During his time away from Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update desk, Michael Che (Michael Che Matters) delivered fans a different form of sketch comedy in HBO Max’s That Damn Michael Che, which has now been renewed for a second season. Variety describes the sketch show, renewed last week, as “a mix of comedy sketches and vignettes to tackle issues such as racial profiling, unemployment, falling in love and more.”
Che promoted That Damn Michael Che, which first premiered on HBO Max in May, via temporary Instagram posts that encouraged fans to generate “hoopla” for the series. The comedian celebrated the series renewal in similar manner, in a since-deleted Instagram post.
Saturday Night Live fans may worry that this news indicates an impending farewell from one of the series’ head writers and Weekend Updated co-anchors, especially after rumors of major cast departures hung over the NBC institution’s series 46 finale. However, Esquire has quoted Che stating that he’s “99.9% sure” he will return for season 47 of Saturday Night Live.
Though COVID-19 threw production schedules into a frenzy, many Saturday Night Live cast members were able to balance outside projects this past season, a pattern that may very well carry over into the show’s future. In fact, Che featured many current and former SNL players in season one of That Damn Michael Che including Colin Jost (Tom and Jerry, Coming 2 America), Cecily Strong (The Awesomes, Ghostbusters), Heidi Gardner (SuperMansion, Life of the Party), Colin Quinn (Trainwreck, Girls) and Ellen Cleghorne (aka Wyatt Cenac, Cleghorne!). It is likely that That Damn Michael Che’s second season will boast more familiar faces for SNL fans, especially considering Che’s ongoing tongue-and-cheek campaign to “Cancel Jost,” via Instagram.
Other season one guests on That Damn Michael Che included Omari Hardwick (Power, Sorry to Bother You), Geoffrey Owens (The Cosby Show), Godfrey (The Mr. Man Show, Chain Reaction), Billy Porter (Pose, American Horror Story) and musician Method Man (How High, Garden State).
According to Variety, HBO’s head of original content, Sarah Aubrey, said of the sketch comedy series: “Michael’s comedic style is truly unique and his ability to convey provocative subject matter through a comedic lens is the reason why season one of That Damn Michael Che was such a success.” Aubrey went on to state her excitement to continue to work with Che on season two, though there has yet to be word on an episode count for the second season. Season one of That Damn Michael Che ran for a brief six episodes and it is currently unclear whether season two will have a similar episode count or not.
As the season two announcement was just handed down from HBO Max, there’s no news yet in terms of when fans can expect a season two of That Damn Michael Che. Considering Che’s tenure at Saturday Night Live and the manner in which COVID-19 is still causing major disruptions in the film and television industry, fans may have to keep the hoopla alive awhile before receiving any further news about season two of That Damn Michael Che.