Chris Gethard's hit podcast Beautiful/Anonymous to become a TV show
Besides The Chris Gethard Show (R.I.P.), comedian Chris Gethard’s biggest project to date has been his hit podcast Beautiful/Anonymous, where he chats with a stranger for an hour. The are only two rules: He won’t know their name and he can’t hang up first – no matter what. Now, the massively popular Beautiful/Anonymous is getting the TV treatment, premiering on February 11 on First Look Media’s streaming service, Topic.
The TV show will work similarly to the podcast, where Gethard tweets out the B/A phone number and has a half-hour conversation with the lucky stranger picked to talk to him. But while Gethard won’t know who he’s talking to, the TV version’s conversations will “be illustrated by different imagery such as still photos and video footage,” per a recent press release.
This isn’t Gethard’s only recent TV show. In 2019, the comedian made a return to his public access TV roots with Chris Gethard Presents. It had a similar feel to his former beloved series but instead of acting as host, Gethard invited other comedians to host each episode. The show ended due to the pandemic in March 2020, but has been replaced by Planet Scum on Twitch.
In case you’re somehow not intimately knowledgeable of the scores of streaming platforms currently in existence: Back in November 2019 (during the Great Streaming War between Disney and Apple, if you recall), First Look Media described Topic as “a new streaming service curated for a curious and engaged audience seeking smart, provocative and meaningful entertainment.” We assume that just means you get access to shows like Gethard’s and Maria Bamford’s mental health talk show, What’s Your Ailment?! for the $5.99 monthly subscription price.
Beautiful/Anonymous works perfectly as a podcast because it’s such an intimate experience that makes the listener feel like they’re part of their phone conversation. With this new TV version, we’ll get to see if the new format adds to or hinders what’s turned the podcast into such a phenomenon.