Despite the sheer amount of low-hanging fruit he offers up hourly Donald Trump’s presidency has also irrevocably changed the face of comedy. Case in point: Not even Zach Galifianakis will bring back his beloved Between Two Ferns web series for the post-truth era.
Th actor-comedian made clear the show’s continued hiatus during not one but two separate podcast appearances this week. First, appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Galifianakis said that “tonally, [the show] wouldn’t work anymore.” Days later, on Vulture’s Good One comedy podcast, Galifianakis made similar statements, adding, “We’re living in meaner times, and I don’t know if it works (anymore).”
A big chunk of Galifianakis’ own commitment to shelving Between Two Ferns has to do with guest’s level “involvement.” When Eisen told Galifianakis that “people [the audience] are now in on the gag,” he enthusiastically agreed. It seems the show’s only best when they could toe the line between a guest’s awareness and fostering a general sense of surprise (as shared by both viewers and the guests).
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“I was never interested in pranking anyone,” Galifianakis told Eisen. “I wanted it to be a joint effort, but we gave that up with the bloopers.” Galifianakis then told the Good One team that it was “important” never to prank anyone, adding that “I worked on a prank show, and I couldn’t do it. I hated it.”
The bloopers revealed that most guests were not only aware of the jokes, but some even helped plan the gags. For example, Galifianakis gave Brad Pitt the very gum he spit right back into the host’s face.
And while Galifianakis never pranked anyone, he did have other means at his disposal.
“So my whole thing was never to prank anyone, but I don’t give them the questions (ahead of time),” Galifianakis told Good One. “I worked with them, but again, they are caught in that moment.” Meanwhile, he told Eisen that sharing questions would “take away the element of surprise.”
Galifianakis also said that he regularly offered to cut things that guests deemed as “too offensive” (or simply preferred went unaired). The only guest to seemingly ever get the questions ahead of time? President Barack Obama, of course.
In their own assessment, Cracked.com offered up a rather important insight: By showing this level of decency, and offering final cut approval, Between Two Ferns “might come off as too tame for a modern audience that has grown accustomed to seeing asshole interviewers verbally abuse their guests for the sake of ‘comedic rage’ bait content.” Nuance and civility are likely dead, and while we could weep for them, we can also spend just as much time watching old Between Two Ferns clips on YouTube. Comedy’s not dead, perhaps, just wearing a slightly different hat, it seems.
Check out both of Galifianakis’ appearances below. With Eisen, he spends a few minutes talking even more about Obama’s appearance, including how the segment landed him in the presidential library. And on Good One, Galifianakis recounts a particularly funny story about Sean Penn being the “meanest-ever” guest in Between Two Ferns history.
Zach Galifianakis on The Rich Eisen Show:
Zach Galifianakis on Vulture’s Good One podcast: