History Series / AtMidnight

* AffectionateParody: The February 18, 2014 episode featured "Website/EBay [[Series/ThePriceIsRight Price is Right]]" as a round. Surprisingly, they didn't play it again when actual ''Price'' host Drew Carey was a guest.

** {{Invoked}} One of the items featured on "Website/EBay Price is Right" was a promotional package from the 1990s... of Chris Hardwick, including headshots. Hardwick was embarrassed, and all the contestants overbid.

** TakeThatMe: When David Spade was a contestant, one of the "Photobomb: Creepy or Cute" was of a pig-man-''thing'' standing behind Creator/ParisHilton. Spade says it's himself.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The debate as to whether the abbreviation .gif is pronounced with a hard or soft "g" sound. Chris really let the haters have it, too:
-->'''Chris''': You fucks online who keep saying I'm pronouncing it wrong--no, ''you're'' wrong! It's '''G'''raphics '''I'''nterchange '''F'''ormat. I don't care what the guy who created the .gif format said, he's a fucking programmer, not a linguist; it's gif! It's not a fucking peanut butter!

[[caption-width-right:350:"Wiki/TVTropes, you are the funniest website on Earth for the next 23½ hours!"]]

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Chris will give out points to riffs or one-liners fired off by contestants even when no question was being asked of them, as long as Chris thinks they're funny enough.

** The ultimate dark horse winner may be ''musician'' Neko Case.

* BadassMustache: Tom Lennon's. [[spoiler:It's gone on his fifth appearance as a contestant]].

-->'''Chris''': Are you telling me that ''Anime/SailorMoon'' is [[NonIndicativeName neither a sailor OR a moon]]? Does ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'''s Ash Ketchum not actually want to catch 'em all?! WHERE DOES IT END?!

-->--'''[[Series/{{Nerdist}} Chris Hardwick]]''', OnceAnEpisode to open up the show

''@midnight'' is a PanelGame on Creator/ComedyCentral hosted by Chris Hardwick, in which three celebrities compete for the coveted title of Funniest Person on Earth... [[CosmeticAward for the next 23 and a half hours.]]

** Then he discussed the 45th anniversary of ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''. He then talks about the weird Website/DeviantArt dedicated to them...the very mention of dA ''immediately'' has the crowd groaning and moaning in response. As well as Greg Proops [[ICantLookGesture covering his face in fright]].

** One instance of "going too far" happened on the 3/26/14 show where they showed [[http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/kurt-cobain-john-lennon-and-tupac-shakur-star-in-dutch-beer-ad-20140325 a beer commercial]] for the Dutch brewing company "Bavaria" which "stars" several famous dead musicians. One panelist made a joke that Music/KurtCobain isn't a beer guy and is more of a "[[TooSoon shot guy]]". Chris and the audience groaned loudly and the panelist was not awarded points.

* BiTheWay: Bobby Lee kissed the other contestants (only one was female) and Chris upon his loss.

** Bryan Callen called [[Music/{{Maroon 5}} Adam Levine]] 'Chris Levine' (last name pronounced 'Le-vyn' instead of 'Le-veen'). Chris Delia in particular [[NeverLiveItDown let him have it throughout the show after that]].

[[caption-width-right:350:"Wiki/TVTropes, you are the funniest website on Earth for the next 23 1/2 hours!"]]

* BrickJoke: July 22, 2014: A clip from the Korean drama ''Everybody, Kimchi!'' is featured in Rapid Refresh, in which someone got [[http://kotaku.com/kimchi-slap-looks-incredibly-painful-and-gross-1608828090 kimchi thrown at them]]. At the end of the episode, the winner also got kimchi thrown at them as a bonus prize. [[spoiler:As if Tom Lennon hasn't been through enough already]].

They've now updated their website as well with an appearance/win tracker. [[http://www.cc.com/shows/-midnight/guests Check it out here]].

** Starting in April 2014, multiple contestants (particularly, those wearing tuxedos) have claimed that they were appearing on another show called ''Tuxedo Guys''. It's ([[SureLetsGoWithThat apparently]]) a game show. As the gag has continued running, more and more (often bizarre) details about ''Tuxedo Guys'' have been added by the contestants. With Tom Lennon's victory on ''Tuxedo Guys,'' it seems to have entered full blown ShowWithinAShow territory.

*** [[spoiler: July 22, 2014 will be a day marked in history. He finally won in his sixth appearance, and went over Music/WeirdAlYankovic in FTW to do it no less. He also got [[BrickJoke kimchi]] [[CoveredInGunge thrown at him]].]]

* OneOfUs: [[{{Invoked}} Chris' nerdiness is a big part of the show]]. If you had any doubt, one episode's panelists are his ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' group... who happen to be Creator/PattonOswalt, Blaine Captach, and Creator/BrianPosehn.

* ArtifactTitle: After the cancellation of ''Series/TheNightlyShow'', ''@Midnight'' moved to 11:30 PM, but still kept its no-longer-descriptive title. Hardwick has {{lampshaded}} this several times.

