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Martin Sargent | |
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 Sargent in 2007 | |
| Occupation | Host |
Martin Sargent is an American television personality and was co-host of the This WEEK in FUN podcast with Sarah Lane. He is most well known from his time as a Segment Producer on TechTV's The Screen Savers and later as the host of his own late night talk show Unscrewed with Martin Sargent.
Sargent's first job after school was as an editor at PC/Computing magazine. [1]
In 1998, Sargent joined the ZDTV (later TechTV) TV show Call For Help as the show's "Resident Craft Professional" and substitute co-host. In 2001, he moved from Call For Help to another TechTV show, The Screen Savers , and became known first as "The Twisted Lister", for producing and presenting odd, "twisted" top-five lists on the show, and later for another segment, "Site of the Night", in which he presented strange websites.
Sargent left The Screen Savers in April 2003, to host his own show, Unscrewed with Martin Sargent, anchoring a newly introduced late-night programming block.
On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV. This move became hugely controversial among loyal fans of TechTV. Around May 6, G4 announced the termination of 250 employees from the San Francisco office by July 10, 2004, allowing approximately 80 to 100 employees to transition to G4's main office in Los Angeles, California if they agreed to relocate there. [2] Sargent chose to stay with G4 and moved to Los Angeles.
Six months later, on November 11, 2004, G4TechTV canceled Unscrewed and terminated Sargent, along with many other former co-workers from TechTV. [3]
Exactly one year after his termination, Sargent launched Infected , a comedy podcast distributed by the internet production company Revision3. Infected was hosted by Sargent and "The Gator" (portrayed by co-writer Jay Speiden, who died in December 2016 [4] ), produced by Joey Rabier, and was structured as a conversation between co-hosts and producer, with fake "commercials" for various real and fictional products as well as occasional guest callers. Recurring callers included inventor Alex Chiu as well as the fictional characters Johnny O'Banion (portrayed by co-writer/producer Stewart Engesser), a Hollywood reporter and former Loni Anderson paramour, and karate master Rickey Kang (also played by Spieden). O'Banion and Kang were recurring characters on Infected , and Rabier acted as a production assistant on the show and also appeared as his "intern" character for selected skits. The podcast was originally available in audio-only format, then offered an alternative video version consisting of a montage of still photographs relating to the topic discussed and taken at the recording session. The video version has since been offered in full-motion video. Infected was canceled in December 2007, after 50 episodes.
Sargent hosted Web Drifter [5] and Internet Superstar on Revision3 and Why Today Sucked, on GoTV Network's "Laugh Riot" channel, available for video-enabled cell phones on the Sprint network. Web Drifter began as a pilot originally pitched to Comedy Central, but it was picked up by Revision3 after the cable network passed on the show. [1]
On January 30, 2008, the Revision3 website released the first episode of Martin Sargent's new show, Internet Superstar.
As of October 27, 2008 he was made redundant as part of Revision3 layoffs. [6] He has reappeared on Revision3 show 'The Digg Reel' twice since he was laid off, once as acting co-host alongside Kevin Rose while regular host Andrew Bancroft was on vacation. In this appearance he expressed mock-anger that, as part of promotions within the show, other cancelled show 'Pixel Perfect' has been revived, unlike his own shows. He appeared once more on The Digg Reel's 100th episode, in which he jokingly stated that he secretly lived within the walls of the Revision3 building, resulting from his supposed inability to get another job.
Starting February 12, 2009, he and Sarah Lane appeared together in a Podcast on Leo Laporte's TWiT.tv network called This Week in Fun. [7] The show aired for just shy of a year before going on hiatus in January 2010, following Martin's employment at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. The show was left on good terms with the TWiT network, though they have made no solid plans of returning to production. [8]
In November 2009, Martin and long-time associate Molly McDonald became engaged. [9] [10]
The Screen Savers is an American TV show that aired on TechTV from 1998 to 2005. The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV on May 11, 1998. The Screen Savers originally centered on computers, new technologies, and their adaptations in the world. However, after it was taken over by G4, the show became more general-interest oriented and focused somewhat less on technology. The final episode of The Screen Savers aired on March 18, 2005. Repeat episodes continued to air until March 25, 2005 when its replacement program Attack of the Show! began 3 days later on March 28, 2005. Two spiritual successors to The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech on the TWiT Network with Leo Laporte and Tekzilla on Revision3 with Patrick Norton, were started after the original show concluded. On April 19, 2015, Leo Laporte announced The New Screen Savers, which began airing on TWiT network May 2, 2015.
