General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20268 min read

Middleditch and Schwartz

Middleditch & Schwartz is a 2020 Netflix limited series of three completely improvised comedy specials performed by the two-person long-form improv duo of Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz. Each performance is built entirely from a random audience suggestion, which the pair develops into an hour-long comedic narrative on the spot.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Three completely improvised comedy specials; each performance is based entirely on a random audience suggestion²
Premiere	April 21, 2020, on Netflix; all three parts filmed at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City²^•³
Episodes	Parking Lot Wedding (52 min), Law School Magic (51 min), Dream Job (51 min)¹
Creators and cast	Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz, who also star as themselves; directed by Ryan Polito¹^•⁴
Reception	93% Tomatometer from 14 reviews and 95% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; 8.6/10 on IMDb from about 6,000 ratings³^•⁴
Rating	TV-MA; Netflix categorizes it as a limited series in the comedy genre¹
Status	Ended after one season of three episodes; no second season was made⁵

Spoilers

Plot

Nothing is written. Each special opens with Middleditch and Schwartz interviewing one randomly chosen audience member about an upcoming event they are excited or anxious about, then building a full multi-character story from that seed. Each of the two plays a rotating cast of characters, occasionally swapping who plays whom, and they freely break the fourth wall to check names and story details with each other and with the crowd, an act Middleditch has described as part improv and part vaudeville.¹³^•¹⁴

"Parking Lot Wedding"

The first special grows out of an audience member's story into a tale of Dave getting ready for his wedding in a parking lot. The story unspools with full character arcs, and at its midpoint Short Paul confesses at the wedding that he used to date the bride, Kathleen, then vows "revengeance." The climax brings back a Ghost officiating the ceremony, who reveals he is the clown from an earlier opera-mugging story and that neither Dave nor Short Paul killed him, since it was an accident. Kathleen then chooses Dave over Short Paul, the two marry, and Sebastian is promoted to best man.¹⁵

The moment people remember from this special is the body-swap gazelle bit. The pair play best friends told they can swap bodies if they pretend to be gazelles, and at the crucial moment Schwartz breaks the scene entirely to declare, "I'm 100 percent certain I'm going to beat you," before challenging Middleditch to a game of rock-paper-scissors in real life, on stage, in front of the audience. It is the special in miniature: a ridiculous premise pushed until it collapses into genuine, unscripted competition between two friends.¹³

"Law School Magic"

The second special takes place entirely in a law-school classroom, running from a lesson on online contracts in what is possibly the world's silliest law school class. A passing mention that Harrisburg, Pennsylvania might have aliens sculpts the whole story, which ends with a family deciding to sacrifice their Yu-Gi-Oh-loving son to an extraterrestrial. In the climax, Nigel, played by Middleditch, asks Emily, played by Schwartz, to give one of her kids to the alien, who demands a friend.¹³^•¹⁶

"Dream Job"

The third special starts from an audience member interviewing for an SNL internship. The duo parody automated video job interviews, and Middleditch breaks character at one point to admit, "This character makes me nervous." The performers periodically step out of the story to refresh themselves on where the plot stands, exactly as they do in their live shows.¹⁶^•¹⁷

Across all three specials, one running gag defines the form: in "Parking Lot Wedding", Schwartz introduced himself with a name different from the one Middleditch had assigned him, and the audience yelled out the correct name, the crowd itself becoming part of the act.¹⁶

Characters

Thomas Middleditch (as himself and a rotating cast of characters) is the more anxious, twitchy half of the duo, prone to breaking character when a role unnerves him, as in "Dream Job".

Ben Schwartz (as himself and a rotating cast of characters) is the fast-talking, competitive half, willing to derail a scene for a real-life rock-paper-scissors match or to invent his own character name, only to be corrected by the audience.

