What do Billy Crystal and Josh Gad have in common? Quite a bit, actually. They've both graced the Broadway stage and have received Tony nominations (Crystal actually won one). They've both voiced Disney characters. They're both really funny. And now we can add that they're both returning to television, in the same comedy as it happens, which just received a series order at FX.
TVLine says Gad and Crystal will star in The Comedians, a new comedy that has received a series order from FX. The half-hour comedy is said to be a behind-the-scenes look at a late night sketch comedy show. Crystal will play the veteran comedian who's reluctantly paired with Josh Gad's character, an up-and-coming funny guy. Also among the cast are Stephanie Weir, Matt Oberg and Megan Ferguson.
The comedy is based on a Swedish series of the same name and will be executive produced by Seinfeld's Larry Charles, Burn Notice's Matt Nix and Community's Ben Wexler. Crystal will write and executive produce, while Gad will produce.
With 30 Rock off the air, TV does have an opening for a series that peeks at the inner workings of a late night comedy show. And who better to star than Crystal, whose earlier credits include Soap and Saturday Night Live, and Gad, whose rose to fame following a successful run among the original cast of The Book of Mormon on Broadway. As TVLine notes, this is Crystal's first full-time TV job since his run on SNL. Those who caught Jay Leno's last episode of The Tonight Show would've seen a lot of Crystal, who returned to the late night talk show to be one of Leno's final guests:
As for Josh Gad, this will be his second attempt at a starring role on TV, as he was the lead for his own comedy, NBC's 1600 Penn, which didn't manage to find an audience.
Both actors have a number of notable feature credits to their names, including the mentioned Disney roles. For Crystal, it's Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc. and the followup, Monsters University. For Gad, it's voicing the role of Olaf in Frozen.
As a fan of both Crystal and Gad, I can't wait to see how they gel together comedically and what kind of characters they'll be playing, beyond presumably funny guys. We'll find out next year as the series is set to air in 2015. Production is said to start later this year.
