It shouldn't come as a huge surprise that the NBC sitcom from Lorne Michaels and SNL writer John Mulaney might want to stock up on former or current Saturday Night Live players. The multi-camera comedy already has Martin Short on board to star, and it looks like Nasim Pedrad may be prepped for an exit from SNL, as she's also been cast in the pilot. If the project goes to series, SNL may be short one Arianna Huffington impersonator.
Mulaney will star in the comedy, along with Martin Short and Elliott Gould, and now, according to THR Pedrad. The project is loosely based on Mulaney's life. The comedy has Mulaney playing John, a man with a naive desire to be a good person, which occasionally poses problems in his friendship with his roommates Jane and Seymour. Gould is on board to play John's gay neighbor, while Short is set to play Lou, a game show host that John writes jokes for. Pedrad will play the role of Jane, who's described as "the sweet, intelligent and lazy grade school teacher who doesn't love her job and wants to make changes but she's addicted to procrastinating."
It's always a risk for an SNL player to leave the series to pursue other projects. In the case of Pedrad, with Kristen Wiig off the show, the other female players have had a chance to step into the spotlight, and she's among them. But if things take off for this yet-to-be-titled comedy, perhaps her starring role will give her an even bigger career boost. When considering the cast and the SNL backing, the chances of that seem better than they would be for any other pilot (or any other multi-camera comedy at NBC anyway).
