On Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from our producers at The Henson Company, telling me that No, YOU Shut Up! had been canceled by the Fusion network after three-and-a-quarter seasons.
It has been my privilege to work alongside the people who made this show happen every week. I am proud of the work we’ve done. The show really made me laugh!
Thanks to my old friends Nelson Walters, who ran the show, and Bryan Paulk, our co-executive producer, who could have taken other jobs but came aboard because they believed in me. Thanks to our writers Kevin Haulihan and CeCe Pleasants for their hard work and unfailing enthusiasm. These four people wrote the show. That’s it. Four people.
Thanks to the puppeteers, Drew Massey, Ted Michaels, Michael Oosterom, Colleen Smith and Victor Yerrid. I met all of them through this show and now can’t imagine not having worked with them forever. They made me laugh so, SO much. I am glad, at least, that I get to continue playing with them on my podcast from time to time.
Thanks to our researchers, Albro Lundy and Maggie Monahan. They were the entirety of our research department and they never complained. And they contributed far more to the show than just news clips.
Thanks to all the folks at Henson and Fusion who believed in the show. We had hardly any notes over the years, and what notes we had never intruded on the creative process. I’m grateful for that. I hope that Fusion will keep the episodes up on YouTube for people to see.
Thanks to our crew– cameras, sound, lights, editing– for rolling with all of our weird ideas, especially considering we never got to have proper rehearsals. Usually a show like this would have at least ten times the staff that we had, and have the luxury of time to work it all out well in advance of actual shooting. To produce a topical show is a lot of work, and the fact that NYSU got it done with such a tiny amount of personnel leaves me awestruck.
Thanks to all of our amazing guests over the years. I can’t believe the people we got to be on this show. Thanks especially to Scott Aukerman, John Hodgman, and Patton Oswalt, who promoted the show even when they weren’t on it and without being asked to do so.
Thanks to David Javerbaum, who created the show, for thinking of me for the job in the first place. It’s a big deal when someone just offers you a job outright– a HUGE deal– and I am grateful to him forever for this one. Television is, for most of us who work in it, a career that involves many many many jobs as the years go on. Not all of them have a lasting impact on your life. This one will.
Finally, thanks to the people who watched the show. On behalf of everyone who worked on this program, we love you.
See you further on down the road.