Ben Schwartz shot an entire TV series with no buyer. Here's the plan

On this week’s episode, we’re catching up with an old friend. Ben Schwartz is on tour with his improv show “Ben Schwartz and Friends.” He’s voicing Sonic in the upcoming fourth film in the “Sonic the Hedgehog” series. And he’s just completed a passion project – a new TV series that he’s written, directed and stars in based on his popular Funny or Die web series “The Earliest Show.”

00:00 Intro

01:06 Four improv shows in two days

03:03 Walking onstage with no plan

05:42 How to escape a dying scene

07:22 Listening, callbacks and four empty chairs

11:19 Ben interviews Anthony

13:00 What he learned as a Letterman page

14:27 The pre-show ritual

16:38 Why stand-up felt lonely

19:25 FLAG Art Foundation

20:29 The Earliest Show: making TV independently

25:41 Betting his own time and money

30:03 Selling 13 scripts and getting none made

35:48 How to keep hope alive

39:20 Why Anthony started Alchemy

44:42 Sonic the Hedgehog 4

46:44 Finding comfort in '90s movies

48:06 "Creativity eats darkness"

New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ (youtube.com/@alchemywithanthonymason) so you never miss one.

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For bookings: rebecca@alchemy.show

About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation (flagartfoundation.org)⁠⁠:

The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ (instagram.com/flagartfoundation).

About Anthony Mason:

Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.