You may know CollegeHumor from the YouTube sketch comedy that brought them fame over a decade ago, such as their “Hardly Working” or “Messages from a CEO” series. Over the past few years, though, they’ve developed a solid reputation producing unscripted comedy television series and releasing them independently on their own streaming service, Dropout. You may have seen viral clips from their most popular shows — “Dimension 20,” “Um, Actually,” “Make Some Noise” and “Dirty Laundry,” among others — on TikTok or Instagram. My personal favorite, “Game Changer,” is wrapping up airing its fifth season now, and if you aren’t already watching, then you should be.
The premise of “Game Changer” is relatively simple: It’s a game show, but the rules change every episode and the contestants have no idea what game they’re playing until it’s already begun. The episodic basis of the show is ambitious by nature, and season 5 has been its most impressive so far. Episodes have ranged from sequels to formats explored in prior seasons (“Sam Says 2”) to improvised songs in the style of karaoke greats (“Karaoke Night”) to a 40-minute episode of fully ad-libbed Shakespearean dialogue (“A Game Most Changed”) to a two-episode parody of “The Bachelor.” The season’s particular standout is its finale, “Escape the Greenroom,” in which the actual greenroom of the set is transformed into an escape room, unknown to its victims until the door is locked from the outside.
“Game Changer” is brilliant on a number of levels, but first, respects must be paid to the production team, including the writers, art directors, production designers, editors and absolutely everyone involved in the behind-the-scenes work for every episode. It’s no small feat that each episode manages to be not only entertaining, but unique and fully explored. I have never finished an episode of “Game Changer” and felt like they should have done more with the premise. I need to again shout out the “Escape the Greenroom” episode, which was so mind-bendingly impressive from a production standpoint that I had to watch it multiple times just to catch all of the clever ways that they created a full escape room out of a limited existing space.
Also deserving of praise is the incredible cast for each episode. Every episode is a new rotation of comedians — sometimes familiar CollegeHumor cast members, sometimes not — which are always perfectly suited for the game they play. Brennan Lee Mulligan, Izzy Roland, Lou Wilson, and Jacob Wysocki are constant delights every time they’re featured, but “Game Changer” has an impeccable record of casting just the right people to play off of each other and the game each episode.
The true heart of the show, however, is Sam Reich, the host/creator/executive producer/occasional antagonist. Reich’s enthusiasm for the show explodes from the screen, and his delighted reactions to the contestants’ shenanigans improve every bit substantially. He’s also not afraid to cast himself as the heel. He’s aware that he’s functionally the trickster god running the whole affair, and the episodes in which the contestants begin to turn his own game against him are some of the show’s best.
Dropout is worth the subscription for many reasons — I can’t overstate how much I genuinely love all of the content that they produce — but “Game Changer” is by far my favorite show on the platform. Part game show, part reality TV, part improv comedy, part prank show and, above all, unendingly clever and hilarious, “Game Changer” pushes the boundaries of unscripted television, and the medium is better for it.
‘Game Changer’: The best show (not) on television
Meg Hammond
Meg Hammond
