LA City Council Honors Comedians Tiffany Haddish, Luenell, Eddie Griffin, And More For Black History Month
A trio of big-name comics — Eddie Griffin, Tiffany Haddish and Luenell Campbell — were honored by the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday to mark the beginning of Black History Month.
Councilmen Herb Wesson, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Curren Price welcomed the comedians, who have filled stadiums and theaters and made their mark on television and film.
Luenell, as she’s known “mononymously,” has been a stand-up comic for decades, and appeared in recent films such as “A Star is Born” and “My Name is Dolomite.” But her film career truly gained traction after her cameo in Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 film “Borat.”
Before her career took off, she said she spent some time in Los Angeles’ Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
“We didn’t think anything like this would ever happen for black comedians in Los Angeles,” Luenell said. “Often times, we’re out there working our butt off, but we feel invisible, like maybe the people are riding with us, but the executives and other people don’t pay attention to us.”‘
Griffin, who never shies from blue language, dropped several expletives in his high-tempo speech in the Council Chamber.
The longtime comic has multiple stand-up specials to his name, along with dozens of comedy films. But he said was actually homeless for three months when he first moved to Los Angeles, living on the corner of West Fifth Street and South Hill Street after moving from Kansas City.
“To turn back around … what is this, 30-something years later, and to be here in with all you beautiful people — some of y’all ugly, but you know it,” Griffin said.
Griffin thanked the council, but then chided the city for needing to fix its streets and provide assistance to homeless people.
“You can’t Taze the homeless because that homeless person might be a diamond in the rough, might be the next (expletive) Eddie Griffin,” he said.
Haddish, originally from South Los Angeles where she still resides, was recognized by the council five years ago, when she said she bought her first home. Since then, she said she’s purchased many other properties and she wants to buy more for a cause.
“It’s good to be back,” Haddish said. “I would love to get into
business with the city of Los Angeles and maybe start putting some foster youth in those homes. Not even maybe, I’m gonna do that.”
Haddish most recently released a Netflix comedy special, “Black Mitzvah,” and she appears on the TBS program “The Last O.G.” alongside Tracy Morgan.
The council also played a video recognizing other black comedy greats such as Paul Mooney and Dick Gregory.
Source: CNS
Kevin Hart Adds John Travolta In New Quibi Series Titled ‘Die Hart’
Add John Travolta to the list of big names joining a Quibi series.Travolta is set to star opposite Kevin Hart in the action-comedy Die Hart (formerly Action Scene) at the shortform streaming service. Production on the series is scheduled to begin Sunday.
Die Hart will have Hart playing a fictionalized version of himself, someone who’s tired of being the comedic sidekick. A famous director offers him the shot to be the lead in an action movie, but there’s a catch: Kevin first must train at the world’s greatest action-star school, which is run by a lunatic (played by Travolta). Pushed to his limits by the coach and a tough-minded rival student, Kevin must survive a series of over-the-top action sequences and face his fears if he wants to achieve his dream and land the role of a lifetime.
Hart is executive producing with Jeff Clanagan, president of his Laugh Out Loud production company. The two created the action sequence that opened Hart’s 2016 concert film What Now? (along with its director, Tim Story), which served as the inspiration for the Quibi show.
Candice Wilson and Bryan Smiley are producers on Die Hart, while Eric Appel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Silicon Valley) is directing and Tripper Clancy (Stuber) and Derek Kolstad (John Wick) are the writers.
Travolta is coming off a year in which he starred in the features Trading Paint, The Poison Rose and The Fanatic. He earned an Emmy nomination for playing lawyer Robert Shapiro on The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (and, as a producer, shared in the show’s win for best limited series).
Travolta joins a roster of A-listers working with Quibi that includes Laura Dern, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Lopez, Don Cheadle, Dwayne Johnson, Lena Waithe, Sophie Turner and Idris Elba, among others. The service is scheduled to launch April 6 and will offer scripted and unscripted series in short “chapters” of 10 minutes or less, along with daily news, sports and lifestyle programs.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Tyler Perry Bringing Back Comedy ‘House Of Payne’, New Series ‘Assisted Living’ To BET
Tyler Perry is bringing back the multi-cam comedy series “House of Payne” at BET.
Perry and the cabler have commissioned a new season of the series. The revival picks up five years after the conclusion of the original series. Original stars LaVan Davis, Cassi Davis Patton, Lance Gross, Demetria McKinney, China Anne McClain, Larramie “Doc” Shaw, Keshia Knight Pullam, and Allen Payne will all return.
House of Payne” originally aired in syndication before moving to TBS for the rest of its run. It would go on to air over 250 episodes before wrapping up in 2012. The spinoff “The Paynes” aired two seasons on OWN in 2018.
In addition, production is also underway on another Perry project at BET, “Assisted Living.” In that series, Jeremy (Na’im Lynn), a patriarch of a young family with teenage children, decides to move to the backwoods of Georgia after losing his job to help his crazy grandfather. Grandpa Vinny (J. Anthony Brown) has purchased a terribly run-down home for the elderly and he is in way over his head, but comedy ensues as Mr. Brown (David Mann) and Cora (Tamela Mann) show up at the right time as needy investors. The cast also includes Courtney Nichole, Tayler Buck, and Alex Henderson.
