''Exit 57'' is a 30-minute

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

series that aired on the American television channel Comedy Central from 1995 to 1996; its cast was composed of comedians

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

, Paul Dinello, Jodi Lennon, Mitch Rouse, and

Amy Sedaris Amy Louise Sedaris (; born March 29, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Most recently, she has appeared in both ''The Mandalorian'' (2019–2020) and '' The Book of Boba Fett'' (2022) as Peli Motto. She played Jerri Blank in the ...

, all of whom had previously studied improv at

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

in Chicago. In 1999 Sedaris, Dinello, Colbert and Rouse also created the Comedy Central show ''

Strangers with Candy ''Strangers with Candy'' is an American comedy television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ( ET). A pr ...

''. Humorist

David Sedaris David Raymond Sedaris (; born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay " Santaland Diaries.” He published his first c ...

served as an additional writer for the series, sharing a single onscreen credit with his sister as "The Talent Family". All of the sketches in the series are implied to take place in the fictionalized suburban setting of the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

Origin

Sedaris, Dinello, and Rouse initially were approached about developing a sketch comedy show for HBO Downtown Productions after appearing in a comic play titled ''Stitches''., written by Amy Sedaris's brother David Sedaris. The group had not performed together using the name Exit 57 before the series was proposed, but rather came together to develop the show. The series was filmed in New York; Stephen Colbert moved from Chicago, leaving Second City, for this reason. Jodi Lennon moved from Chicago, leaving The Annoyance Theatre.

Opening sequence

During the show's cryptic opening sequence, the cast members are seen standing next to a broken down car on the highway. Soon they are picked up by a passing driver, who changes the radio station at the mention of a serial killer, and takes Polaroid pictures of his increasingly uncomfortable passengers. Growing suspicious, the cast demands to be let out. The car is then seen pulling off the highway at Exit 57. A rendition of "

If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" is a popular song written by Al Hoffman, Bob Merrill, and Clem Watts and published in 1950. In the U.S, the best known version of the song was recorded by Eileen Barton in January 1950. Joe Lipman ...

" served as the show's theme song.

Reception

Despite having 12 episodes over the course of two seasons, the series met with a fair amount of critical acclaim before its cancellation, garnering

CableACE The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...

nominations in 1995 for writing, performance, and best comedy series. Biography of Stephen Colbert from '' Comedy Central.com''

References

External links

* {{authority control American comedy troupes Comedy Central original programming 1990s American sketch comedy television series 1995 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings Television series by HBO Downtown Productions