Bert Kresicher bombed on MLB Opening Night. That was Netflix’s fault.

Comedians are routinely put in bad positions when trying to promote their work. It happens on local radio and TV stations when they are promoting a weekend at a local club. It happens on national shows when they are promoting new specials. On Wednesday night, it happened on Netflix when Bert Kreischer was trying to promote whatever it is that Bert Kreischer does.

Say what you want about Netflix’s first Major League Baseball broadcast. Kreischer was clearly the lowlight, and I want to be fair. My knowledge of Bert Kreischer begins and ends with ‘Oh, I’ve heard that name.’ But I do have eyes, and that’s all I needed to instantly recognize that none of this was his fault. 

Netflix’s control room put Kreischer in one half-thought-out situation after another. ‘Just put the comedian on camera. He’ll make it fun!’ is such a common mistake that I can’t believe directors are still making it.

.@BertKreischer can party anywhere… even on a kayak.

MLB #OpeningNight is LIVE now on Netflix pic.twitter.com/0AVrD1KNl4

— Netflix Is A Joke (@NetflixIsAJoke) March 26, 2026

And let me be fair to Netflix and Kreischer. The awkward events and bad television from Wednesday night are nothing new. Have we not learned enough from all the times Druski has gone on College GameDay or Big Noon Kickoff and tried to tell Nick Saban and/or Urban Meyer about football or Theo Von’s infamous visit to GameDay this year? These guys may be funny, but they need their audiences, and if a broadcast is going to drop them into an environment where the other people with mics don’t know who they are, there needs to be a plan!

Look, I’ll own my own sins. In my radio career, I was certainly guilty of bringing in a comedian, turning on the mic, and demanding the clown dance for me. But I made that mistake a few times, got older and more confident, and learned to ask questions and set them up for success before the audience heard or saw anything. How have major broadcasters not learned this lesson?

There are two names that come up a lot when it comes to entertainers on sports broadcasts: Oz the Mentalist and Frank Caliendo. Are they the funniest guys on Earth? Probably not. Certainly, this website has called out networks’ weird allegiance to Oz, but they work in sports broadcasting, and it isn’t hard to see why.

The act is the act. Oz is there to do a specific trick. Caliendo gravitates towards scripted, pre-recorded segments. It gives them control and reduces the chances that someone will demand the clown dance and catch them flat-footed. 

I agree with Dan Le Batard. Experimentation is good, and comedians who know and love sports can be an asset to a broadcast, but they need direction. 

Why did Dennis Miller not work on Monday Night Football? Because Dennis Miller isn’t a partner. He’s a one-man act. Why didn’t Tony Kornheiser work? Because he’s a writer who benefits from rewrites and editing time that does not exist with live sports. I’m not saying those two men are blameless, but shame on the producers and decision-makers who didn’t stop to think about why they were considering those men for their booth openings in the first place.

Sports is a tough audience for any comedian. Norm MacDonald’s 1998 monologue at the ESPYS? Every joke was a home run, but that room was full of people who could not laugh at themselves. That was never a problem for Norm, who would regularly challenge audiences to sit in their discomfort when they didn’t laugh. 

But Norm is one of one, maybe my all-time favorite comedian. Compare that performance to fellow SNL alum Jay Mohr hosting the NASCAR Awards Banquet in 2013. He seemed rattled and a bit frustrated when a joke about Danica Patrick fell flat.

The joke was funny. The audience was a dud. Mohr has the hosting experience to keep the show moving, and why would he not be comfortable on stage telling jokes? He knows how to rebound in that environment.

You saw that again with Shane Gillis at the ESPYS last year. He confidently stood his ground when jokes didn’t hit with an audience full of people who don’t think there is ever a reason to laugh at them. It was a different story when he struck a nerve with Nick Saban on College GameDay.

Comedy on a sports broadcast can be a tough sell. Just ask whoever came up with Old Ball, which saw one disastrous appearance during the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend. I assume it was thrown into a dumpster behind the CBS studios the second the broadcast ended.

Netflix will be airing baseball games, including the Home Run Derby, for the next three years. The company is committed to stand-up comedy, too. That means we are going to see more stunts like the ones Kreischer was put into on Wednesday night. 

All I ask is that whoever is producing a segment starring a comedian do more than just hand them a microphone. Maybe even consider filming any involvement by other Netflix stars days or even weeks in advance. 

Producers have to put funny people in situations where they’re allowed to be funny. Kreischer didn’t get that courtesy and is taking all of the criticism that should be aimed at Netflix bosses.