Produced by Mark Shapiro, Showrunner, Todd Pellegrino, James Cohen and Joseph Maar, Cheap Seats was originally an hour-long program.
A number of actors and comedians were featured in various pre recorded and in-studio comedy skits on the show, including Jim Gaffigan, H. Jon Benjamin, Paul Rudd, David Cross, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Eugene Mirman, Michael Ian Black, Nick Kroll, Kristen Schaal, Judah Friedlander, Nick Swardson, Mike Birbiglia, Paul Rudd, Doug Benson, Kathy Griffin, Carlos Alazraqui and Patton Oswalt.
Other regular segments included "Breakdown", where then-ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury would comedically break down an athlete's performance; and "What Got Cut", in which other humorous elements of an episode that were edited due to time constraints were glossed over by the Sklars.
The set featured a wall-mounted poster that would appear on camera prior to commercial breaks, which read "Attention ESPN Staff: Do Not Lend Tapes to This Person" and contained a photograph of a then-relevant notorious celebrity or athlete, such as Vince McMahon or Barry Bonds.
Cheap Seats briefly included a live studio audience and virtual laugh track during the second season, starting with an episode on the 1980 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Among them: Cheap Seats was shot in New York City (with segments filmed in Los Angeles) and had made use of local comedians as guest stars in its sketches.
The "Creative Breaking/K-1 Fighting" episode guest-starred the cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000, in their theatrical silhouette form, cracking on sketches the Sklars performed.