The lifespans of sitcoms just aren’t what they were. Things don’t go for 10 seasons or seven seasons anymore
Ben Schwartz
Schwartz has felt the more brutal side of the industry, too. In 2020, he was cast in the astronautical Netflix sitcom Space Force, opposite Steve Carrell, John Malkovich, and Lisa Kudrow. In 2022, Space Force was cancelled – having lasted just 17 episodes. “I do think we got cut off too short,” he says. “If you think about how TV used to be… at the beginning you’d have a pilot, and then you would do 12 to 24 episodes of the first season. And in that first season, you kind of figure stuff out.” He cites Seinfeld, Parks and Rec and the US Office as examples of shows that needed a season to find their footing.
“But with streaming,” he continues, “you create all of it beforehand. Before you hear how people are reacting, you put it all out. I think in the second season of Space Force, we really started to figure it out. It’s like, ‘Oh, we’re starting to get it’ – and then the time was up. You gotta figure it out quick.
“The lifespans of these things just aren’t what they were. Things don’t go for 10 seasons or seven seasons anymore.”
The experience did bring Schwartz into the orbit of Malkovich, now a firm friend and devotee of his comedy shows. “We forced him to watch Con Air with us once, which was like one of the best nights of my life,” Schwartz laughs.
I have to know more. Malkovich, at the time, hadn’t seen the beloved Nicolas Cage action thriller since its initial premiere. “So he sat next to me. We’d pause and be like, ‘What about this scene?’ And he’d respond –” Schwartz drops into a pretty passable Malkovich impression – “You know, a lot of testosterone in this scene.”
Leaning forward into his camera, Schwartz gives the impression of a man who is genuinely buzzing to his marrow – about Con Air; about improv; about Sonic 3. “It’s really a step up from 2,” he says. “If you’re a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, like I am, it’s heaven. You’re getting so many things you want in a Sonic movie that you haven’t got yet.”
In February, it was announced that Carrey would be returning for Sonic 3, despite his recent claims that he was considering retiring from acting. I ask about Carrey, a performer whose manic onscreen dynamism has always contained just a hint of darkness: the 2017 documentary Jim & Andy, about the making of the Carrey-starring biopic Man on the Moon, paints the actor as an intense, sometimes challenging person on set. Schwartz, though, is having none of it.
“I haven’t seen a shred of darkness in Jim Carrey,” he says. “If you talk to him, he really works on understanding the universe. Tries to really connect with the big picture of everything. I think his purpose in life is to bring joy and enlightenment to people.”
As Schwartz prepares to step onto the London stage, to ask his fans about their lives and spin their stories into performance, I wonder if that isn’t his purpose too.
‘Ben Schwartz & Friends’ is live at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 19 May. Tickets are available here