Hart network to host local comedy series
After close to two years of anticipation, a made-in-memphis comedy series will make its public debut Tuesday on Kevin Hart’s “Laugh Out Loud” Network.
Produced by filmmaker Craig Brewer and inspired by the monthly insultcomedy competition at Midtown’s P&H Cafe, “You Look Like” becomes available Tuesday at laughoutloud.com, a free “multi-platform” network — complete with phone app and Youtube channel — devoted to “next generation comedy.” (The network’s slogan: “Dope comedy. Delivered daily.”)
Filmed by Brewer’s BR2 production company with an all-local crew over three marathon sessions in April 2017, “You Look Like” has been sculpted by Memphis producer-editor Edward Valibus into 10 under-10-minute episodes that function as the verbal comedy equivalent of a gunslinger showdown. A new episode will premiere each Tuesday over the next 10 weeks.
The premise is as simple as the premise is rapid-fire: A pair of onstage performers compete by trading comic insults, from the starting point of “You look like...” Some examples: “You look like a camo wedding is in your future.” “You look like you have your own parking space at ‘The Maury Povich Show.’” “You look like the top of Aaron Neville’s mole.”
The exchanged jabs belong to the gleefully offensive traditions of the street game, “playing the dozens”; the insult comedy of Don Rickles; the televised “roasts” that continue to earn big ratings on Comedy Central; and the “battle” tradition of sparring hip-hop emcees. Audience applause determines the winner of each match. The onstage “roast master” is the local comic known was Tutweezy, described in a LOL Network press release as a “social media sensation.”
“The comedy scene in Memphis is exploding, and I wanted to capture that energy and share it with the world,” said Brewer, who previously oversaw an online-targeted serial focusing on the Memphis music scene, MTV’S 2009 “$5 Cover.”
The “You Look Like” masterminds are local comics Katrina Coleman and Tommy Oler, who launched the popular insult comedy showcase at the P&H at 1532 Madison in 2015. (Veteran standup Coleman, in particular, has been a tireless champion of the local scene as founder in 2012 of the Memphis Comedy Festival, which returns to multiple venues April 4-7.)
“The idea behind this was to make something quick, short and really funny, for people to watch online,” said Oler, 30. “It’s crazy what’s being said, and the delay might actually have helped it. We’ve got plenty of comics on there who have a big following and have only gotten more and more popular since it was shot.”
With Brewer, Erin Freeman and Morgan Jon Fox as producers, BR2 conceived and produced the series with financing from Gundpowder & Sky, a Los Angeles-based studio that had a recent Netflix success with the horror feature, “Cam.” Gunpowder & Sky sold the series to Laugh Out Loud, a network created by superstar comedian Hart in partnership with media company Lionsgate. In a statement, LOL president Jeff Clanagan said the network appreciated “You Look Like” for its “gritty and fresh approach to the classic comedy roast format.”
Producers are hopeful the initial 10 episodes will prove popular enough to inspire a follow-up.
Said Oler: “If it gets a lot of views, if it gets a lot of online traction, I hope we’ll get to do another season of it.”
Coleman said there’s no “if ” about it. “I am 100 percent sure that as soon as people see this, they’ll love it,” she said. “As soon as people see how funny Memphis is, we’ll get to do more of these.”