The 1% Club lets host Patton Oswalt be the star—and it works (2024)

The 1% Club, TV’s newest game show, has 100 contestants, sitting in a semi-circular set full of LEDs, like 1 vs 100.

The host is a celebrity, Patton Oswalt, who constantly talks to contestants, even after they’ve been eliminated.

He asks just 15 questions in one hour. Jeopardy! does twice as many questions in less than 10 minutes.

Its awkward name references “the 1%,” a phrase associated with ludicrously wealthy elites who are profiting off of everyone else’s misery.

All of this should work against The 1% Club. But no! The show is absolutely delightful, and as fun as Fox’s The Floor.

The 1% Club is a British format that’s been adapted by Amazon Prime Video, which will have new episodes streaming Tuesdays.

Amazon has partnered with Fox, though, so new episodes air on Fox (Mondays at 8)—though tonight’s premiere Fox episode has been on Prime Video for a week and a half.

Because Amazon’s wretched interface makes it easier to win $100,000 on a game show than to find a show you’d like to watch, I’d bet many will discover it on linear TV. (True story: I searched Amazon for “club” because I wasn’t sure if I should start with “The” or “1” or “One,” and “club” failed to find this show.)

The 1% Club’s title doesn’t refer to people who don’t mind burning the world down as long as they can stay comfortable.

Instead, it’s a reference to the structure of questions. The production has previously given the same questions to other people. The last question is one that just one percent of that group could answer. Likewise, 90% of a mysterious panel correctly answered the first question.

There’s a bit of Family Feud here: Who exactly are the producers surveying—or, for this show—asking these same questions? And how representative is that group?

The questions are brainteasers, not trivia, ranging in difficulty from Highlights magazine to the SATs. A few made me roll my eyes; a few outright stumped me; and at least one could have used a rewrite, or at least an Oxford comma.

Every player has $1,000 to start, and if they get a question wrong, they’re eliminated and that $1,000 goes into the prize pot.

Whoever’s left after the 5% question can 1) split $10,000 or 2) answer the 1% question and go for the pot, which maxes out at $100,000.

A share of $10,000 is such a low offer it seems designed to get people to play the final question. Modern game shows: where producers try to pay out as little as possible!

The genuine surprise for me with The 1% Club is how fun its filler is. When Patton Oswalt first talked to a contestant who’d just been eliminated, I was like, Come on, move this along!

But the show moves at a nice clip, and nearly all the banter is entertaining. Patton is terrific at glancing at his screen cheat sheet and using that to fuel a quick and funny chat with someone.

He creates bits, like referring to one contestant repeatedly as “Angel with the one kidney,” and calls back to earlier comments and references.

This hilarious exchange is a good example, and has a bonus dig at reality TV:

Patton Oswalt: “Alyssa, civil rights attorney with a black belt. Are there other lawyers you know that are black belts?”

Alyssa: “I haven’t met one yet. But maybe.”

Patton Oswalt: “If you win the 100 grand, what are you going to do with it?”

Alyssa: “I’m going to get my mom a new car. She was a single mom to my brothers and I, and she always kind of drove clunkers so we could have what we needed. So I want to give her something she can be proud of.”

Patton Oswalt: “That is so—everyone here is using their money for good. We need to find someone who is going to use their money for evil. I need a villain for this show to up the drama.”

A person raises their hand.

Patton Oswalt: “You—someone we haven’t talked to yet. Kyle. What would you do if you won the $100,000?”

Kyle: “Well, I was thinking, because you need a villain, I was going to bulldoze a community rec center.”

Patton Oswalt: “Oh, I like that.”

Kyle: “And maybe build a high rise for the elite to live in.”

Patton Oswalt: “Oh my God, thank you! Kyle, thank you for stepping up. We have our villain.”

It’s not just the joking that makes this work, but how effortlessly Patton Oswalt glides between questions, answers, retorts, and the mechanics of the game.

I’m sure the editing deserves some credit, trimming around the edges. However it came together, it’s smooth, and makes the hour move more swiftly than other quiz shows.

There are 100 contestants at the start, and while we meet the people who make it to the end, Oswalt has by far the most screen time. He’s the star of the show.

Oswalt told Primetimer’s Danette Chavez “I didn’t think I would be a good fit” as a game show host, but he’s a natural. As Chavez wrote, “He’s a natural” who “brings a distinctive energy to his first hosting gig; he’s not emulating any of the greats, like Richard Dawson or Alex Trebek, nor is he trying to reinvent the wheel.”

Neither, really, is The 1% Club, which throws in a few twists as it eliminates players, such as offering players their $1,000 to leave the game, or letting them use that $1,000 to skip a question.

It may not be in the top one percent of game shows, but The 1% Club is a watchable, enjoyable hour, thanks especially to Patton Oswalt.