Jay Pharoah and Taran Killam to Star in Showtime Pilots

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A few days ago, Saturday Night Live alums Jay Pharoah and Taran Killam were blindsided by the news that they’d been dropped from the SNL lineup. Both comics had one year left on their seven-year contracts and were fully expecting to return to the show for at least one more season, but producer Lorne Michaels had other plans.

Luckily for the two comics, their “unemployment” didn’t last long. During their Television Critics Association presser, Showtime announced that both actors had been cast as the leads of two of the networks’ upcoming pilots. These weren’t spur-of-the-moment pickups, however; Showtime had been courting the two funny-men for around a month, knowing that they were entering the final year of their contracts with SNL. That the two were both released from the show was a stroke of luck for the network (or, possibly, a calculated move by SNL once they learned of Killam and Pharoah’s talks with the network).

Pharoah will star in the new show White Famous, which will follow comedian Floyd Mooney (Pharoah) as he climbs the ranks of show business and copes with the idea of becoming “white famous.” The show is based on a concept by actor Jamie Foxx, who will also occasionally guest star. Barbershop and Ride Along director Tim Story has signed on to executive produce, with Tim Kapinos (Californication, Lucifer) recruited as a writer.

Killam, meanwhile, was recruited to star in the recently green-lit show Mating. The show will have Killam playing a freshly-divorced guy who now has to confront a world of dating dominated by hookup apps and fast-and-loose rules. The show, produced by Jason Katims (The Path, Parenthood) and Stu Zicherman (The Americans, A.C.O.D.), will be an anthology series, meaning that Killam’s character won’t be the protagonist in latter seasons.

Neither show has an announced release date, though they likely won’t see the light of day until 2017. In the meantime, Killam is currently directing a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger called Why We’re Killing Gunther, and Pharoah is doing voice work for the upcoming animated comedies The Adventures of Drunky and Sing. Talk about bouncing back!

[H/T] Deadline http://deadline.com/2016/08/showtime-snl-jay-pharoah-taram-killam-star-pilots-white-famous-mating-1201802377/

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Bill Tressler

Bill is a writer and comedy enthusiast from New York. An avid gamer and podcast fan, he strives to always toe the line between charming irreverence and grating honesty.
Bill Tressler
Bill Tressler
Bill is a writer and comedy enthusiast from New York. An avid gamer and podcast fan, he strives to always toe the line between charming irreverence and grating honesty.