Exit 57 | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Created by | |
Directed by | |
Starring |
|
Opening theme | If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 12 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Comedy Central |
Release | August 20, 1995 – 1996 |
Exit 57 is a 30-minute sketch comedy series that aired on the American television channel Comedy Central from 1995 to 1996; its cast was composed of comedians Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Jodi Lennon, Mitch Rouse, and Amy Sedaris, all of whom had previously studied improv at The Second City in Chicago. In 1999 Sedaris, Dinello, Colbert and Rouse also created the Comedy Central show Strangers with Candy .
All of the sketches in the series are implied to take place in the fictionalized suburban setting of the Quad Cities.
The episodes usually run for around 20 minutes, and feature between four and seven sketches. The sketches all take place in a fictional setting, vaguely named Quad Cities, in reference to the region of the same name. [1]
Sedaris, Dinello, and Rouse initially were approached about developing a sketch comedy show for HBO Downtown Productions after appearing in a comic play titled Stitches written by Sedaris's brother David. [2] [3] [4] The show was produced for Comedy Central by Joe Forristal and Nancy Geller. [5] Sedaris and Dinello asked for Colbert's involvement, and he left The Second City, where they all met, so he could move to New York City and work on the show. [4] During his time on New York, Colbert lived at the General Theological Seminary in Chelsea. [6] Jodi Lennon, who attended the Second City training center with Rouse, was asked to audition for the show. She put a tape together, and later the other cast members went to see her perform at The Annoyance Theatre, after that she was hired and moved to New York. [7] [8]
Colbert, Dinello, Rouse and Sedaris, called their The Second City's director, Mick Napier, to help them with the show's structure. "It was the first show we'd ever done, and the person we had worked with and trusted the most to understand our style of comedy was Mick, so we said, 'Would you come in and just look at our scripts and help us figure out what we're trying to say? What's the proper structure for this scene?' Because we weren't as good as that." Colbert recalled. Their shared dark sensibilities were also a factor in bringing him on the project. [9] All of them wrote for the show, they would first improvise together in a room and someone would take notes. [8] The team recalled having a lot of freedom to write, "They left us alone for 4 months at a time to write. Then we would come back and use what ever we had come up with." [10] Colbert and Dinello would write most of the sketches, with David Sedaris mainly writing for Lennon and Amy. Lennon said that Sedaris' material was more like "little plays", rather than a normal sketch. The group would do weekly read-throughs, and do re-writes. Sedaris wouldn't take notes kindly, so he would just come each time with a brand new sketch. He wrote all his scripts on a typewriter. [8] [11] [12] Napier alongside, Cindy Caponera, [13] Paul Kozlowski, [11] A. Whitney Brown, [14] and David Pasquesi, [15] contributed additional material. Comedy writer Michael O'Donoghue once wrote a sketch for the show, but it was rejected due to its violence. [16] Donoghue died in 1994 and the sixth episode of the first season is dedicated to his memory. [17] Colbert has said "Down In the Basement", is one of his favorite sketches from the show, and described it as "one of the most Mick things that we ever did". [9] For the sketch "You Are Fired", Colbert based his character on Second City producer Kelly Leonard, who did not like having difficult conversations with his staff. Colbert called Leonard beforehand to tell him. [18]
The series was filmed in New York, at the HBO Downtown Production offices, [7] [19] in front of a live audience. They only were able to film two takes per sketch. [1] Colbert recalled the budget for the show was tight: "Those were like, "Well, here's an idea. A guy gets woken up by a jackhammer. The jackhammer operator ..." and our producers would say, "First of all, before you go any further – do you have a jackhammer? Because I don't have a jackhammer." [4] Lennon recalled that HBO was very supportive, asking them to write another pilot after the show was cancelled. They ended up writing another sketch show, but it did not get picked up. [8]
During the show's cryptic opening sequence, the cast members are seen standing next to a broken down car on the highway. Soon they are picked up by a passing driver, who changes the radio station at the mention of a serial killer, and takes Polaroid pictures of his increasingly uncomfortable passengers. Growing suspicious, the cast demands to be let out. The car is then seen pulling off the highway at Exit 57.
A rendition of "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" served as the show's theme song.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
Pilot episode | Unaired | |||
1 | 6 | August 20, 1995 | 1995 | |
2 | 6 | September 17, 1996 | 1996 | |
In a 1995 review of the show, The Boston Phoenix, wrote: "They’re big on white-trash parody and fare particularly well with character-driven comedy and dialogue —a good sign." The review described the opening credits, as "The best sequence on the show", adding, "A David Lynch—ian dark subtext can be self-conscious, but sharp wit is evident, and the show has a lot of promise." [5]
Despite having 12 episodes over the course of two seasons, the series met with a fair amount of critical acclaim before its cancellation, garnering CableACE nominations in 1995 for writing, performance, and best comedy series. [20] [21] In a 2003 interview, Stephen Colbert was told that it was a shame that the show did not have re-runs, to which he said: "I don't know about that, I've seen some of them since. I think shame could be associated with it, but not necessarily with not showing." [4] Actor Matthew McConaughey is a fan of the show, and in 2017 he re-enacted a sketch with Colbert. [22]
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014 and the CBS talk program The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since September 2015.
57 (fifty-seven) is the natural number following 56 and preceding 58.
Amy Louise Sedaris is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Most recently, she has appeared in both The Mandalorian (2019–2023) and The Book of Boba Fett (2022) as Peli Motto. She played Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central comedy series Strangers with Candy (1999–2000) and the prequel film Strangers with Candy (2005), which she also wrote.
Strangers with Candy is an American television sitcom created by Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Amy Sedaris and Mitch Rouse that originally aired on Comedy Central from April 7, 1999, to October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10:00 p.m. (ET). The series, inspired by after school specials, follows Jerri Blank (Sedaris) a 46-year-old woman, who after living as a prostitute and drug addict, decides to go back to high school and start doing things the right way. The series was produced by Comedy Partners, with Kent Alterman serving as executive producer and Colbert as co-producer.
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Paul E. Dinello is an American comedian, actor, and writer, best known for his collaborations with Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris. His accolades include five Primetime Emmy Awards, three PGA Awards, and two WGA Awards.
"If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" is a popular song written by Al Hoffman, Bob Merrill, and Clem Watts and published in 1950.
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Edward Mitchell "Mitch" Rouse is an American film and television actor, director, and screenwriter. He is known for co-creating, Comedy Central's Exit 57 (1995–1996) and Strangers with Candy (1999–2000), with fellow The Second City alumni Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris. In 2008 he created and starred in Spike TV's comedy series Factory.
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