Never Not Funny

Never Not Funny is a podcast hosted by American comedian Jimmy Pardo, since spring 2006, currently releasing two episodes a week. He and producer/co-host Matt Belknap have appeared in every episode. Comedian Mike Schmidt appeared as co-host for season one, except for the final episode of the season, when his departure was announced.

The show moved to a pay format in March 2008, with the first twenty minutes of each show remaining available to non-paying subscribers. It subsequently returned to partial free distribution when it joined the Earwolf network in January 2014, with a premium subscription available for access to video and weekly bonus episodes. In late 2019, the show became fully independent again, hosted by ART19, later under the umbrella of their Misfit Toys Podcast Co-Op curated by Jimmy Pardo and Matt Belknap. The main weekly audio episode remains free, while video, additional weekly episodes, bonus content and full archives going back to 2006 are available to various tiers of Platinum subscribers.

Never Not Funny began when Matt Belknap interviewed Pardo on the podcast for his popular alternative comedy forum A Special Thing. The two had previously discussed producing a podcast version of Jimmy's Los Angeles show "Running Your Trap," which he hosted at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, but they hit it off so well on AST Radio that Pardo said "this is the show."

The first episode featured Pardo, Belknap, and guest Mike Schmidt. Pat Francis was scheduled for episode 2, but when he was unavailable, Schmidt (usually referred to by Pardo as "The Former Third Baseman" after the similarly named baseball player) became the permanent co-host. This arrangement continued for the first season. Every fourth episode would feature a guest such as Pat Francis, Scott Aukerman or Graham Elwood. Midway through the first season, the theme song was changed from a brief portion of an unnamed instrumental song by Jimmy's close friend Daver to "Mad At The World" by Daver, with sound bites from previous episodes mixed into the song. This three-man setup lasted for sixty episodes, including a clip show and two live shows recorded at the UCB Theatre. The show went through little change throughout the first season until episode sixty, when Jimmy announced that his relationship with Mike Schmidt had become strained through the years and that they had decided to go their separate ways; Schmidt left the show in an attempt to reconcile their friendship. Mike explained the situation on May 25, 2007, on his website. In March 2008, Mike started his own solo podcast named The 40 Year Old Boy. At the end of season six, Schmidt made his first return to the podcast, this time as a guest, when Pardo decided, "Life's too short.", and has been a frequent guest ever since.

Following Schmidt's departure, the show began its second season. Instead of the former three-man lineup, Pardo and Belknap appeared as the only regulars, along with a rotating guest every episode. Pat Francis was the guest for the first episode of the second season, which began the tradition of Francis being the "third chair" and appearing on every fourth episode. It was in the second season that the show received its first sponsorship, lasting only a few weeks. On episode 39 of the second season, it was announced that the show would move to a pay format beginning with season three. Listeners would have to pay to continue receiving the complete podcast, although the first twenty minutes of each episode would still be available for free. The subscription price was set to $19.99 for 26 episodes. They also hired Pardo's brother-in-law Andrew Koenig to record video of the show. Only 5 minute clips of the show were available on video during season three, which were hosted on Koenig's site Monkey Go Lucky, but beginning with season four, full video of the show became available for $24.99 (full video for season three was released retroactively several years later).

Midway through season six tragedy struck when Andrew Koenig died. An episode was released in remembrance, highlighting some of Koenig's best moments throughout his time on the show. Andrew's close friend Eliot Hochberg, who had been providing the video equipment, assumed his role as videographer. Shortly afterwards they hired an intern, Dan Katz, aka "Tabasco Ears", to look up material on the internet and take notes. Katz left the show at the beginning of season 11 and was replaced by Pop Culture Beast editor Garon Cockrell, aka "The Beast," shortly after.

On episode 1325, it was announced that at the beginning of season 14, Never Not Funny would change to a free show in audio format. Plus, Never Not Funny would also join the Earwolf podcast network, co-owned by Scott Aukerman (who was the guest on the episode and the only guest to appear in every season). Full audio would be available on Earwolf, iTunes and NNF's feed, while video of the episodes were part of the new "Players Club" package for Primo subscribers with 25 episodes per six-month season. Subscribers of the Players Club would also get an additional weekly lettered episode (A to Z), plus bonus material such as live shows.

In late 2019, the show left Earwolf to return to full independent status. Following a special 1000th episode on February 26, 2020, they launched a new Platinum monthly subscription service for the 26th season, continuing the free audio feed for the weekly numbered episode on Wednesday, with all Platinum subscribers getting both audio and video for the numbered episodes, weekly lettered episodes on Sunday and bonus episodes. Additional content was offered for higher subscription tiers, including full audio and video archives going back to the beginning (audio only for the first two seasons), occasional live stream shows and exclusive merchandise.