Never Not Funny

Show format

The show is of the comedy talk variety, consisting of free-form conversation between Jimmy Pardo, Matt Belknap and a third, weekly-changing guest. The top of the show consists of just the regular hosts and then bringing the guest into the mix in the second half. Jimmy often becomes infuriated with guests if they arrive too early, interrupting the pre break part of the show. Topics discussed range from music and popular culture to personal lives and amusing or interesting anecdotes. Starting with season three, the last 5–20 minutes were dedicated to a listener-submitted "Stupid Question Of The Week." The segment has since been retired. At the beginning of season five, a new segment called "Judge Jimmy" was introduced, in which the cast settled a listener-submitted dispute with Pardo as judge and Belknap and the guest as the attorneys.

Until the end of the third season, the show was recorded in a single take without any editing. After the 2008 Chino Hills earthquake forced the show to stop briefly (originally so Jimmy, Matt and guest Patton Oswalt could check on family members) the podcast has had one small break per episode.

History

Never Not Funny began when Matt Belknap interviewed Pardo on the podcast for his popular alternative comedy forum A Special Thing. The two had previously discussed producing a podcast version of Jimmy's Los Angeles show "Running Your Trap," which he hosted at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, but they hit it off so well on AST Radio that Pardo said "This is the show."

The first episode featured Pardo, Belknap, and guest Mike Schmidt. Pat Francis was scheduled for episode 2, but when he was unavailable, Schmidt (usually referred to by Pardo as "The Former Third Baseman" after the similarly named baseball player) became the permanent co-host. This arrangement continued for the first season. Every fourth episode would feature a guest such as Pat Francis, Scott Aukerman or Graham Elwood. Midway through the first season, the theme song was changed from a brief portion of an unnamed instrumental song by Jimmy's close friend Daver to "Mad At The World" by Daver, with sound bites from previous episodes mixed into the song. This three-man setup lasted for sixty episodes, including a clip show and two live shows recorded at the UCB Theatre. The show went through little change throughout the first season until episode sixty, when Jimmy announced that his relationship with Mike Schmidt had become strained through the years and that they had decided to go their separate ways; Schmidt left the show in an attempt to reconcile their friendship. (Show notes for episode 60.) Mike explained the situation on May 25, 2007, on his website. In March 2008, Mike started his own solo podcast named The 40 Year Old Boy. At the end of season six, Schmidt made his first return to the podcast, this time as a guest, when Pardo decided, "Life's too short." (Show notes for Episode 623 with Mike Schmidt.)

Following Schmidt's departure, the show began its second season. Instead of the former three-man lineup, Pardo and Belknap appeared as the only regulars, along with a rotating guest every episode. Pat Francis was the guest for the first episode of the second season, which began the tradition of Francis being the "third chair" and appearing on every fourth episode. It was in the second season that the show received its first sponsorship, lasting only a few weeks. On episode 39 of the second season, it was announced that the show would move to a pay format beginning with season three. Listeners would have to pay to continue receiving the complete podcast, although the first twenty minutes of each episode would still be available for free. The subscription price was set to $19.99 for 26 episodes. They also hired Pardo's brother-in-law Andrew Koenig to record video of the show. Only 5 minute clips of the show were available on video during season three, which were hosted on Koenig's site Monkey Go Lucky, but beginning with season four, full video of the show became available for $24.99.

Midway through season six tragedy struck when Andrew Koenig died. An episode was released in remembrance, highlighting some of Koenig's best moments throughout his time on the show, and Pardo has since memorialized Koenig at the close of every episode with the parting words, "AK-47, gone, not forgotten." Andrew's close friend Eliot Hochberg, who had been providing the video equipment, assumed his role as videographer. Shortly afterwards they hired an intern, Dan Katz, aka "Tabasco Ears." Katz left the show at the beginning of season 11 and was replaced by Pop Culture Beast editor Garon Cockrell, aka "The Beast," shortly after.

On episode 1325, it was announced that at the beginning of season 14, Never Not Funny would change to a free show in audio format. Plus, Never Not Funny would also join the Earwolf podcast network, co-owned by Scott Aukerman (who was the guest on the episode and one of the only guests to appear in every season). Full audio would be available on Earwolf, iTunes and NNF's feed, while video of the episodes were part of the new "Players Club" package for Primo subscribers. Subscribers of the Players Club would also get an additional weekly episode (audio and video), plus bonus material such as live shows.

Pardcast-A-Thon

A mini episode was released at the beginning of season six that announced Never Not Funny would be doing a live, streaming podcast on their website to raise money in benefit of Smile Train. The first annual Pardcast-A-Thon took place on Black Friday 2009. Pardo, Belknap and Francis welcomed guests such as Chris Hardwick, Jon Hamm and Rich Sommer from Mad Men and Oscar Nunez. By the end of the night, they raised over $12,000.

The next year at Pardcast-A-Thon 2010, they changed the venue to the Acme Comedy Theater and went 12 hours instead of 9 to give even more of a telethon vibe (and raise more money). At the end of the night at 6 am, they raised $27,000. Guests included Rob Corddry, Sarah Silverman, Aimee Mann and Andy Richter.

For Pardcast-A-Thon 2011, the set up was the same as the previous year. Guests included Amy Poehler, Lisa Loeb, Walter Koenig and Adam Carolla. By the end of the event, the amount of money raised was almost double the previous year's total with $41,000.

Pardcast-A-Thon 2012 was expected to the biggest to date with a goal of $50,000 by the end of the night. The hours were changed to 12 pm to 12 am PST so people on the East Coast could stay up later and donate more. Guests included Bob Saget, Conan O'Brien, Simon Helberg, Kevin Nealon, Colin Hay and Zach Galifianakis. The goal of $50,000 was not only raised after 13.5 hours, but midway through an anonymous donor said they would match the end total, making the grand total over $100,000.

The 5th Annual Pardcast-A-Thon went by with flying colors with the guys raising over $130,000 (half of that thanks to the anonymous donor again) by the end of the night. Wayne Federman sat in for the whole event playing music on keyboard. Guests included Patton Oswalt, Jack Wagner, Phil Hendrie, Zach Galifianakis, Bob Odenkirk and Andy Richter.

Pardcast-A-Thon 2014 was just as successful as the previous year, if not more. With Federman as the house band again, Jimmy and the gang raised a record $156,000 over the night. Guests included Weird Al Yankovic, Jack McBrayer, Paul Dooley, Fred Willard, Billy Eichner, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman and more.

Jimmy and Matt stated in a Season 16 episode that The 7th Annual Pardcast-A-Thon will not take place on Black Friday 2015, due to scheduling conflicts in the past. The 7th annual Pardcast-A-Thon took place on March 5, 2016. The event raised over $169,000.

Awards