Comedian Adam Conover, that guy who ruins everything, has a new show in the works at Netflix with some very important people attached — famed television producers Barack and Michelle Obama. The streaming network announced today that Conover will host a comedy series, loosely based on Michael Lewis’s best-selling 2018 book The Fifth Risk, titled The G Word With Adam Conover, which will blend sketch comedy and documentary elements and focus on a pretty serious topic — the government — in an effort to “introduce viewers to the civil servants who make it work.†Here’s the log line from Netflix’s press release:
The United States government affects our lives in countless ways, from the food we eat to the money in our bank accounts. But despite the many hours we spend obsessing over politics, almost none of us know the first thing about the massive organization those politicians are supposed to run. Instead, “government†has become a dirty word that we’d rather not talk or even think about.
In The G Word, comedian Adam Conover (Adam Ruins Everything, BoJack Horseman) serves up the antidote. Using fast-paced visual comedy, he reveals the profound power and complexity of the U.S. government, introduces viewers to the heroic civil servants who make it work, and takes an incisive satirical look at its shortcomings. The series is loosely inspired by Michael Lewis’ best-selling book The Fifth Risk.
The show is produced by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground, which they launched in 2018 when their multiyear deal with Netflix was first announced. Production on The G Word is slated to begin in early 2021.
In addition to sharing the news, Conover also confirmed what seemed likely when he bought a bunch of “For Your Consideration†Emmy billboards in July: His CollegeHumor sketch turned truTV show, Adam Ruins Everything, is over. “I’m so proud of what our team accomplished on ARE, but it was time to take on a new challenge and prove we could tell even bigger stories,†Conover said on Twitter. “Thanks to @trutv for taking a chance on me, but most of all, thanks to our amazing team. ARE is the show it is because hundreds of writers, researchers, directors, DPs, PAs, & more put their creative all into it. It was the privilege of my life to be carried atop their shoulders.â€