Characters. Every show has to have ’em. Even a show like Saturday Night Live has characters, poorly drawn though they may be. Netflix, once known only as a video rental service but now known as one of the world’s most valuable content creators, knows the importance of characters. And so Netflix has ordered a sketch show called The Characters.
The Characters features some of the comedy world’s most talented up-and-comers: Lauren Lapkus (Orange Is The New Black, Jurassic World), Dr. Brown (Dr. Brown), Kate Berlant (The Meltdown), John Early (Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp), Paul W. Downs (Broad City), Tim Robinson (SNL), Natasha Rothwell (Writer, SNL), and Henry Zebrowski (Heroes Reborn).
Each of these actors gets to write and star in their own 30-minute episode, and all bets are off: they can do whatever they want. Which explains why, in the trailer below, you’ve got a dating show parody and a fat-hairy-man comedy and plenty of other comedy tropes that wouldn’t necessarily go hand-in-hand. But still, it looks to be pretty damn good.
And, even though it looks as though the deck is already pretty well stacked, the show will also feature cameos from more famous comedians, such as Bobby Moynihan, Cecily Strong, Abbi Jacobson. Also, a cameo from at least one famous non-comedian: Tyson Beckford. Sometimes, cheekbones are preferable to chops.
All episodes of the series will land on Netflix on March 11.