First Night 2013 with Jamie Kennedy

The special suffered from many technical problems (including microphone gaffes and communication issues), featured scenes described as being "surreal", the very New Year being counted in too late and spontaneously ended with an impromptu fight breaking out on stage over the credits.

Kennedy defended the special in an interview with The New York Times, by claiming that First Night was an "anti-New Year's Eve show" that was intentionally unrehearsed and unpredictable.

As part of an interview outside a local nightclub, Bridget Marquardt was encouraged by Cruickshank to eat a Turkey Jalapeño burger from show sponsor Carl's Jr. in a sexually suggestive manner.

[3] Kennedy also starred in a pre-recorded comedy sketch promoting Commerce Casino; where he played a Mayan chief trying to win back his fortune by participating in a poker tournament.

[3] Near the end of the special, Kennedy interviewed a pair of African-American women (one of whom claimed her New Year's resolution was to "get rid of all my haters") and quipped to one of them that "going white" instead of "black" would "keep [her] vagina very tight", followed later by a comedy sketch involving puppets making jokes regarding rape.

[3] Kennedy suggested the idea of hosting a New Year's special on KDOC-TV in November 2012 whilst watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a friend from the station.

In planning the special, Kennedy was influenced by the style of Jerry Lewis's MDA telethon, promising a broadcast which would be "fun and spontaneous" and leave viewers guessing what would happen next.

Jessi Cruickshank was critiqued for her "over-the-top" recognition of Drake Bell's nine Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (which Rabin joked that, in the opinion of the show, was equivalent to winning an Academy Award, ESPY, Grammy, Nobel Prize, and Tony in the same year), and interviews with Dawn Harper and Bridget Marquardt that he felt were "clearly a set up for a plug for Carl’s Jr."[2] Kennedy was also panned for his Commerce Casino sketch, which Rabin felt was "racist in its grotesque minstrelsy of Native American culture", and not funny.