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| Inside Comedy | |
|---|---|
| Created by | David Steinberg |
| Presented by | David Steinberg |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | David Steinberg Steve Carell Vance DeGeneres Charlie Hartsock |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Carousel Productions Sunset Point Productions Showtime Networks |
| Original release | |
| Network | Showtime |
| Release | January 26, 2012 – June 9, 2015 |
Inside Comedy is an American television interview program on Showtime hosted and directed by David Steinberg. During each episode, Steinberg interviews popular comedians from the worlds of stand-up, television, and film, showing clips from their careers. The show's first season ran from January 26 to March 29, 2012. Its second season premiered on February 11, 2013,[1] and ended on April 15, 2013. The third season aired from February 3[2] to April 7, 2014. The first three seasons each consisted of 10 episodes. The fourth season had six episodes, premiering May 5, 2015,[3] and ending June 9.
Inside Comedy was initially intended as a feature-length documentary to be produced by Steve Carell and interviewer David Steinberg.[4] Steinberg and Carell's company, Carousel Productions, raised several million dollars and began filming interviews.[4] After it was decided that too much footage was shot for one film, the project was picked up as a television series by the Showtime cable TV network.[4]
| Season | Episodes | Season premiere | Season finale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | January 26, 2012 | March 30, 2012 | |
| 2 | 10 | February 11, 2013 | April 15, 2013 | |
| 3 | 10 | February 3, 2014 | April 7, 2014 | |
| 4 | 6 | May 5, 2015 | June 9, 2015 | |
| No. | # | Guest(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Don Rickles & Jerry Seinfeld | January 26, 2012 |
| 2 | 2 | Chris Rock | February 2, 2012 |
| 3 | 3 | Steve Carell & Jane Lynch | February 9, 2012 |
| 4 | 4 | Billy Crystal, Martin Short, & Brad Garrett | February 16, 2012 |
| 5 | 5 | Larry David | February 23, 2012 |
| 6 | 6 | Sarah Silverman & Garry Shandling | March 2, 2012 |
| 7 | 7 | Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner | March 9, 2012 |
| 8 | 8 | Ellen DeGeneres & Tim Conway | March 16, 2012 |
| 9 | 9 | Kathy Griffin & Steven Wright | March 23, 2012 |
| 10 | 10 | Robin Williams & Jonathan Winters | March 30, 2012 |
| No. | # | Guest(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | Louis C.K. & Bob Newhart | February 11, 2013 |
| 12 | 2 | Judd Apatow & Tina Fey | February 18, 2013 |
| 13 | 3 | Drew Carey & Martin Mull | February 25, 2013 |
| 14 | 4 | Steve Martin & Lily Tomlin | March 4, 2013 |
| 15 | 5 | Jim Carrey & Keenen Ivory Wayans | March 11, 2013 |
| 16 | 6 | Will Ferrell & Betty White | March 18, 2013 |
| 17 | 7 | Susie Essman & Carol Burnett | March 25, 2013 |
| 18 | 8 | Ben Stiller & Mike Myers | April 1, 2013 |
| 19 | 9 | Robert Klein & Bill Maher | April 8, 2013 |
| 20 | 10 | Robert Schimmel | April 15, 2013 |
| No. | # | Guest(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | Jimmy Fallon & Zach Galifianakis | February 3, 2014 |
| 22 | 2 | Alan Arkin & Jonah Hill | February 10, 2014 |
| 23 | 3 | Bette Midler & Richard Belzer | February 17, 2014 |
| 24 | 4 | Andrew Dice Clay & Kevin Nealon | February 24, 2014 |
| 25 | 5 | Bob Einstein & Eric Idle | March 3, 2014 |
| 26 | 6 | Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Dick Van Dyke | March 10, 2014 |
| 27 | 7 | Garry Marshall, Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele | March 17, 2014 |
| 28 | 8 | Richard Lewis & Gilbert Gottfried | March 24, 2014 |
| 29 | 9 | Fred Willard & Catherine O'Hara | March 31, 2014 |
| 30 | 10 | Kevin Pollak, Bob Saget, & Larry Miller | April 7, 2014 |
| No. | # | Guest(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 1 | Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart | May 5, 2015 |
| 32 | 2 | Michael Keaton & Dan Aykroyd | May 12, 2015 |
| 33 | 3 | Bryan Cranston & Carol Leifer | May 19, 2015 |
| 34 | 4 | Ted Danson & Wanda Sykes | May 26, 2015 |
| 35 | 5 | Cheech & Chong (Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong) & Dane Cook | June 2, 2015 |
| 36 | 6 | Conan O'Brien & Jeffrey Tambor | June 9, 2015 |
Steinberg has also filmed interviews with Stephen Fry, Bonnie Hunt, David Koechner, Jon Lovitz, Kathy Najimy, Paula Poundstone, and Tommy Smothers.[5]
The show's first season garnered generally positive reviews from critics. Nancy deWolf Smith of The Wall Street Journal praised Steinberg for his interviewing: "He does not focus on himself but is exquisitely tuned in to his subjects, many of whom he knows well. This seems to have relaxed some of his guests to the point where they appear more natural, and less switched on—as entertaining as that can be—than they are with other interviewers."[6] Eric Gould of The Phoenix commented that "Steinberg's sly, understated style gave us a brilliant glimpse into comedy minds put on the spot, and artists at the top of the heap."[7]
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times applauded the editing exhibited in the show's premiere episode: "Mr. Seinfeld and Mr. Rickles are interviewed separately, and what makes the episode so satisfying is the way their interviews are spliced together and enhanced with clips."[8]
At the outset of the show's second season, Don Steinberg of The Wall Street Journal commended the host's talent for interviewing: "Mr. Steinberg has an easy rapport with subjects. He stays out of their way as they jump to the good stuff, the things you imagine comedy people talk to other comedy people about."[4]