Fireside Chat with Tim Johnson (Johnsonverse)

Fireside Chat with Tim Johnson is an American talk/sketch show that premiered on February 27, 2011, and airs on WBC. Starring Tim Johnson, the show features announcer and sidekick Belle Armstrong, and music performed live on-set by Chloe Johnson (keyboardist, occasional vocalist) and a group of musicians known as the Fireside Band (with a rhythm and horn section; some members of the rhythm section other than Chloe also occasionally vocalize).
First announced in 2010, the series since its premiere has been critically acclaimed for its sketches, humor, and hosting, although it has seen controversy for Tim's viewpoints, namely his political views. The twelfth season premiered in 2022.
== Premise ==
In addition to featuring sketches parodying a vast array of subjects (for example, Darrell Hammond reprising his role as Donald Trump from Saturday Night Live, having been replaced by Alec Baldwin and later James Austin Johnson on the latter show, Tim portraying a stereotypical millennial who thinks the world owes him a living, and Belle Armstrong playing a valley girl named Ella who exploits various valley girl stereotypes to commit various crimes, including defrauding Mitt Romney's campaign during the 2012 presidential election; another recurring sketch is Tim playing the grandson of Johnny Carson's character Carnac the Magnificent, Carnac III, with much of the same mannerisms such as tripping during the intro and cursing the audience when they react negatively to a joke; one that occurs towards the end of every year from 2012 onwards is the Fireside Circus Parade, featuring various subjects of mockery (and other laughable things) related to the year it’s set in, with every year’s parade ending with a full two-person Republican Elephant costume), the show also features Tim sitting down and talking in a serious tone about recent events (several of these instances, particularly regarding lesser known current events, are prompted by him receiving a note in an envelope from Fireside Mailwoman Jenny Smith). 
It's also in these serious talks that Tim has expressed many of his controversial opinions. He also reviews various non-Johnson shows, movies, games, and other forms of media (sometimes works from Johnson-owned companies like Disney and Fox that came out before the time they were bought by Johnson), which are intentionally biased for comic effect; occasionally, though, he'll give a positive review to something he personally found good (such as Crazy Rich Asians (the book; the next week, he reviewed the movie, which he had mixed feelings about, particularly regarding the casting, etc.) and Undertale), or viciously tear into legitimately bad works (for example, one episode featured a review of the modern seasons of Family Guy (Seasons 7 to 18) in which he famously called them "the result of a once-clever show having been reduced to a steaming piece of s**t that would've gone on the Western Animation section of the 'So Bad, It's Horrible' page on TV Tropes had it not been for the first four seasons and the fact that it somehow still has a fanbase"; once Johnson acquired 20th Century Fox, Tim quoted this line during the announcement that he would take over production on Family Guy and The Simpsons). 
Several episodes (mainly ones that aren’t too serious) have Tim talk to at least one celebrity guest star; more often than not, if the guest star is known for being a musician, the guest star will perform on stage, either with the Fireside Band, or occasionally with their own band.
== Seasons ==
Season	First aired 	Last aired 	Episodes
1 	February 27, 2011	December 25, 2011	44
2 	January 1, 2012 	December 30, 2012	53
3 	January 6, 2013 	December 29, 2013	52
4 	January 5, 2014 	December 28, 2014	52
5 	January 4, 2015 	December 27, 2015	52
6 	January 3, 2016 	December 25, 2016	52
7 	January 1, 2017 	December 31, 2017	53
8 	January 7, 2018 	December 30, 2018	52
9 	January 6, 2019 	December 29, 2019	52
10 	January 5, 2020 	December 27, 2020	52
11 	January 3, 2021 	December 26, 2021	52
12 	January 2, 2022 	December 25, 2022	52
13 	January 1, 2023 	ongoing 	
==Production==
===Guest hosts===
Whenever Johnson has other commitments, he appoints other hosts to take his place; those have included:
* Mark Hamill
*David Cross
== Broadcast history ==
=== COVID-19 pandemic ===
When the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the United States, Fireside Chat initially taped without an audience, resulting in a lack of applause and background laughing. In addition, Chloe and the other Fireside Band rhythm section members were set at least six feet apart from each other, while the horn section members were in the in the seats. However, when quarantine orders were put into place, Johnson instead started filming the episodes in his living room (with a chair next to his fireplace), with the guest stars communicating with Tim via Zoom. These episodes are labeled with the subtitle Under Quarantine, in a signature below the show's logo. When the state started loosening those orders, the show reentered production in the studio, with the same arrangement as when the pandemic first came to the US.
==Reception==
===Controversy===
== Spin-offs ==
A spin-off series focusing on Jenny Smith called Fireside Mailwoman has aired since 2018.
== Trivia ==
* The Fireside Band’s keyboards are made by Kurzweil. Their drum kit is made by Tama. The guitars and basses are made by Fender (the Jazzmaster and Jazz Bass are the main guitar and bass for the band). The six horns (two trumpets, a trombone, a flute, and tenor and (low A) baritone saxophones) are made by Yamaha. 
** The first of the keyboards is a Kurzweil SP3X.
* Sometimes, Chloe Johnson has Jenny Smith join her to play the higher notes on the keyboard while she herself plays the lower notes; this is done to get a bigger sound out of it, particularly in moments where it's needed (at least once, Jenny has worn her mailwoman uniform while playing).
** More often than not, a piano/strings patch is used in such moments.
== See also ==
* Gallery
Category:Johnsonverse