If you liked last night’s episode of Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney, good news: there’s more where that came from. Over a decade before John Mulaney hosted his show blindfolded, comedian Chris Gethard did the same—and the chaotic results are online for your viewing enjoyment.
Everybody’s Live surprised viewers last night when its sleep-themed episode opened with a title card explaining that Mulaney would be blindfolded for the entirety of the show. Indeed, he largely had to rely on writer Jeremy Levick to lead him around the stage while he did his monologue, interviewed guests, and took viewer phone calls.
But back in 2012, comedian Chris Gethard embarked on a similar undertaking on his own underground late-night show, The Chris Gethard Show.
Mulaney’s Netflix show has frequently drawn comparisons to Gethard’s program, which began as a live show at NYC’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2009 before getting broadcast runs on Manhattan public access TV, Fusion, and truTV through 2018.
It was during the show’s public access days that Gethard staged “The Blindfold Show,” an episode that had him and his regular panelists to don blindfolds for the entire hour broadcast. Unable to see, the show’s writers were left to their own devices, subjecting Gethard and his guests to a series of mystery circumstances.
While Gethard took phone calls, his team danced hot dogs in his face, directed audience members to react as if there was a live animal in the studio, and attempted to get the comic to sign away his car. At one point, Gethard’s in-show enemy Vacation Jason fed him fruit and attempted to apply sunblock to his nose. At another, audience members directed a blindfolded cameraperson who was tasked with shooting close-ups.
The episode eventually devolved into Gethard assuming a fighting stance, attempting to throw punches at his tormentors.
“The Blindfold Show” proved popular enough that, as Gethard later said, fans would often cite it as a good introduction to The Chris Gethard Show for new viewers. That inspired Gethard to bring it back later that same year. “The Blindfold Show II” saw Gethard’s tormentors double down on the hot dogs, adding into the mix feather dusters, a vacuum, and edgy speech bubbles hung over the panelists’ heads.
Naturally, “The Blindfold Show II” ended with more threats of punches from Gethard, as well as an audience member being taken hostage.
Gethard has a vocal fan of Everybody’s Live. Though the comic welcomes comparisons between the two shows, he’s also quick to celebrate Mulaney as a comedic voice all his own.
“I’ve known John for many, many years now… He’s a very brilliant guy,” Gethard told LateNighter last year, adding that Mulaney’s Netflix show is “awesome for late night… Moving forward, you can’t just have another boring talk show that looks like every talk show since 1950… Mulaney has cracked that open.”
Both “Blindfold Show” episodes of The Chris Gethard Show, as well as the rest of its back catalog, are available on Gethard’s YouTube page.
