Guy Branum Plans To Shake Up the Talk Show Format With ‘Talk Show the Game Show’

Barb Oates January 14, 2017, 6:55 pm

Comedian Guy Branum is bored with the Jimmys of late night and plans to shake up the talk show format with his new 16-episode, half-hour truTV series Talk Show the Game Show, which he created and will host.

“Everything that has happened on a talk show has been scripted to the point that it is lifeless,” Branum said at the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour today. “We have so many Jimmys hosting our talk shows right now, maybe if we vary it up we will have different kinds of talk shows.”

Branum, a writer for Hulu’s The Mindy Project, is best known for his stint as the “staff homosexual” on Chelsea Lately, as well as his recurring segment “No More Mr. Nice Gay” on Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell, and for playing Natalie Portman’s sassy gay friend in No Strings Attached.

Guests coming to Branum’s show better bring their unscripted A-game, as the show’s format pits them against each other as they battle for the title of “Best Guest of the Night.” How that title is determined is through talk-show-inspired challenges where they win points at what looks like the whim of Branum. Brave celebs already agreeing to be critiqued by Branum and a panel of comedic judges include Chelsea Handler, Maria Bamford, John Sally and Wanda Sykes.

Talk Show the Game Show, April 5, 10/9c, truTV