Good afternoon, and welcome back to Comedy Means Business.
I’m Matt Grobar, a senior film reporter at Deadline taking a new deep dive into the comedy business, and in our second installment, we have a couple of exclusive stories for you on a pair of upcoming specials — from veteran stand-up Eddie Pepitone and Fabrizio Copano, a popular Chilean comic making his English-language debut.
This week, we introduce a new regular feature exclusive to the CMB newsletter, in Discovery of the Week, where we’ll spotlight a very funny up-and-comer who, for the most part, is not yet on the industry’s radar — but should be. Alongside our regular comedy round-up, we also have a bit of insider commentary on reasons to be optimistic about the future of the theatrical commentary.
Earlier today, we debuted the second episode of our companion Comedy Means Business podcast, profiling iconic sketch group The State and a doc on the gang that recently premiered at Tribeca. You can take a listen here .
This newsletter comes to you a day ahead of the submission of the first new tapes for SNL Season 51. Best of luck to everyone with talent looking to break in.
With news slowing ahead of the 4th, the newsletter will be on hiatus this coming Monday, though we’ll be back next week with another pod on Tom Segura and his recent filmmaking efforts through YMH Studios.
With all that said, let’s get into it… |
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Veteran comic Eddie Pepitone is preparing to release a new hour of stand-up, The Collapse, which will debut on streaming platform Veeps on July 17 and be released as a comedy album via Blonde Medicine on August 15.
Executive produced by Patton Oswalt and directed by Steven Feinartz, The Collapse is described as a true Pepitone rant-and-romp as he barrels through the heightened emotions and anxieties of modern life. Over the course of the hour, he pores over several micro topics and some self-deprecating examinations of his behavior, unpacking notions like the "self-loathing that attaches to your face like that thing in Alien."
Pepitone is repped by Stewart Talent and AGI Entertainment Media & Management. >>> More |
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Chilean comedian Fabrizio Copano is set to release his first English-language comedy special, From the Future, exclusively through 800 Pound Gorilla Media on July 14. The hour will be available everywhere comedy is streamed or sold starting on July 29.
In the special, Copano talks about identity, fatherhood, and cultural whiplash, capturing humor in the ride through the immigrant experience, millennial parenting, and the absurdity of living between two cultures. The special is also about claiming a new identity while trying not to lose his old one; Copano became a U.S. citizen soon after completing this special thanks to a joke about the President that made him think, "Okay, before I drop this special, maybe I should make sure I can actually stay in the country."
Most recently releasing the Spanish-language special Live from Caupolicán in 2024, Copano prior to that became the first South American to shoot an original comedy special for Netflix with 2017's Solo pienso en mi. He is repped by WME and 3 Arts Entertainment. >>> More |
OTHER EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL NEWS
Southern comic Dusty Slay has inked a Netflix deal for his new hour, Wet Heat, as we told you last week. It’ll be his second special for the service in two years, on the heels of 2024’s Workin’ Man , premiering on July 29. In the hour, filmed at the Walker Theatre in Chattanooga, TN, Slay’s signature working class comedy takes center stage, as he shares personal stories on everything from milking cows to elevator etiquette. >>> More
|
| Will Pepper (Photograph by Jim Cambridge) |
Our first Discovery of the Week honoree is Will Pepper, a Vietnamese-American comic based in Los Angeles, whose work you can sample here.
Deadpan and offbeat, Pepper is a recurring character on the wildly popular Uncle Roger Show, having been seen in episodes that have racked up over 10 million views online. He’s appeared in national commercials for Apple, Best Buy, and Amazon, and appeared at iconic venues, in the U.S. and abroad.
Boasting 14.9k Instagram followers, and 172k for his meme account, @ripfatherling, Pepper has toured with Jason Cheny and Jimmy O. Yang, winning Utah’s Comedy Rumble twice. He’s appeared at the Los Angeles Comedy Festival, and the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and is repped by Avalon Management and Work Talent. |
As highlighted in last week's newsletter, and as you'll see in today's, there's been a flurry of activity recently, when it comes to the development and production of new comedies for both film and television. When I caught up last week with one top agent well versed in the space, they noted that when it comes to films for the big screen, it's been "an absolute desert" for comedy since the time of Covid. And yet in the last few months, "this wonderful resurgence" has begun, with "a ton" of pitches and specs being sold.
Some of these projects involve established stars; others focus on next gen talent. "Now keep in mind, development is different than making them, obviously," the agent said. "But the good news is now you're starting to see the theatrical studio marketplace pick up."
The caveat, they said, to feeling cautiously optimistic about the future of big-screen comedy, is that budgets for studio comedies have come down a fair amount since the pandemic.
