| Exit 57 | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Directed by | |
| Starring |
|
| Opening theme | If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Comedy Central |
| Release | February 8, 1995 (1995-02-08)[1] – 1996 (1996) |
Exit 57 is a 30-minutesketch comedy series that aired on the American television channelComedy Central from 1995 to 1996; its original timeslot was Sundays at 10:00 p.m.,[1] but was later moved to Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m.[2] The cast was composed of comediansStephen Colbert,Paul Dinello, Jodi Lennon,Mitch Rouse, andAmy Sedaris, all of whom had previously studiedimprov atThe Second City in Chicago. In 1999 Sedaris, Dinello, Colbert and Rouse also created the Comedy Central showStrangers with Candy.
All of the sketches in the series are implied to take place in the fictionalized suburban setting of theQuad Cities.
The episodes usually run for around 20 minutes, and feature between four and seven sketches. The sketches all take place in a fictional setting, vaguely named Quad Cities, in reference to the real-life regionbetween Iowa and Illinois.[3]
Sedaris, Dinello, and Rouse were initially approached about developing a sketch comedy show forHBO Downtown Productions after appearing in a comic play titledStitches written by Sedaris's brotherDavid.[4][5][6] The show was produced forComedy Central by Joe Forristal and Nancy Geller.[7] Sedaris and Dinello asked for Colbert's involvement, and he leftThe Second City, where they all met, so he could move toNew York City and work on the show.[6] During his time on New York, Colbert lived at theGeneral Theological Seminary inChelsea.[8] Jodi Lennon, who attended the Second City training center with Rouse, was asked to audition for the show. She put a tape together, and later the other cast members went to see her perform atThe Annoyance Theatre, after that she was hired and moved to New York.[9][10]
Colbert, Dinello, Rouse and Sedaris, called their The Second City's director, Mick Napier, to help them with the show's structure. "It was the first show we'd ever done, and the person we had worked with and trusted the most to understand our style of comedy was Mick, so we said, 'Would you come in and just look at our scripts and help us figure out what we're trying to say? What's the proper structure for this scene?' Because we weren't as good as that." Colbert recalled. Their shared dark sensibilities were also a factor in bringing him on the project.[11] All of them wrote for the show, they would first improvise together in a room and someone would take notes.[10] The team recalled having a lot of freedom to write, "They left us alone for 4 months at a time to write. Then we would come back and use what ever we had come up with."[12] Colbert and Dinello would write most of the sketches, with David Sedaris mainly writing for Lennon and Amy. Lennon said that Sedaris' material was more like "little plays", rather than a normal sketch. The group would do weekly read-throughs, and do re-writes. Sedaris wouldn't take notes kindly, so he would just come each time with a brand new sketch. He wrote all his scripts on a typewriter.[10][13][14] Napier alongside, Cindy Caponera,[15] Paul Kozlowski,[13]A. Whitney Brown,[16] and David Pasquesi,[17] contributed additional material. Comedy writerMichael O'Donoghue once wrote a sketch for the show, but it was rejected due to its violence.[18] Donoghue died in 1994 and the sixth episode of the first season is dedicated to his memory.[19] Colbert has said "Down In the Basement", is one of his favorite sketches from the show, and described it as "one of the most Mick things that we ever did".[11] For the sketch "You Are Fired", Colbert based his character onSecond City producerKelly Leonard, who did not like having difficult conversations with his staff. Colbert called Leonard beforehand to tell him.[20]
The series was filmed in New York, at the HBO Downtown Production offices,[9][21] in front of a live audience. They only were able to film two takes per sketch.[3] Colbert recalled the budget for the show was tight: "Those were like, "Well, here's an idea. A guy gets woken up by ajackhammer. The jackhammer operator ..." and our producers would say, "First of all, before you go any further – do you have a jackhammer? Because I don't have a jackhammer."[6] Lennon recalled that HBO was very supportive, asking them to write another pilot after the show was cancelled. They ended up writing another sketch show, but it did not get picked up.[10]
During the show's cryptic opening sequence, the cast members are seen standing next to a broken down car on the highway. Soon they are picked up by a passing driver, who changes the radio station at the mention of a serial killer, and takes Polaroid pictures of his increasingly uncomfortable passengers. Growing suspicious, the cast demands to be let out. The car is then seen pulling off the highway at Exit 57.
A rendition of "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" served as the show's theme song.
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| Pilot episode | Unaired | |||
| 1 | 6 | August 20, 1995 | 1995 | |
| 2 | 6 | September 17, 1996 | 1996 | |
In a 1995 review of the show,The Boston Phoenix, wrote: "They're big onwhite-trash parody and fare particularly well with character-driven comedy and dialogue —a good sign." The review described the opening credits, as "The best sequence on the show", adding, "ADavid Lynch—ian dark subtext can be self-conscious, but sharp wit is evident, and the show has a lot of promise."[7] ForThe New York Times,John J. O'Connor wrote, "As in any sketch-comedy format, some of the material sinks without a trace. But enough has stayed afloat for Comedy Central to order six more editions ofExit 57 ".[1] For the same publication,Warren Berger compared the show toSaturday Night Live, "but edgier and with aKids in the Hall bent".[2] He also noted their favorite subjects included, "dysfunctional families" and "confrontational therapy that goes too far".[2]
Despite having 12 episodes over the course of two seasons, the series met with a fair amount of critical acclaim before its cancellation, garneringCableACE nominations in 1995 for writing, performance, and best comedy series.[22][23] In a 2003 interview, Stephen Colbert was told that it was a shame that the show did not have re-runs, to which he said: "I don't know about that, I've seen some of them since. I think shame could be associated with it, but not necessarily with not showing."[6] ActorMatthew McConaughey is a fan of the show, and in 2017 he re-enacted a sketch with Colbert.[24]
