"Up All Night" with Rhonda Shear is Back!

Back during some crucial years of my late high school and college years, I basically couldn't sleep.  Long after my folks had gone to bed on the weekend, I'd be up... all night.  And in those days, even cable channels went off the air or rolled over to infomercials. 

But the USA network, a sort of junk drawer of basic cable, knew some of us insomniacs were up for nonsense before we finally gave up and went to bed.  And every weekend, they gave us two or three movies on Fridays and Saturdays, with interstitials featuring pals to take us into the wee hours.  

a true symbol of America's golden age

Friday nights were hosted by Rhonda Shear, and Saturdays were Gilbert Gottfried. We all know Gottfried, but Rhonda was a great host - funny, charming, and up for whatever.  

I would watch either or both, depending on what was going on.  It was a great thing to have on when I came home from whatever I was up to, or - if I was up to nothing - feel like I was at least doing *something* with my Saturday.  When Gen Alpha asks "what did people *do* before the internet?" - we watched awful movies with Rhonda.  That's what we did.

USA's Up All Night showed absolutely awful movies, some intentionally bad, some that just came by their terrible-ness honestly.  Sometimes the hosts were out and about in New York or LA, and sometimes they were on sets designed for them.  Rhonda was in a pink, plush bedroom, if memory serves.  But it was on this program where I saw innumerable awful movies when I wasn't watching MST3K.  

Gottfried was already established, but Shear was all new to me.  And, honestly, it's not clear to me what she was up to before Up All Night. Lots of TV bit parts and apparently she's somewhere in Spaceballs?  She's listed as "Woman in Diner", so maybe she's the waitress in the diner?  I don't think so, but I'll check.

Anyway, I thought Rhonda was hilarious.  This was back in an era where female comedians existed, certainly - I liked Paula Poundstone, Judy Gold and adored performance artists/ comedian Sandra Bernhard.  I watched reruns of The Carol Burnett Show and plenty of ensemble comedies like WKRP and Cheers.  So it's not like I wasn't used to women being funny (let's all salute Carol Leifer).

Shear (right) and friend (left)

Rhonda was more like...  the most fun buddy to chat with you at the commercial breaks and keep you watching.  She knew she looked like a pin-up, but whatever.  She was here to tell dumb jokes about a dumb movie and do spoofs on pop culture and get you to 2:30 AM.

No, I didn't watch any of the shows you were watching in primetime during the 1990's, so don't talk to me about ER or whatever.   But I was watching Rhonda.  

With a change on ownership at USA Network, the show was revamped in the late 90's, and Rhonda and Gilbert were sent away - one of the greatest tragedies in American broadcasting.  Shear would go on to start a successful line of women's undergarments, and in very recent years, her YouTube would replay old episodes of Up All Night.  

Well, thanks to nostalgia and the power of YouTube, Rhonda's back!

She's teamed with The Kings of Horror, a YouTube outlet that is, yes, horror.  They put out a few holiday specials starting with Halloween this year, did a Thanksgiving and Holiday episode, and now all engines are firing. 

This week, she returned as a regular thing, and it was...  classic Rhonda.  Like she never left.  

And, holy cats, she looks exactly the same as she did when we last checked in back in 1997 or so.  I cannot say the same.

More info here at her new website.  

On her first regular episode, she hosted a terrible movie, did a series of bits about how she went from nerd-to-kewl, and made my Friday night.  

I think she's filming in her house in Florida?  But it just maintains the DIY vibe that Up All Night always had, and programming Assault of the Party Nerds?  Man, we are right back in it.