"Before Covid, they’d give you $45, $50 million to make a comedy. But now, it's only with a select few people that you would ever get a theatrical comedy over $40 [million], and most of them are in the 30 range, give or take," they said. "So I'd say the good news is it feels like the marketplace is there. The bad news is that even with top-top stars, you're not getting more than $45, 50 million."
From this agent's perspective, there are a couple of factors behind the resurgence of attention given to the theatrical comedy. First, there's the fact that comedies thrive "in times when the world is in turmoil" — and certainly, those are the times we're living in.
Another factor, though, is a slow evolution in the thought process at studios, when it comes to what could and should be greenlighted. Increasingly, they said, the model of putting down hundreds of millions of dollars on one film, that would need to make a billion to break even, is being called into question. That model is unlikely to go away. But perhaps instead of always going for the home run — or the tentpole grand slam — a box-office single or double wouldn't be the worst thing.
"I actually do think that's what [executives] are saying is, ‘I don't lose my job if I make two $30 million comedies that make $5 million each. I lose my job if I make two movies that lose $500 million,'" said the agent. "Just from a risk-reward standpoint, you don't lose your job by just doing okay. You generally lose your job when you lose $150 million."
For the typically risk averse studio executive, they said, horror and comedy "are always good old standbys." Certainly, horror has thrived in recent years, and with big comedic IP plays like the Naked Gun reboot coming down the pike, along with high-concept titles like Aziz Ansari's angel-themed Keanu Reeves vehicle Good Fortune, maybe theatrical comedies are on their way back to hitting once again. |
| Adam Sandler (Scott Yamano) |
Touring
Adam Sandler set the internet ablaze this week as he announced a new arena tour, which will see him hit 30 cities across the U.S. The Live Nation tour, Adam Sandler: You’re My Best Friend, kicks off at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL on Friday, September 5 and runs through November. The general on-sale began at Ticketmaster.com on Friday. >>> The Dates
Comedian Jared Freid is also going on tour with Live Nation. His The Table For One Tour begins at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. on Friday, October 24 and runs through February.
Ali Siddiq has added 34 cities to his In the Shadows North American tour. He'll kick off his new run at Tropicana in Atlantic City, NJ on August 22.
Love Island USA's Iain Stirling has announced a new show, Iain Stirling Live, which he'll perform at the Improv in Los Angeles on October 22, and subsequently at the Manhattan Gramercy Theatre on October 29. The general on sale began on Friday. >>> More |
| (L-R) Paul Dano, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Getty Images) |
Film/TV News
DEVELOPMENT
Paul Dano is reteaming with his Swiss Army Man collaborators, Daniels, on his next directorial effort, a high-concept original comedy for Universal on which he's also the writer. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and their partner Jonathan Wang will produce through their Playgrounds banner, with Dano also in talks to produce. We were first to the story. >>> More
As we also reported first, comedian Aaron Karo is developing a new single-camera comedy for CBS. Blanks follows a serial dater whose life is turned upside down when he learns his biological clock is running out, just as he meets the woman of his dreams, who isn’t ready to settle down yet. >>> More
At age 98, Mel Brooks is showing no signs of slowing down. After signing on to reprise his role as Yogurt in the new Spaceballs movie, the comedy icon has inked a deal to exec produce Very Young Frankenstein, an FX comedy pilot based on his classic 1974 film Young Frankenstein , as we reported exclusively. Also exec producing is a trio from What We Do in the Shadows: writer-showrunner Stefani Robinson, pilot director Taika Waititi, and Garrett Basch. Other EPs include Brooks’ producing partner Kevin Salter and Young Frankenstein producer Michael Gruskoff. >>> More
CASTING
Julia Hart has set the cast for Don’t Say Good Luck, a new comedy for Netflix. The list includes Melanie Lynskey, Max Greenfield, Stephanie Beatriz, Sunny Sandler, Bebe Neuwirth, and Steve Buscemi. Pic follows Sophie Birenbaum (Sandler), who is ready for the spotlight as the lead in her high school musical — until suddenly she’s living with even more drama at home than on the stage. >>> More
Outlander's David Berry has attached to star in Something Blue, an R-rated wedding comedy about a man getting married for the second time round to a woman embarking on her first marriage. Pic marks Brit writer-director Gary Sinyor’s first U.S-set film since the 1999 Renée Zellweger rom-com The Bachelor .
Peyton Elizabeth Lee (Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.) and Joshua Colley (Dead Boy Detectives) have joined director Will Ropp‘s coming-of-age comedy Brian, following an acerbic, accident-prone high school student (Wang) who runs for class president in an attempt to get closer to his teacher.