Both series are set to premiere on BET this summer. Perry is credited as writer, director, and executive producer on both shows. Michelle Sneed will executive produce for Tyler Perry Studios, Perry’s sprawling production facility in Georgia.
Perry currently has the shows “Sistas” and “The Oval” at BET and is developing multiple projects for the standalone streaming service BET Plus. BET parent company Viacom announced last year that they were teaming with Perry to launch the service.
Gabrielle Union Developing Drama Titled ‘Afro.Punks’ HBO Max
Gabrielle Union is continuing to make moves behind-the-scenes as a producer. The latest project she has lined up is Afro.Punks, a coming-of-age drama series that is in development at HBO Max.
The hour-long series is from writer Jenina Kibuka, Union and Holly Shakoor Fleischer’s I’ll Have Another Productions and Sony Pictures TV. I’ll Have Another is under a deal at SPTV. Anton Cropper will direct and executive produce. Cropper also directs and executive produces L.A.’s Finest, which Union stars in for Spectrum Originals.
Deadline, who first reported the news, calls Afro.Punks “a coming-of-age, one-hour drama that will follow three teenage misfits on the brink of rebellion as they navigate life, love and Afro-Punk.”
Union’s other projects include Morgan Cooper’s Black Coffee, which is set up at Quibi.
Source: Shadow & Act
‘Lethal Weapon 5’ Is In Development At Warner Brothers
The Lethal Weapon cast is coming back together for Lethal Weapon 5.
According to The Playlist, producer Dan Lin told The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. is working on a fifth Lethal Weapon film, the last of the series. Lin revealed that Danny Glover and Mel Gibson are expected to return, along with the series’ director, Richard Donner.
Lin called the project “amazing,” and that the story is “very personal” to Donner. “Mel and Danny are ready to go, so it’s about the script,” he said.
Seeing how so many franchise films have come back over the past few years, it’s no big surprise that Lethal Weapon might return. But you have to wonder how the film will play in a Twitter landscape where transgressions aren’t forgotten. To put it bluntly, how will audiences accept a new Lethal Weapon film with Gibson’s past racist tirades clouding their minds? It seems like there could be a PR disaster waiting in the wings. But time will tell how well the film will do once it gets to the production stage.
Source: Shadow & Act, The Playlist
Joe Torry’s ‘Pawn Shop’ Set To Premiere On YouTube
With over 2 billion viewers logging in monthly, YouTube is free TV, and the comedy “Pawn Shop” is set to premiere on a premium channel Sunday, Feb 9th.
Starring Garret Morris (“Two Broke Girls”), Joe Torry (“The Workout Room”), comedian Foolish along with influencer Deelishis, and Reynaldo Rey in his final film, “Pawn Shop” is the first feature being released on YouTube–direct to consumer–by C.O.D., a new multicultural, multichannel, network.
As the streaming wars rage on with no end in sight, an emerging media distributor, C.O.D. is founded on the simple belief that “there is a greater need for content than new streaming portals.” C.O.D. aims to reduce the barrier for creators to reach their desired audiences by taking content direct to consumers via user-generated platforms like YouTube and Amazon.
“Originally released in 2013, the movie aired briefly on a small cable system, but very few people got a chance to see it,” says Torry. “I am excited that more of our fans and followers will finally have a chance to watch “Pawn Shop” because it is for our audiences.”
“Pawn Shop” is the first feature acquired by C.O.D. and the network has high expectations for its performance on YouTube. The movie will be available for a limited time on MReckTV, a urban YouTube Channel. Consumers are the real beneficiaries, as C.O.D. provides a platform for projects like “Pawn Shop.” The movie will be available for free for a limited time before being released for purchase on Amazon via download or on DVD.
Jamie Foxx’s ‘Beat Shazam’ Renewed For Season 4
Fox is bringing back interactive music game show Beat Shazam for a fourth season. Jamie Foxx will return as host and executive producer, along with EPs Mark Burnett, Jeff Apploff, Barry Poznick and Lauren Zalaznick. Foxx’s daughter Corinne Foxx, also will return as deejay.
Beat Shazam has been solid ratings-wise. The show averaged 3.2 million multi-platform viewers in its third season and ranked among summer’s Top 25 broadcast programs among adults 18-49. Also strong on social media, Beat Shazam has garnered 3 million total engagements across all social channels.
The game show pits three teams of two against the clock and one another as they attempt to identify the biggest hit songs of all time. In the end, the team with the most money banked will outlast the competition and go against Shazam, the popular song-identification app, for the chance to win $1 million. The series has featured numerous celebrity guest stars, including Mariah Carey, Shaquille O’Neal, TLC, Snoop Dogg, Odell Beckham Jr., Michael Bolton, Smokey Robinson and more. Over the course of its three seasons, Beat Shazam has awarded contestants more than $9 million.
