Cheap Seats (originally Cheap Seats Without Ron Parker) is a humorous sports-related comedy show which aired on ESPN Classic from February 4, 2004 to November 19, 2006. It was hosted by the twin comedians Randy and Jason Sklar.
The premise of the series is that two irreverent video tape librarians must take over as hosts of a clip show after the original host (the egotistical Ron Parker) is injured in an accident. Parker was played by Michael Showalter, who had previously co-starred on the Sklars' MTV sitcom Apartment 2F.
The show features clips of famous or bizarre sporting events, with the Sklars providing humorous audio commentary. The show also features short sketches inspired by the clips. In many ways, Cheap Seats was a spiritual antecedent of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and the Sklars have acknowledged the influence that MST3K had on them.
In an episode of their podcast Dumb People Town that was recorded around the time of the conclusion of the second Kickstarter, the Sklars indicated to guest Jonah Ray that the Gizmoplex may be an appropriate venue for a Cheap Seats revival. The Sklars later appeared during the Final Countdown telethon. Later in 2021, the Sklars began producing an online-only version of Cheap Seats entitled Cheaper Seats. It is available to their Patreon supporters and they have posted some clips to YouTube.
In January of 2022, the Sklars announced that they would be producing a new series similar to Cheap Seats entitled The Nosebleeds. It is exclusive to the UFC Channel, and the content is solely about UFC fights. The first episode premiered on July 30, 2022 and was made available to watch for free on YouTube.
MST3K Connections[]
The episode "Creative Breaking/K-1 Fighting" (Season 2, Episode 2 - first broadcast on March 14, 2005) includes appearances by Mike Nelson, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, as performed by Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy.[1] The SOL crew note the similarity of Cheap Seats to MST3K, as well as making various references to MST regulars including Gamera.
This segment is featured on the DVD for Episode 1008 - Final Justice in Shout! Factory's Volume XIV collection, as well as Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Lost and Found Collection. One episode of Cheap Seats featured an appearance by Patton Oswalt. Another episode showed clips from the 2003 ISKA Karate Championships, which included a young martial artist named Taylor Lautner as a participant. Lautner would later become an actor and he appeared in several films that became RiffTrax presentations (including the entire Twilight series, in which he co-starred as Jacob).