth-wall-breaking acknowledgments of what exactly they're doing, whether it's a laugh or a gaffe or just someone forgetting which character is which for a second. It's a reminder that, wow, they are actually somehow keeping all of this insanity straight for 99% of the show and they're so talented that even their fumbles are comedic gold.
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The Middleditch & Schwartz specials have come at a wonderful time. The two comedians are so warm and wholesome, they pull the audience right in with them as they take everyone on fresh, weird journeys into comedy. They do all of these things and embrace it all with enthusiastic joy. Their joy is ours.
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**Bottom Line**:<br>
STREAM IT!<br>
If people believe comedy is hard, then improv comedy is harder. Translating a live improv comedy show to a TV audience? That’s a double-diamond difficulty.<br> And Middleditch and Schwartz are among comedy’s key players.