Posts tagged Arts & Athletics

The seed of an idea that would eventually blossom into UCB-LA’s “What’s Going On?” with Mike Mitchell (WGO) sounds like communism: Hopeful, idealistic . . . and only good on paper. The question pondered by show producers Jack Allison, Van Robichaux and Evan Susser was, what would happen if you attempted to produce a run-of-the-mill talk show without informing your host of any of the details. The answer should be failure. Epic, epic failure. But in the case of Mike Mitchell (The Birthday Boys, Arts & Athletics), “Mitch” to his friends (and everyone is his friend), failure is simply not an option. And thank God it isn’t, because Mitch just might choose it. Unfortunately for him, the audience just won’t allow it.

Like Saturday Night Live, you would think the concept would be best suited for one-time guest hosts. And yet universally, everyone who has seen the show agrees: Mike Mitchell is the only man for the job. In Poop or Chocolate’s first ever behind-the-scenes video piece, I asked the staff of WGO a simple question: Why Mitch? Eventually I had to turn off the camera and walk away just to get them to stop answering.

What we’ve come to discover about “funny” is that it’s fleeting. When is the last time you were so totally stoked for a Will Ferrell comedy? Or could even stomach the thought of one by Jim Carrey? What makes Mitch stand out is his ability to garner both the laughs bestowed upon a comedian and the best man at a close-knit wedding. Strangers feel like they know Mitch, and they root for him like a hometown sports star.

The audience members who got Mitch’s cartoon image inked on their calves are an example of this. The show offered up a Mitch Tattoo Challenge – free tickets for life to anyone willing to get Mitch’s face tattooed on their body (plus, the show paid for the tattoo). Orange County married couple Andrew and Angela Bishop decided to take the plunge. They don’t know Mitch, learned of him only through the show, and yet no matter where they go the rest of their lives, Mitch will go with them.

They didn’t do it because they are crazy; they did it because their lives have become so sane. Parents of two small children, opportunities to do silly, spontaneous things frequently pass them by. While no one will argue that this act wasn’t silly, it actually wasn’t spontaneous. They had an entire week to back out. They didn’t. This show is more than just an hour of jokes to them. WGO has become their monthly date night and the tattoo represents the time they share together. Once a month they leave their children in the care of Andrew’s parents and drive over an hour to Hollywood for this and only this show.

Before you say, “Okay, that’s sweet, but those tattoos are still crazy,” know this: The tattoos are amazingly accurate. If you started talking to Angela’s leg thinking it was Mitch, I wouldn’t blame you. If you became incensed, totally convinced the leg image was the real Mitch, I would at least hear you out. I’m not being hyperbolic, they look more like Mitch’s face than Mitch’s face does. Duff and Slim at Studio City Tattoos handled Andrew and Angela’s tattoos, respectively, and they absolutely killed the both of them.

The tattoos are still crazy, but imagine if they also looked like shit.

WGO is not a hard sell, conceptually. It combines the best parts of talk shows, live comedy and surprise parties. The host is the wild card. He can’t make it look so easy that the charm of the show is lost. And he also can’t make it look so difficult that pity outweighs enjoyment. He must be genuinely awestruck by the endeavor. Mitch will never develop the cockiness to become unaffected by this process. Nor will he ever be intimidated out of trying. The sincere effort he puts worth is the gasoline that drives the car. He is not solely what makes the show good, but he is solely what allows it run at all. Exercising his standard humility, Mitch refuses any of the credit:

“Everything that Evan, Jack, Van and all the writers put together, I have confidence that it’s great stuff. I probably have much less confidence in myself, I would say. But they put a great show together, regardless of who’s up there. It would be a great show with a rock doing it.”

He is right that the producers and writers put together a great show. They write together material that accentuate Mitch’s strengths and a stage show that is equal parts rigorously tight on their end and free-flowing on his. In short, they put in a ton of effort so that he can look effortless. After all, having a host that knows nothing means they need to be prepared for everything, and without a lot of time to prep. As producer Van Robichaux puts it: “At Midnight the audience walks into the finished set of talk show and five to eight minutes before that none of those pieces were in place.” It’s a heroic feat, so when Mitch gives ample credit, it’s more than just lip-service.

But still, if it’s going to compete with Mitch as a host, that must be a pretty charming rock.

My name is Ben and I blogged this.