@Midnight

About

@Midnight is a comedy game show which premiered on Comedy Central in 2013, and is hosted by comedian Chris Hardwick. The show has become popular online for its frequent online celebrity guests and for its hashtag games.

History

@Midnight premiered on Comedy Central on October 21st, 2013. On November 15th, 2013, the show was renewed^[7] for a second season. As of July 2014, the show has aired 110 episodes over the course of two seasons. It has been nominated for a 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program.

Game Play

Each show is played by three celebrity guests and broken down into separate mini games, including regulars such as:

*11:59 and 59 Seconds: When the contestants react to a popular YouTube clip, the contestants are not awarded any points for this section.

*Rapid Refresh: A trivia game which asks the contestant multiple choice questions about trending stories.

*Hashtag Wars: A game which introduces a new hashtag and calls for contestants to make up examples on the spot.

*Live Challenge: Which involves contestants coming up with answers to the game during the commercial break.

*For the Win: Before this final game, the contestant in third place must leave. The contestant’s answers are read blind, and the audience decides which won deserves the win.

There are also recurring games such a:

*Take Back the Nightmare: A game which let’s the contestants re-name creepy children’s shows.

*Juggalok Cupid: A game which asks contests to identify the real quote from a Juggalo’s OkCupid account.

Online Presence

As of July 2014, the @Midnight Twitter account^[2] has gained over 260,000 followers and its Facebook page^[3] has gained over 48,000 likes. Its Instagram account^[5] has gained over 22,000 followers and its Vine account^[6] has gained over 8,000 followers. The show also has an official Tumblr blog atmidnightcc.^[4]

Related Memes

#RuinaChildrensBook

#RuinaChildrensBook is a hashtag game played on Twitter that involves altering or adding to the title of a classic children’s book that would make the book unpleasant or distasteful. The hashtag originated from an episode of @Midnight which aired on March 24th, 2014. Within 24 hours of the episode airing the hashtag #RuinaChildrensBook^[3] was tweeted out over 126,000 times. On March 25th, The Daily Dot^[1] and Bustle^[4] published posts covering the spread of the hashtag.

Charlie and the Chocolate Allergy #RuinAChildrensBook
— Norm Wilner (@wilnervision) March 25, 2014

Harry Potter and the Kidney Stone #RuinAChildrensBook
— Jo Knowles (@JoKnowles) March 25, 2014

James and the Giant Peach-Sized Tumor. #ruinachildrensbook midnight</p>— James Sims (SimsJames) March 25, 2014

#Buttflix

#Buttflix is a hashtag game which was introduced during a segment on @Midnight that aired on April 2nd, 2014. In the segment, Hardwick held a contest in which guests on the show were awarded points for listing movie titles with jokes about rear ends (shown below).

The Curious Case of Benjamin's Butthole #buttflix midnight</a></p>— J.DeL (nthensome) April 3, 2014

he's just not that into poo #buttflix @midnight
— Frank Maloney (@frankxmaloney) April 3, 2014

The Rocky Horror Pinch a Loaf. #buttflix @midnight
— Ryan Lindsay (@THEryanlindsay) April 3, 2014

#BadPrequels

#BadPrequels is a hashtag game which asks Twitter users to create the title of a fictional prequel to a well-known film that sounds far less interesting than its original counterpart. The hashtag was introduced on @Midnight on an episodes which aired on May 6th, 2014. The idea for the hashtag was sparked by the release of the trailer for the Batman prequel Gotham. Guest comedians Scott Aukerman^[6], @Willieforcrack^[7] and James Adomain^[8] offered their #BadPrequel titles before Twitter users were called to play.