TechTV was a 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. At the height of its six-year run, TechTV was broadcast in 70 countries, reached 43 million households, and claimed 1.9 million unique visitors monthly to its website. A focus on personality-driven product reviews and technical support made it a cultural hub for technology information worldwide, still existing today online through its former hosts' webcasts, most notably the TWiT Network.
Catherine Michelle Schwartz is an American television presenter. She was formerly a co-host on the TechTV television program Call for Help with Chris Pirillo and Leo Laporte.
Roger Chang is a computer enthusiast and American television personality best known for his time as a segment producer and his appearances on TechTV's Call for Help and The Screen Savers. He was a senior producer at Revision3.
Xplay is a TV program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, aired on G4 in the United States and had aired on G4 Canada in Canada, FUEL TV in Australia, Ego in Israel, GXT in Italy, MTV Russia & Rambler TV in Russia, Solar Sports in the Philippines, and Adult Swim and MuchMusic in Latin America.
Leo Laporte is the former host of The Tech Guy weekly radio show and a host on TWiT.tv, an Internet podcast network focusing on technology. He is also a former TechTV technology host (1998–2008) and a technology author. On November 19, 2022, actor, writer, musician, and comedian Steve Martin called into Laporte's radio show to announce Leo's retirement from The Tech Guy radio show. Laporte's last new radio show was December 18, 2022 with reruns for the remainder of the year. Rich DeMuro later appeared on the show to announce that he will be taking over in January with a weekly show, recorded on Saturdays, called "Rich On Tech."
Adam Sessler is an American video game journalist, television personality and consultant. He is best known as the host for the video game review series Xplay and the editor-in-chief for G4's video game section. Upon his departure from G4 in April 2012, Sessler was its longest-tenured television personality, having originally been hired by its predecessor ZDTV in 1998.
G4techTV was a short-lived American cable and satellite channel resulting from a merger between Comcast-owned G4 and TechTV. The network officially launched on May 28, 2004.
Megan Morrone is an American actress, technology podcaster and writer. She was the co-host of TWiT online programs Tech News Weekly, iOS Today, and Triangulation, and former host of Tech News Today, Tech News 2Night, iFive for the iPhone, Inside The Net, and Jumping Monkeys.
Alexander Jennings Albrecht is an American television personality, actor and podcaster. He is known for co-hosting the former G4techTV television program The Screen Savers, an hour-long computer and technology variety show, as well as the weekly podcast Diggnation and the weekday podcast The Totally Rad Show on the Revision3 network. On July 15, 2008, he released his new podcast/website Project Lore, all about World of Warcraft. Albrecht has expressed a penchant for dressing up as characters from Street Fighter, most recently appearing as Guile. He is the Head of Original Programming at Caffeine.
Kate Botello is a former American television personality best known for her work on the San Francisco, California-based ZDTV.
Laura Swisher is a stand-up comedian based in Los Angeles, California, best known for her role as co-host of the former TechTV program Unscrewed with Martin Sargent from 2003 to 2004.
David Lawrence Prager is one of the co-founders and Vice President of Special Projects for Revision3. He has also worked for ZDTV, TechTV, and G4.
Guy Branum is an American actor, comedian, and writer best known as the head writer of, and a sketch performer on, X-Play on the G4 network and as a regular panelist on Chelsea Lately on the E! network. He used to host the podcast Pop Rocket on the Maximum Fun network and hosted TruTV's Talk Show the Game Show.
Kevin Elder Pereira is an American television personality and host.
Kevin Rose is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's The Screen Savers. From 2012 to 2015, he was a venture partner at GV.
Natali Terese Morris is an American online media personality and co-founder of Morris Invest, a real estate investment company. She was formerly a technology news journalist with CNET and CBS.
Veronica Ann Belmont is an American online media personality. She was formerly the co-host of the Revision3 show Tekzilla alongside Patrick Norton. Belmont was the co-host of the former TWiT.tv gaming show Game On! along with Brian Brushwood, and the former host of the monthly PlayStation 3-based video on demand program Qore. Additionally, she was the host for the Mahalo Daily podcast and a producer and associate editor for CNET Networks, Inc. where she produced, engineered, and co-hosted the podcast Buzz Out Loud.
Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012. The network produced technology and gaming oriented programming in tandem with traditional comedic, political, DIY, and movie-related content. On March 31, 2017, Discovery Communications closed the website.
