Ash Wednesday: Let’s have a Night Cap with Bruce Campbell
After Burn Notice ended in 2013, Bruce Campbell did a series of pilots for network television. At 1428 Elm, we are proud to present to you some clips from his show, Night Cap.
“With the completion of Burn Notice, I wasn’t interested in “working for the man”- I wanted to “be” the man and have my own show.” – Bruce Campbell from Hail to the Chin
Night Cap and Chill
When the highly successful Burn Notice ended its run after seven seasons on the USA Network, Bruce Campbell found himself back in Los Angeles getting reacquainted with the city that he had left behind twenty years ago.
When he was at a USA Network promotional event, executive vice president of original programming, Jeff Wachtel approached him. It seems that he had a special project in mind for the actor.
According to Campbell’s account in Hail to the Chin, “Jeff explained that he had a show in mind – a fun, late-night, game-centric show where you view a culty, kitschy movie and do skits during the breaks with funny guests. The name they had was Night Cap.”
Of course, when Bruce was a lad, he enjoyed watching Ron Sweed otherwise known as “The Ghoul,” host his late-night horror movie program. As teenagers, he and Sam Raimi appeared in skits on the show as well. So, it would seem like a no brainer for Campbell to entertain being part of Night Cap since the concept was similar.
The pilot was written by Brad Stevens and Boyd Vico, who later went on to become the showrunners for the sitcom, The Great Indoors with Joel McHale and Stephen Fry. Bruce was very pleased with the effort and said that it was “very sellable while knowing there was always room for improvement.”
Axe and Schmidt Together Again
Season six on Burn Notice introduced a recurring character, Calvin Schmidt. Schmidt was a smuggler who provided Westen, Axe, Glenanne and Porter with fake id’s when they were on the lam. Well, he was played by none other than comedian Patton Oswalt.
It is really no surprise then that Patton is Bruce’s guest on Night Cap. The set is very similar to Graham Norton’s show on the BBC. Oswalt and Campbell swill cocktails while giving hilarious commentary on The Return of the Living Dead starring Clu Gulagher.
Think of it as hanging out with your pals, chillaxing and busting on campy horror flicks from the 80s. Sounds like a fun time and Campbell and Oswalt definitely have the witty banter shtick down pat.
Check out some stills from the show:
Ash Wednesday – Bruce Campbell – Night Cap 2 – Courtesy of USA Network Ash Wednesday – Patton Oswalt – Night Cap -Courtesy of USA Network
We’ve Got Skits!
In addition to the film viewing portion of Night Cap, Bruce also got to perform in skits! This was a marvelous way for him to put those skills to use that he acquired from making those slapstick Super 8 shorts with Sam Raimi.
Comedy comes easy for Campbell. As you can see from the following clips, he is hysterical delivering lines like “it’s grody to the max in here” and “Everybody freaky deaked.” Those two phrases I never expected to ever hear him say.
To make matters even more laugh out loud, he is sporting this crazy feathered wig from the 80s and it’s just…well, take a look. Oh, and you will get a kick out of his split dog rescue.
A Disappointing Ending
Even though Night Cap showed promise, USA ended up passing on it. Bruce and company pitched the show all over parent company NBCUniversal’s other networks. One of the channels happened to be SyFy who also opted not to pick up the program.
This was unbelievable since Campbell starred in the highly successful, Alien Apocalypse for them eight years prior. Undaunted, Bruce continued on his quest to find Night Cap a home to no avail.
Check out the Patton Oswalt segment which starts at 1:41 as well as the opening sequence for Night Cap:
“I was surprised and bummed that we laid an egg. Failure is never thrilling to experience. Night Cap remains a happy memory because at least I got a little “host practice” out of the deal.”
Next: Bruce Campbell: Stuff your stocking with the Hail to the Chin audio book!
This show has potential. Perhaps one day, Bruce might consider resurrecting it.
Would you watch Night Cap? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below. We want to hear from you.