For 2017-2018, Comedy Central Announces a Reggie Watts Competition, New Negroes with Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle, and Pilots from Arturo Castro, Neal Brennan, Noël Wells, and Awkwafina
It was already enticing enough to hear what Comedy Central has lined-up with late night thus far between Moshe Kasher, The President Show with Atamanuik’s Trump, Jim Jefferies, and Jordan Klepper’s new show.
Now, they’ve got a whole new chunk of programming and pilots that give a lot to look forward to.
Taskmaster, from Alex Horne, has Reggie Watts hosting a competition as the “taskmaster” between comedians performing “stupefying tasks”. New Negroes will be the TV adaptation of the live showcase hosted by Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle featuring new black talent.
Comedy Central has also upped their digital series Alternatino with Arturo Castro and Delco Proper from John McKeever and Tommy Pope to full fledged TV pilots.
The other pilots include projects such as Neal Brennan interviewing celebrity guests in their home town, former Nightly Show contributor Franchesca Ramsey perhaps repackaging The Nightly Show, and a stand-up show from Jak Knight.
Scripted half-hour pilots include a South Side Chicago based comedy from Bashir Salahuddin, Diallo Riddle and Sultan Salahuddin, a Queens based comedy following rapper/actress/comedian Awkwafina, an Austin based sitcom from Noël Wells, and an existential sibling comedy from Chris Kelly & Sarah Schneider.
From this, we can only hope that Comedy Central reaffirms its place in comedy going forward as Netflix, HBO, and FX are currently riding the high tides of critical praise and awards.
