Besides The Chris Gethard Show (R.I.P.), comedian Chris Gethard’s biggest project to date has been his hit podcast Beautiful/Anonymous, where he chats with a stranger for an hour. The are only two rules: He won’t know their name and he can’t hang up first – no matter what. Now, the massively popular Beautiful/Anonymous is getting the TV treatment, premiering on February 11 on First Look Media’s streaming service, Topic.
The TV show will work similarly to the podcast, where Gethard tweets out the B/A phone number and has a half-hour conversation with the lucky stranger picked to talk to him. But while Gethard won’t know who he’s talking to, the TV version’s conversations will “be illustrated by different imagery such as still photos and video footage,” per a recent press release.
This isn’t Gethard’s only recent TV show. In 2019, the comedian made a return to his public access TV roots with Chris Gethard Presents. It had a similar feel to his former beloved series but instead of acting as host, Gethard invited other comedians to host each episode. The show ended due to the pandemic in March 2020, but has been replaced by Planet Scum on Twitch.
In case you’re somehow not intimately knowledgeable of the scores of streaming platforms currently in existence: Back in November 2019 (during the Great Streaming War between Disney and Apple, if you recall), First Look Media described Topic as “a new streaming service curated for a curious and engaged audience seeking smart, provocative and meaningful entertainment.” We assume that just means you get access to shows like Gethard’s and Maria Bamford’s mental health talk show, What’s Your Ailment?! for the $5.99 monthly subscription price.
Beautiful/Anonymous works perfectly as a podcast because it’s such an intimate experience that makes the listener feel like they’re part of their phone conversation. With this new TV version, we’ll get to see if the new format adds to or hinders what’s turned the podcast into such a phenomenon.
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The internet has been trying desperately to make Chris Gethard a thing since the early 00s.
Don’t forget to mention Gethards comedy network Planet Scum Live, which has been bringing really great programming since COVID shut down production on his Chris Gethard Presents public access show! He’s had a weekly live show on Wesnesday nights since March on the Planet Scum Live twitch channel and its wonderful! Also, Connor Ratliff and Griffin Newmans The George Lucas Talk Show has been the most hilarious, weird, and consistently surprising show for the last 8 months and I can’t recommend it or the other shows on Planet Scum enough.
Much love for Chris, but this is a terrible idea. Beautiful Anonymous rides off its audio-only format.
I have this sense this will go down in history much like two of it’s predecessors – Lore and Pod Save America – as being forgotten 1 episode into season 2, if it gets a season 2.
I tried much the same thing, but it was quickly cancelled after a shitstorm of controversy.Looking back, it probably wasn’t the best idea to built it around Chatroulette.
This is a terrible idea but the cool thing is that he gets paid while the show fades into obscurity.
Remember that time Beautiful Anonymous had a guest who claimed to be an expert on Groundhog Day? And then it turned out he really didn’t know that much about Groundhog Day .
Chris Gethard is genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and I hope all the good things happen to him.