Stand-up comedian and Saturday Night Live head writer Michael Che (Michael Che Matters) declared “I want my kids to see everything” in a teaser trailer that introduced audiences to his HBO Max sketch comedy series, That Damn Michael Che, via series’ teaser. Despite the narrative about his hypothetical children existing as fodder for joke, Monday’s first glance into the series left the distinct impression that “this series might be poised to make fun of everything, including Michael Che [himself]” (UPROXX).
According to Deadline, the HBO Max comedy from Che will consist of “sketches and vignettes,” bits of which were glimpsed in Monday’s teaser trailer. That Damn Michael Che’s teaser also saw some familiar faces, as the series is set to feature Saturday Night Live cast and alumni Cecily Strong (The Awesomes, Ghostbusters), Heidi Gardner (SuperMansion, Life of the Party), Colin Quinn (Trainwreck, Girls), Ellen Cleghorne (aka Wyatt Cenac, Cleghorne!) and Colin Jost (Tom and Jerry, Coming 2 America), Che’s “Weekend Update” co-host. This casting news is sure to delight Saturday Night Live fans, who rarely get to see Che and Jost step-out from their behind-the-desk personas and inhabit characters outside of themselves.
Though That Damn Michael Che will grant Che the opportunity to play new characters, the narratives of the series’ sketches and vignettes will still be filtered through his unique voice and perspective. Deadline reports that Che and Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels (30 Rock, Portlandia) will serve as executive producers on the series which will “illustrate what it feels like to experience various everyday situations including racial profiling, unemployment, falling in love and more, from Che’s perspective.”
While That Damn Michael Che’s teaser is currently the only item on Che’s Instagram feed, the comedian had previously used the social media platform to tease fans about the upcoming series. Che goadingly threatened to call it quits on the series if there wasn’t enough “hoopla” raised, via Instagram.
In case the teaser trailer and stacked-cast of Saturday Night Live personalities still has not garnered the series an appropriate amount of hoopla, That Damn Michael Che also includes guest stars 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.
That Damn Michael will premiere May 6 on HBO Max, a quick turn-around from Monday’s first teaser. Hopefully a full-length trailer will drop sometime between now and the premiere of the six-part sketch comedy series to further whet fans appetites and keep sustain the hoopla surrounding the series.