Shazam, one of the world’s most popular music apps, lets users identify songs simply by listening to the music playing around them. The app has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times around the world and counts 25 million-plus Shazams each day.
Foxx also will appear as a guest panelist in the Season 3 premiere episode of The Masked Singer, airing live to all time zones Sunday after Super Bowl LIV on Fox.
Beat Shazam was created by Jeff Apploff and Wes Kauble and is produced by Apploff Entertainment and MGM Television in association with Shazam. Jeff Apploff, Mark Burnett, Jamie Foxx, Barry Poznick and Lauren Zalaznick serve as executive producers.
Source: Deadline
Dave Chappelle Supports Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang, Filmed Phone Banking
After showing support for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Dave Chappelle was filmed phone banking for Yang.
In one call, Dave asked a woman named Melissa on the other line if how she would rate how much she liked Yang on a scale of 1 to “Trump,” and the woman replied by telling him to put her down for “1.” Dave went on to tell Melissa who was on the other line, adding, “I’m a world-famous comedian,” which led to laughs from people watching Dave in the background. You can check out the full conversation above.
‘Run The World’ New Comedy From Yvette Lee Bowser Gets Series Order On Starz
Starz has given a series order to Run the World, a comedy from Dear White People showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser and writer Leigh Davenport.
The series, from Lionsgate TV, stars Amber Stevens West, Andrea Bordeaux, Bresha Webb and Corbin Reid as four vibrant, fiercely loyal best friends who work, live and play in Harlem as they strive for world domination. Stephen Bishop also stars. The show is an unapologetically female series about enviable friendship and not just surviving, but thriving together.
Starz has ordered eight episodes; a premiere date hasn’t been set.
“Run the World is exactly the kind of bold, authentic, inclusive storytelling that Starz is committed to delivering to our global audience,” said Starz president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch. “We feel as though we have captured lightning in a bottle with the energy and chemistry of this cast and their portrayal of these distinct characters in this modern-day view of four female friends in New York City and we look forward to bringing the series to the platform.”
Starz and parent company Lionsgate, where Bowser has an overall deal, put Run the World into development in June 2019. Bowser, who created Living Single and UPN’s For Your Love, will serve as showrunner and executive produce with Davenport (BET’s Boomerang). Millicent Shelton (Black-ish, 30 Rock) directed the pilot, and the series will be overseen by a creative team of women of color.
Run the World joins a Starz lineup that includes Vida, Outlander, American Gods and Dublin Murders. Flagship series Power airs its series finale Feb. 9, but spinoff Power Book II: Ghost will follow it. Starz also has new dramas P-Valley, Hightown, Becoming Elizabeth and Dangerous Liaisons and a third season of The Girlfriend Experience in the wings, and is developing a sequel to Weeds, produced by Lionsgate.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Kevin Hart, Jason Statham To Team For Action-Comedy ‘Man From Toronto’
Patrick Hughes, who directed the Ryan Reynolds-Samuel L. Jackson action-comedy ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard,’ is on board to helm.
Kevin Hart and Jason Statham are in negotiations to team for The Man From Toronto, an action-comedy set up at Sony Pictures.
The project is a reteaming of sorts as the two actors briefly shared some scenes in 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw, in which Hart cameoed.
Patrick Hughes, who directed the 2017 Ryan Reynolds-Samuel L. Jackson action-comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard, is on board to helm Man From Toronto, which the studio has slotted for a Nov. 20 release. It will be a tight turnaround as the project is eyeing a March production start.
The story uses a case of a mistaken identity as its jumping-off point after the world’s deadliest assassin, known as the Man from Toronto, and a New York City screw-up run into each other at an Airbnb. A clash of personalities, and a clash with deadly killers, ensues. (The new project is in no way related to 1933’s TheMan From Toronto, a romantic comedy.)
Robbie Fox wrote the script from a story by Fox and Jason Blumenthal. Blumenthal is producing along with Todd Black and Steve Tisch, his partners at Escape Artists. Escape Artists produced the 2019 sleeper hit The Upside, which starred Hart.
Sony hopes to capture the vibe, and the box office returns, of the actors’ previous individual hits Central Intelligence and Hobbs & Shaw.
Hughes, who hails from Australia, made his feature helming debut with the 2010 police thriller Red Hill and made his Stateside debut with 2014’s The Expendables 3. His sequel to The Hitman’s Bodyguard, titled The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, is in postproduction with an eye toward a late August release.
Hart is currently on screens with Jumanji: The Next Level, which has grossed over $737.2 million worldwide. He is also starring in the comedic drama Fatherhood for Sony.
Statham and Dwayne Johnson toplined Hobbs & Shaw, which grossed over $760 million worldwide. Statham previously worked with Hughes on The Expendables 3.
Hart is repped by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment and Schreck Rose; Statham is with WME and Goodman Schenkman and Hughes is repped by WME and Felker Toczek.
