Big Time in Hollywood FL Brings Young Talent and Big Comedy Names to Comedy Central

Big Time in Hollywood FL Debuts Tonight on Comedy Central

Comedy Central has been making big moves that have been paying off with comedy series hits like “Broad City,” “Workaholics,” “Kroll Sholl,” and “Inside Amy Schumer.”  Starting tonight you can add “Big Time in Hollywood, FL” to the list of great and bold new series showing up on the network.

“Big Time” is absurd, extreme, and takes depravity of its characters to entirely new levels that surpass anything on television in comedy today.  It also takes Comedy Central into new territory with the network’s first true serialized comedy. CC has done sketch shows, comedy game shows and fake news shows, but they have never done a series that tells a story that continues each week.  The series follows two brothers- Jack and Ben- who want to make movies more than anything else in the world and they are absolutely convinced that they are amazing at it. They’re not– but that doesn’t stop them from creating bizarre films in their parents’ garage.  That is until their parents kick them out of the nest, setting off a series of events that could only happen in Florida.  In the first episode, the brothers set up a scheme to steal $20k from mom and dad with the help of a local actor played by Ben Stiller and of course, things go wrong.  Stiller also does double duty as the show’s executive producer.

The young and incredibly talented series creators Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf head up an impressive cast, which includes Anfanger himself and Lenny Jacobson playing the brothers along with a giant supporting cast led by show biz veterans Cuba Gooding, Jr., Michael Madsen, Kathy Baker, and Stephen Tobolowsky.  There’s a brief but unforgettable guest appearance by Ben Stiller in the first episode.  And relative newcomer Jon Bass is a scene stealer, playing Jack and Ben’s buddy Del. Its Anfanger and Schimpf’s first time heading up a network series, but they were able to snag some great experience working in the big leagues after Stiller’s production company, Red Hour Productions, jumped on board in 2014 for Season Two of their popular web series, “Next Time on Lonny” (if you’re not familiar, do yourself a favor and check it out).

We talked with Alex and Dan about how they got such a great gig so early in their career, what it was like taking the reins at the helm of their first network television show, and working with Ben Stiller, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Michael Madsen.

They told us the idea for “Big Time” came up years ago, before they even started creating their web series.  But it was actually the web series that gave them the visibility to be able to shop around their script. “We discovered that it was difficult to get material to anyone who will sit down and read it especially if they don’t know who you are,” Schimpf said.  They initially created the web series as a sort of showpiece of what they could do.  It was easier, Schimpf said, to put something on the internet so you could just send out links.  It worked, because the series took off catching the eye of a long list of production companies, including Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Productions.

Initially, “Big Time” was set to be a more mainstream show.  But the success of “Lonny,” and support from Comedy Central and Red Hour gave Alex and Dan the confidence to go all out crazy with their vision for the show. “We were so lucky about working with Red Hour on it, and also Comedy Central,” Anfanger told us. “They were both extremely supportive and wanted to make the show that we wanted to make.”  Schimpf added, “You hear a lot of horror stories about networks, doing stuff to obstruct the vision. There wasn’t any of that and I’m just really grateful.”

With the help of Red Hour, Comedy Central and a great casting team that included casting directors Rachel Tenner and Lauren Grey, Dan and Alex went person-to-person pitching their script and putting together the cast.  “We never, in a million years thought we would get any of these people to do the show,” Alex said. According to Dan, they would mention some names archetypically saying things like “we need someone like a Michael Madsen type” for a role, and Rachel and Lauren would say, okay let’s go after Michael Madsen– a dream come true for first time producers. “We were like, really? we’re just going to ask Michael Madsen?” Dan said.  “And we did!”

Meeting with Madsen was surreal.  “He was just down and was interested to do something– which I don’t think he’s done very often– which is this sort of comedic type of thing,” Dan told us.  “He has such a dark sense of humor also, so he’s in line with us,” Alex added.  Alex remembered one of their initial conversations, where Madsen just starting pitching ideas.  “I just remember it was so funny, when we were talking with him he was like, ‘yeah, I just want to do — the idea of doing a comedy is so good, you know, maybe I’m kind of dark but– you know, [what if we] shoot a kid or something. ‘  He’s like talking about all these crazy dark things that he thought would be really funny things to put in and we were just like, oh my god, you’re perfect. Thank you so much for seeing us.”

Surreal was the word that came up again when the guys talked about casting Cuba Gooding Jr. to play a highly fictionalized version of himself.  “I remember when we pitched,” Alex said, “we went to this hotel and pitched the show and I feel like I blacked out…and felt like I was Jerry Maguire pitching to Rod Tidwell!  But at the end he shook my hand and said ‘okay yeah, I’m in, I’m in. It sounds hilarious, I’m in.’  It was such a surreal moment and then I was like, oh my god, not only do we get to bring you into the show that has been our baby for years now but I also get to act in so many scenes with you. I was just like ‘I’m so excited to do that. It was really an honor.”

The Cuba character is dark, scary, intense, insane, and so very funny.  “Alex and Lenny and John are always doing something nuts around him and he’s just so in control of knowing exactly what he wants from this character and sort of making his character,” Dan said. “He was great and so trusting of everything that Alex and I wanted to do and we had him do some pretty insane things so I will say that’s a lot of risk from him. And I’m very proud of ultimately what his performance is in the whole show and hope people will enjoy what he was able to do playing himself in the most insane version of himself possible.”

Jon Bass was another great casting choice for the show.  His character Del is a little part Stevie Janikowski and a little part Superbad, and a really big part completely original .  Bass started his professional career on Broadway in The Book of Mormon, replacing Josh Gads’ role as Elder Cunningham and has had some great guest roles, but this will be his first series.  Casting Jon was Alex’s idea.  He had done a reading with Jon years ago that he never forgot, and he knew he would be perfect to play Del.

With all of the craziness weaving in and out of the show, both Dan and Alex credit Stephen Tobolowsky and Kathy Baker, who play Jack and Ben’s parents, with maintaining the dramatic core of the show.  “Obviously its an insane comedic world,” Dan said, “but especially as the season goes on, they do such a great job of grounding that reality and not letting the world drift too much into sketch territory even though there’s so many absurdist elements.  To be able to work with them and see the quality they bring to the show and their performances and how they go about their businesses it was just amazing to be able to work with them.”

“Big Time in Hollywood, FL” premieres Wednesday, March 25th at 10:30pm et on Comedy Central right after a brand new episode of “Workaholics”.

Watch the entire first episode right here or watch it tonight on Comedy Central.

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