PRODUCTION
Tom Segura has found his first feature starring vehicle in El Tigre, an R-rated comedy from Mermaid helmer Tyler Cornack that goes into production in New Mexico this summer, as we were first to report this past week. The film follows Jeff (Segura) and his friends as they head down to Mexico, only to discover the hard way that Jeff is a dead ringer for the infamous cartel leader El Tigre who’s gone missing. News of the project comes following word that Netflix has ordered a second season of Segura's dark comedy Bad Thoughts. >>> More
Segura's 2 Bears buddy Bert Kreischer has found success of his own lately with Free Bert , a comedy based on his life that Netflix has ordered to series. Kreischer co-created, exec produces and stars as himself — shirtless comedian, party legend, perpetual wildcard — in this series, where he finds himself in uncharted territory when his daughters are accepted to an elite Beverly Hills private school. When his unbridled antics turn his family into outcasts, he decides to "put on a shirt" and stifle his true nature to better fit in. >>> More
20 years on from its debut season, HBO's popular Lisa Kudrow comedy The Comeback is getting a third and final season, the premium cabler has announced. Created by Michael Patrick King and Kudrow, the show's new installment will see the latter joined in the cast by the returning Dan Bucatinsky, Laura Silverman, and Damian Young. Production begins this summer. >>> More
Production has wrapped on Suburban Psycho, an indie comedy written by Jeff Howard and BJ Bales, who star alongside Party Down alum Ryan Hansen. The film watches as two lifelong friends turn detective when they come to suspect that their best friend is the infamous Infinity Killer. From Big Smits Entertainment in association with Danny McBride and David Gordon Green’s Rough House Pictures, the flick also stars Ron Perlman, Malin Akerman, Dennis Haysbert, Patty Guggenheim, and more.
Hellboy alum Perlman is keeping busy, as he's also set to star opposite Julie Benz, Busy Philipps, and Jim Rash in the horror-comedy Horrified, following a down-on-her-luck scream queen (Benz) as she returns to the horror convention circuit for fast cash, only to find the pig-masked killer from her old franchise weaponizing her cult legacy against her friends and fans. The project, shooting this summer, marks the feature debut of writer-director Michael Zara.
Apple and Skydance have suspended production on their untitled brothers comedy series starring and exec produced by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Eight of the show's 10 episodes have been shot, with showrunner David West Read departing and Lee Eisenberg in talks to take over the role.
ACQUISITIONS
After handling the re-release of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy, Neon has reunited with the filmmaker on his Venice-bound dark comedy No Other Choice, acquiring North American rights. Squid Game's Lee Byung-hun stars as a middle-aged man fired from a paper company after years of service who goes on a killing spree to eliminate his competition. MUBI has picked up rights in numerous other international territories.
Recently launched U.S. distributor Aura Entertainment has acquired Doin' It , a sex education comedy produced, co-written by and starring Lilly Singh, slating it for release in theaters across the country on September 19. Directed by Sara Zandieh, the film follows a 30-year-old software engineer (Singh) from a conservative Indian family who moonlights as a high school substitute teacher while working on a teen-focused app. When she's unexpectedly assigned to teach sex education — despite never having had sex herself — chaos and comedy ensue.
AWARDS
Shane Gillis has been tapped to host this year's ESPY Awards ceremony, celebrating the year's best in sports. Gillis is a big sports fan, so this is a no-brainer. But whether the industry can call him to the big leagues — as host of the Emmys, for example — is the real question. Certainly, being able to draft off of his fandom couldn't hurt. This year's show airs on ABC and streams live on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET on July 16.
RATINGS
Nick Stoller's wedding comedy You’re Cordially Invited, starring Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell comedy, has attracted over 50 million worldwide Prime Video viewers to date, coming in as one of Amazon MGM Studios’ top-three most-watched comedy films of all time, per Nielsen.
Podcasts
Audacy has signed a multi-year contract extension with SNL alums Dana Carvey and David Spade, setting up a format expansion that will integrate their podcasts Fly on the Wall and Superfly into one unified video/audio podcast experience.
Comedy for a Cause
Laugh Factory Hollywood is readying the 41st edition of its Laugh Factory Comedy Camp, offering performance opportunities for at-risk youth, ages 9-16. Known for its role in the early careers of starss like Amanda Bynes, Nick Cannon and Tiffany Haddish, the program runs from June 28 through August 16. Mentors to the youth this year will include Tim Allen, Dane Cook, Tiffany Haddish, and George Wallace, among others.
|
The Comedy Means Business newsletter runs on Mondays, with a companion podcast airing the same day. Sign up to receive that here. The podcast can be found on Apple, YouTube, and Spotify.
Got a tip, pitch, comment, or feature idea? Reach out at mattgrobar@deadline.com. |
|
