Reality show network truTV has greenlit its first-ever sketch comedy show. According to Deadline, the channel has ordered 10 episodes of Friends of the People, a blend of scripted sketches and man-on-the-street segments that will star The Lucas Brothers, Kevin Barnett (Guy Code), Josh Rabinowitz (I Just Want My Pants Back), and Jermaine Fowler, Jennifer Bartels, and Lil Rel Howery, who were attached to the In Living Color reboot. The cast will also write and executive produce (under Rabinowitz and Barnett as head writers), and The Pete Holmes Show’s Neil Punsalan will serve as showrunner and director. Friends of the People is set to premiere on truTV sometime this summer.
According to the report, the Friends of the People pilot includes “a previously-untold story from television history†as well as the adventures of “Tracy Morgan Freeman,†which sounds pretty amazing already. The cast made a similar pilot for Comedy Central last year called Legion of Goons after the In Living Color reboot didn’t work out, but it never came to fruition on the network. From our interview with Lil Rel Howery in June:
[The In Living Color reboot pilot] was one of the greatest experiences I ever had and me and Jermaine Fowler are real good friends now. And Jennifer Bartels, she did the show. We’re actually working on a sketch show for Comedy Central called Legion of Goons. So that’s the cool thing that came out of this. There was a lot of anger. I was at [the Just for Laughs Festival in] Montreal like, “Man, they don’t want to bring In Living Color back, that’s cool man. We do our own show.†And I didn’t know it could happen like that. They were like, “Okay.†3 Arts don’t play. They’re like, “That’s what you guys want to do?†Yeah. And now we’re in pre-production for our sketch pilot. [laughs]