Interpretations and controversies

Scholars and critics have debated whether Netflix was the right home for the show. A Flow journal essay argued that the streamer's algorithmic platform may be the wrong venue to broaden mainstream viewership of long-form improv, noting the show sank under the weight of new Netflix releases after launch.¹¹

Sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations

None. The duo had toured the material live before filming, and no follow-up season or spin-off has been released.

The performers and their partnership

Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz are both actors known primarily for scripted television work: Middleditch played Richard Hendricks on HBO's Silicon Valley, and Schwartz played Jean-Ralphio on NBC's Parks and Recreation.⁶ Both trained at established comedy institutions before forming the duo: Middleditch at Chicago's Second City and iO theaters, and Schwartz at New York's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Middleditch also performed with the Improvised Shakespeare Company, a six-man Chicago group that improvises full stories in the linguistic style of Shakespeare.⁶

The two first met over a slice of pizza in New York, made each other laugh, and decided to work together. Before the Netflix specials, they had performed their two-man long-form improv show widely, including at Carnegie Hall.⁷ Their hour-long improv show with Middleditch was among the first improv shows performed at the Largo theater in Los Angeles in 2015.⁸

Unlike classic comedy duos with fixed roles, such as a straight man paired with a wild character, either performer can take either part depending on the scene. Middleditch described the partnership as built on shared instincts: both enjoy playing the straight man or the crazy character, and both can sense when a show needs a jolt of energy or should let a scene play out.⁶

Format and method

A typical Middleditch & Schwartz show starts with an audience suggestion, which sometimes evolves into a brief conversation with an audience member. The pair then builds an extended long-form improv story of several connected scenes, typically running an hour or more. This differs from short-form improv, the game-like format familiar from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which consists of quick, independent sketches.⁶

For the Netflix specials, the duo asked the audience for something they were looking forward to or dreading, such as a law exam or a wedding, then probed with a few questions before beginning the story.⁹^•¹⁰ As the show finds its rhythm, characters form and a zigzagging story takes shape; around the 55-minute mark the performers begin calling back earlier material and weaving the show's threads together toward an ending.⁹

The three specials

All three parts were filmed at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts and premiered on Netflix on April 21, 2020.²

Parking Lot Wedding (52 minutes): an audience tale of love, music festivals, and parking lots leads to a wild wedding involving sixth-grade lovers, a robbery gone wrong, a ghost, and a test of true love.¹^•²
Law School Magic (51 minutes): a dreaded final exam for first-year law students becomes a test of human morality involving an alien, child abandonment, and magic, framed as The Breakfast Club meets The Chronicles of Narnia.¹^•²
Dream Job (51 minutes): an audience member's unusual internship interview spirals into an existential crisis involving photography, The New York Times, and JFK airport bathroom stalls.¹^•²

Long-form improv on television

The series is one of the few times long-form improv comedy has been filmed for television. Televised improv has historically favored short-form games, as in Whose Line Is It Anyway?; true long-form improv has almost never been televised, with earlier exceptions including two UCB specials based on their live show ASSSSCAT (Bravo, 2005, and Comedy Central, 2008) and House of Lies Live (Showtime, 2013), which featured Schwartz.¹¹ Long-form improv has been notoriously difficult to film throughout its history, and the form had rarely translated to screen aside from a few televised UCB specials.¹²

A scholarly commentary argues that despite the show's effectiveness and cinematic presentation, it also demonstrates the hurdles that keep long-form improv from expanding from the live stage to the home, including the spontaneity of the form itself and the programming goals of a streaming service.¹¹

Reception and aftermath

The specials were well received: Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 93% Tomatometer from 14 critics and a 95% audience score, and the series holds an 8.6/10 on IMDb from about 6,000 user ratings.³^•⁴ Netflix lists the show as a limited series, and it ended after its single three-episode season without a renewal.¹^•⁵ Schwartz has continued performing improv with rotating guests under the name Ben Schwartz and Friends, and he has said he is proud that Middleditch & Schwartz gave a rare platform for audiences to understand long-form improv.⁸

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › American sitcoms and comedy series › 2020s cable and streaming comedies

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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