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Comedy Central is a web connection forever scrambling to stay ahead of the cultural Zeitgeist.
(Its season-one finale airs Thursday night.)
How didThe Other Twoend up on Comedy Central?
Its not the kind of series for which youre known.
Actually, when both of them are there, it elevates the other.
So it was a no-brainer for us.
Its a bit of a risk doing a family show on a online grid not known for those.
Jonas Larsen: Thats exactly why we wanted to do this show.
It felt like it brought in an audience that perhaps didnt see Comedy Central that way.
We did a lot of research and found out that everybody has a family!
The buzz forThe Other Twohas been amazing, but the ratings havent quite caught up to the praise yet.
Depending on the week, the premiere telecast gets around 300,000 to 400,000 viewers, including some delayed viewing.
Babineau: A lot of people alotof people are watchingBroad CityandThe Other Twoon VOD.
Theyre watching it wherever they can find it.
Its not just the Nielsen numbers.
Wouldnt it help to putThe Other TwoorCorporateon an outside streaming platform?
Were not really exploring other platforms.
I think theres something to building it on your own platform first.
Larsen: And weve done that with Hulu.
They haveBroad CityandSouth Parkand some other shows.
Its not like we havent done it, but we do it very targeted and specifically.
You renewedThe Other Twojust a few weeks after it launched.
After it premiered [on Comedy Central], it retained theBroad Cityaudience, no problem.
And not just in terms of gender and ethnicity, but geography.
How are you doing this, looking ahead to the rest of this year and 2020?
AndAlternatinois Arturo [Castros] sketch show.
Babineau: Yeah, growth is the buzzword for us for 2019.
We just launched our Comedy Central originals YouTube page.
Clusterfest is coming back for the third year.The Daily Show:Ears Editionpodcast performs great for us.
For a long time, the core audience for Comedy Central had been adult men under 34.
Is it still that, or are you trying to widen out?
Younger viewers have been fleeing linear TV.
Babineau: The audience has definitely gotten a little bit older, and its gotten more gender balanced.
But the core is still young guys.
They arent as young as they used to be, but they still are young guys.
You hadThe Colbert Report,Key & Peele,Chappelles Show,Inside Amy Schumer, and others.
ObviouslyThe Daily ShowandThe Jim Jefferies Showspeak to politics.Broad City, in its own way, speaks to politics.
But part of the cultural mood right now is to not really dive into that too deep.
Theres just not the same appetite for political comedy as there was maybe two years ago.
Does this Trump fatigue also explain whyThe President Showdidnt come back?
Babineau: We lovedThe President Show.I went to every taping.
It was so funny and of the moment.
I think we did 20-something episodes; we gave it a fairly long run.
And then we saw that the audience wasnt showing up in the same way it was at the beginning.
We had to follow the appetites of our audience.
The David Spade decision did shock me a little bit …
Larsen: Good!
Is this another way youre trying to broaden your base?
Or is it more a sign that youre going where the viewers are?
Larsen: Im really glad you asked that question.
With Spade, thats definitely part of the thinking: Were bringing in the fans of Spade.
And also, David Spade wanted to do a nightly show.
How did this idea come to be?
Babineau: WhenThe Oppositionended, we asked Jordan what he wanted to do next.
Its not a political show.
What will each episode be like?
He wasarrestedlast month while filming the show.
Did you have to pay the bail?
Babineau: Somebody paid it.
That was a stressful night.
We kept waiting for the text that he was out of jail.
I would think that would be the first episode of the show.
Babineau: Actually, its not, surprisingly.
But it is early on in the season.
Sketch has always been important to Comedy Central, and now you haveAlternatinowith Arturo Castro coming up.
How does that fit into your future plans for the format?
Babineau: I would say its an evolution of a sketch show.
Its not just a bunch of really funny sketches strung together.
It has a narrative element where youre following a heightened version of Arturo through a narrative story line.
And that narrative story line is punctuated by really funny sketches that speak to the cultural and social issues.
Or is the form played out?
Larsen: Its definitely not played out.
And there are very few voices out there that can really sustain a sketch show.
Thats why you see so few of them.
And one of the reasons why we have such a rich legacy in sketch is because were patient.
Were looking for the talent that really has something to say consistently, but they dont come around often.
And when they do, like Arturo, we jump at that opportunity.
BeyondAlternatino, is there anything else in active development on the sketch front right now?
Larsen: I dont think theres anything thats been announced at this point, but we have several things.
Its more than three, for sure.
The New YorkTimesrecently reportedthat she hasnt wanted to shoot it until recently.
Is there movement on her show returning?
There are big streaming plays coming this year from Apple, Disney, and WarnerMedia.
Im wondering what you guys made of Seeso, which was soshort-lived?
Any lessons at all to be learned?
Babineau: It was a very noble effort.
They worked with a lot of great talent and they had great people working there.
I think for a platform like that to really work, everyone has to be behind it.
In order for something like that to succeed, it needs all the resources.
It cant just be a little rogue scrappy platform, no matter how good the content is.
Larsen: Its also hard to build a brand from scratch.
I mean, we are Comedy Central, so we have a built-in audience.
As Sarah said, they worked with a lot of great talent.
Thats something we at Comedy Central have done really well over the years.
It did really, really well like 3.5 million viewers, which is a lot for cable.
You worked on that, right, Jonas?
Larsen: Ill never forget that roast.
Donald was very, very obsessed with everything being the biggest.
He was the highest-paid roastee.
He was the highest-rated roast in the history of roasts.
Little did we know …
Whathasbeen the biggest roast?
Larsen: I believe the roast of Charlie Sheen.
Babineau: Hashtag winning!
