Netflix, the dominating video streaming service has continued to produce new and original series and now they’re bringing forth their own comedy sketch series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix’s upcoming series will be titled The Characters. The show will be similar to Saturday Night Live but with a twist. In The Characters, eight up-and-coming comedians will be featured and each of them will have the opportunity to do any kind of comedy skit they want without any limits or rules.
In addition, these eight comedians will also be writing for the episodes that they appear in.These sketches consist of 30 minute episodes and the show will center entirely on the various characters that these comedians portray. Hence the show’s title: The Characters.
The sketches range from Bachelorparodies to Biblical spoofs and Netflix has christened its new show as an “outlaw comedy.” The director for the eight episodes will be Andrew Gaynord. The comedians behind The Characters include Lauren Lapkus (Orange is The New Black), Kate Berlant (The Meltdown), Dr. Brown (Dr. Brown), Paul W. Downs (Broad City), John Early (Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp), Tim Robinson (Saturday Night Live), Natasha Rothwell (Saturday Night Live), and Henry Zebrowski (Heroes Reborn).
Netflix’s The Characters, will also be featuring cameos from other Saturday Night Live comedians including Cecily Strong, Bobby Moynihan, and Tyson Beckfrod. Abbi Jacobson from Broad City will also be on The Characters as a cameo.
Watch the official trailer for the comedy sketch series below:
The trailer features brief clips of some of the sketches including a blind detective who “uses his heightened senses to fight crime” (Sounds like Daredevil). The detective is seen doing an “investigation” of what appears to be a murder scene by licking a dead woman’s mouth and whispering “She had BBQ sauce from Tinos” to his team. In the trailer, there’s also a clip of a woman standing before four men as she tells them “Okay so we all know how this show works. I can only choose three of you to have sex with.” Luckily, for fans of comedy sketch series, they won’t have too long of a wait to watch the show.
The Characters will be available to stream on Netflix on Friday, March 11.