->''"It's 11:59 and 59 seconds, and '''this''' happened on [Insert Website Here] today..."''\\
'''--[[Series/{{Nerdist}} Chris Hardwick]]''', OnceAnEpisode to open up the show

* SincerityMode: When a guy was recorded losing his shit over the results of the 2014 RoyalRumble (and Chris basically said now no guy has an excuse to not have a girlfriend), he recorded another video of him losing his shit at Chris Hardwick. Chris declared that his words might have been a little hurtful, and sent the guy a replacement lamp and one of his stand-up specials on DVD (knowing that the guy very well might break them anyway).

* DirtyCoward: Chris blatantly admits to being this when instead of risking IceCube[='s=] wrath, he just declares him the winner during FTW

The show primarily deals with internet pop culture and content trending on social media platforms (such as Website/{{Twitter}}). While most of the "rounds" are topical and change nightly, there are some common rounds, such as "Rapid Refresh" (multiple-choice questions), "Hashtag Wars" (a SpeedRound where the celebrities give responses that fall within a specific theme, e.g. "[=#RejectedTVTropes=]"), the "Live Challenge" (a task which is done by the contestants over the commercial break; it usually involves writing a long-form answer for a certain prompt), and then another speed round, after which the lowest scorer is eliminated.[[note]]In case of a tie, Hardwick will ask the comedians to name off one last item pertaining to that final SpeedRound and have the audience decide whose response was better.[[/note]] The game concludes with "FTW", where the final two (or sometimes, [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem still all three]]), have to perform one more task (it's another "Live Challenge"); the two responses (but not who wrote them) are shown to the StudioAudience, and the contestant whose response garnishes the most applause wins the Internet.

The show primarily deals with internet pop culture and content trending on social media platforms (such as Website/{{Twitter}}). While most of the "rounds" are topical and change nightly, there are some common rounds, such as "Rapid Refresh" (multiple-choice questions), "Hashtag Wars" (a SpeedRound where the celebrities give responses that fall within a specific theme, i.e. "[=#RejectedTVTropes=]"), the "Live Challenge" (a task which is done by the contestants over the commercial break; it usually involves writing a long-form answer for a certain prompt), and then another speed round, after which the lowest scorer is eliminated.[[note]]In case of a tie, Hardwick will ask the comedians to name off one last item pertaining to that final SpeedRound and have the audience decide whose response was better.[[/note]] The game concludes with "FTW", where the final two (or sometimes, [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem still all three]]), have to perform one more task (it's another "Live Challenge"); the two responses (but not who wrote them) are shown to the StudioAudience, and the contestant whose response garnishes the most applause wins the Internet.

** On the episode with Creator/WilWheaton, Aisha Tyler and Kevin Pereira, Chris apologized to the latter for killing [[{{Creator/G4TV}} G4]].

The show primarily deals with internet pop culture and content trending on social media platforms (such as Website/{{Twitter}}). While most of the "rounds" are topical and change nightly, there are some common rounds, such as "Rapid Refresh" (multiple-choice questions), "Hashtag Wars" (a SpeedRound where the celebrities give responses that fall within a specific theme, i.e. "[=#RejectedTVTropes=]"), the "Live Challenge" (a task which is done by the contestants over the commercial break; it usually involves writing a long-form answer for a certain prompt), and then another speed round, after which the lowest scorer is eliminated.[[note]]In case of a tie, Hardwick will ask the comedians to name off one last item pertaining to that final SpeedRound and have the audience decide whose response was better.[[/note]] The game concludes with "FTW", where the final two have to perform one more task (it's another "Live Challenge"); the two responses (but not who wrote them) are shown to the StudioAudience, and the contestant whose response garnishes the most applause wins the Internet.

The show premiered on October 21, 2013 as a lead-out for ''Series/TheColbertReport''; after becoming Comedy Central's EnsembleDarkhorse, it returned for a full run in January 2014.

** Subverted and lampshaded when the show was temporarily moved to 11:30 p.m. ET ([[OfferVoidInNebraska except in Canada]]) to replace ''Series/TheColbertReport'' between its series finale and the premiere of ''Series/TheNightlyShow''. Chris remarked that they would still be declaring their winner ''at midnight'', so the title still made sense. For two weeks in September 2015, the show aired at 11 p.m. ET as a lead-up to the premiere of ''Series/TheDailyShow with Trevor Noah''.
** The show returned to the 11:30 p.m. ET slot permanently after the cancellation of ''The Nightly Show'' in August 2016.

* OldShame: {{Invoked}} One of the items featured on "eBay Price is Right" was a promotional package from the 1990s... of host Chris Hardwick, including headshots. Hardwick was embarrassed, and all the contestants overbid.

* PungeonMaster: Sort of a must for anyone doing [=#HashtagWars=]

* MeaningfulName: The show actually ''is'' on at 12:00 a.m ET (as @ is pronounced as "at", the show literally starts "at midnight"), and the @ sign is usually used on sites like Twitter to indicate posts directed to or mentioning someone.
** Subverted and lampshaded when the show was temporarily moved to 11:30 p.m. ET ([[OfferVoidInNebraska except in Canada]]) to serve as a placeholder for ''Series/TheColbertReport'' until the premiere of ''Series/TheNightlyShow'': Chris remarked that they would still be declaring their winner at midnight, so the title still made sense. For two weeks in September 2015, the show aired at 11 p.m. ET as a lead-up to the premiere of ''Series/TheDailyShow with Trevor Noah''.