One young fan named Alyssa, a regular caller from the show’s inception, was invited to appear as an honored guest. For the occasion, Chris called in every favor he had in the comedy community and presented a cavalcade of guest stars including SNL’s Bobby Moynihan (who invited her to a live taping), 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer, and Tina Fey, who presented a pre-taped tour of Liz Lemon’s office. “I don't think anybody else would do that,” Gethard says.

Throughout it all, he cultivated the personality of the “low-status host,” putting himself through punishing physical challenges and delighting in the chaos that would frequently erupt around him. “The idea was always that I would be progressively more stressed out trying to keep all those balls in the air,” he says. “So to me that's it at its core, that the host is not in control, and that's grown in some ways. I get a real adrenaline rush seeing how it's taken off.”

Gethard’s cult eventually built to the point where bigger and bigger celebrities would occasionally drop by—Amy Poehler showed up to predict people’s futures, and Zach Galifianakis was the show’s amateur barber for a week. Eventually, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s comedy studio, Funny or Die, came on board to try and bring the show to mainstream TV, and Comedy Central ordered a pilot that was filmed in early 2014 and eventually rejected by the network. The episode they produced embraced the show’s anarchic qualities, and was filled with physical antics and wacky games.

“They said, ‘We like these aspects of your show, the parts that are physical and big and reflective of the Jackass or the Tom Green side of things,’” Gethard says. “Those are big pieces of the show that I'm proud of, but they're not the whole show … they were less interested in the fact that it has a bit of an emo side.” While the rejection was initially heartbreaking, Gethard quickly moved on, realizing “it probably was going to be a lot of pressure that would have changed the show in ways we would have not been totally comfortable with.”

The fact that viewers can call in, for one, is critical to the show’s energy, which is difficult to pull off on a major network since even late night is filmed live-to-tape. Gethard says Fusion seemed much more willing to embrace the show’s online side, live-streaming the tapings and accepting live calls, then editing the show down to something it can broadcast. “Really, we can take our time to have the show basically be live and also round it out to a show we're proud of,” he says. “They're giving us an opportunity to have the best of both worlds in a way that's truly progressive. They suggested it.”

Such a format makes sense for a show that’s always ridden on the cutting edge of the Internet, despite its DIY punk feel. A Twitter stream might play on a screen next to Gethard from which he would often pluck suggestions; Hall has a laptop through which she’d banter with fans on the show’s chatroom during live tapings. Fusion’s move to try and maintain that energy is more than sensible. “Nowadays a lot of people watching TV have their iPhone in one hand,” Gethard says. “They're searching hashtags, seeing what people are saying about the show. And if they get bored, they're going to their iPad. So why don't we provide the things for them to go to? You can go to the place where all the people who are watching this show are and commiserate there, and we'll ask you what will make it less boring.”