Blake Griffin is going to host his own late night talk show according to The Hollywood Reporter. According to the report, “The Stepback with Blake Griffin” air on Amazon and YouTube. If The Hollywood Reporter story is accurate, all the episodes have already been taped in front of a live studio audience and the first episode won’t air until October 20th.
The show is being billed as “John Oliver, but for all things athletic,” as Griffin will cover “gambling, NIL, taxpayer-funded stadiums, pot use, analytics and the state of sports journalism.” Does that sound like something you’d be interested in? Well, Griffin isn’t the first person to try a show like that. And if the previous examples are any indication, he’s going to be fighting a losing battle.
Sports is ripe for comedy, but putting the two together on television has never really worked. You can do straight sports with humor, like “Inside the NBA” and “SportsCenter,” which have the advantage of real-time highlights and genuinely funny hosts peppering jokes and references throughout the program. But a comedy show based around sports? Even the ones that worked didn’t last.
With that in mind, here’s a brief history of modern sports comedy television shows.
MORE: Kim Kardashian getting involved in reality sports field with new baseball docuseries
The Magic HourJune 1998-September 1998 | Syndicated
People have always loved Magic Johnson. He had charisma and a great smile and was an entertainer on and off the basketball court. It makes sense that someone thought he’d make a good talk show host. And yet it resulted in one of the most infamous failed TV shows of all-time.
Cheap SeatsFebruary 2004-November 2006 | ESPN Classic
Arguably the best and most successful sports comedy show ever. With old sports clips and new comedy bits the Sklar Brothers made a show that was full of punchlines, but never became one. The show is a personal blind spot of mine, but luckily that only comes up while making lists of sports-focused comedy shows that didn’t last very long.
SportsSoupOctober 2008-June 2010 | Versus
Originally the Outdoor Life Network, the channel was rebranded as Versus with a sports-focus in 2006. Versus focused heavily on the NHL and MMA and tried a number of sports shows. One of those shows was a spin-off of E!’s The Soup, hosted by Matt Iseman. With a proven formula and a channel no one was watching the show lasted three seasons and 32 episodes making it one of the most prolific sports comedy shows of all-time. A year after the show’s final episode Versus was again rebranded to NBCSN.
Joe Buck LiveJune 2009-December 2009 | HBO
When Bob Costas left HBO and took “Costas Now” with him, Joe Buck took his timeslot with the ill-fated “Joe Buck Live.” Costas’ show had run four seasons. Buck’s ran three episodes. The first featured Brett Favre, Michael Irvin, David Wright, but it was the later part of the show featuring Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis and, of course, Artie Lange, that led to the immediate demise of Joe Buck Live. Lange was out of control during the segment and Buck couldn’t do anything to reign him in. It turned into a whole multi-week newscycle and the cancellation of the show, making Joe Buck Live the shortest-lived sports comedy talk shows ever.
Onion SportsDomeJanuary 2011-March 2011 | Comedy Central
The Onion also took a crack at sports comedy. It was funny, but it did not last. It ran for 10 episodes and was immediately replaced by another sports comedy show that did not last.
MORE: ‘Ted Lasso’ is back and it brought all its baggage
April 2011-June 2011 | Comedy Central
This one is near and dear to my heart because I got to interview Norm Macdonald for this very site and hear some incredible stories. While we try and recover that from the archives, just know that SportsShow was pretty funny. And yet it only lasted nine episodes. And it might have been so good that it took a decade for someone else to try it again. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Barstool Van TalkOctober 17, 2017 – October 17, 2017 | ESPN2
ESPN wanted the Barstool audience so they went to the source. One episode aired and then ESPN canceled the show which aired at 1 a.m. ET.
MORE: NFL Pro Bowl Games decision will make honor matter again
The Pile OnSeptember 2022 – November(?) 2022 | Amazon Prime
Remember this show? Amazon went all-in on their NFL coverage when they first won the rights to Thursday Night Football. That included a traveling studio show that has proven to be one of the best in the business and a football comedy clip show hosted by Taran Killam that aired every Wednesday. Here’s a bit of my review of the very first episode:
“As of right now their biggest problem is that they’re making a comedy show without a studio audience. This isn’t something meant to be watched over and over with tightly written material that has jokes on jokes on jokes like 30 Rock or Community. This is live comedy with bits and jokes that are meant for a crowd. The utter silence is off-putting. If you’re going to be The Soup and you don’t have a studio audience at least let the writers in to laugh at their jokes. It’s hard to do a sports comedy show. It’s harder to do a comedy show without an audience.”
This is what Blake Griffin is up against. He has comedy chops and is good on NBC’s NBA studio show, but based on past results, he’s probably fighting a losing battle trying to make sports comedy talk show.
—Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —
Leave a Comment