Tell Your Friends! Lorne Michaels eyed Nick Thune before casting him in NBC sitcom pilot Beach Lane

You may have wondered over the weekend what exactly happened with the NBC sitcom pilot Beach Lane. You knew it starred Matthew Broderick as a celebrity author who gets hired by an eccentric and irresponsible millionaire to run his newspaper in the Hamptons, and last week, you thought that millionaire would be played by Patton Oswalt. But what to make of rumors that Oswalt got pushed aside after the table read? And then within hours, three other actors who, ahem, all of whom looked alike, yet stood several inches taller and much skinner than Oswalt, were reading for the role? That sounded weird to you, right?

Well, it made perfect sense to me.

Because just a month or two ago, Lorne Michaels spent part of his Monday night at Tell Your Friends, the weekly stand-up showcase produced by Liam McEneaney and Jessica Flores in the basement of Lolita bar in the Lower East Side. Why was Michaels there? To scout Nick Thune. The guy who is now co-starring with Broderick and Kristen Johnston in Beach Lane. When I heard Michaels was looking at Thune, I first thought, that's weird, because while I agree that Thune is funny and multi-talented, I didn't exactly see him as an SNL type. Seeing that Michaels was executive-producing Beach Lane, well…that's another matter entirely. Now it all comes together. The sold-out taping has been pushed back a day from Thursday to Friday in New York City, presumably because of the recasting. I'll be able to tell you more later. Michaels is exec-producing the show with Marci Klein (30 Rock, SNL) and Paul Simms (Newsradio), who also is the creator/writer. Which is probably why you and I are paying more attention to this than other pilots. Because NBC probably is paying more attention to this pilot.

I wish Thune good luck on this week's taping, and hope everything comes together.

I know why NBC couldn't snag Thune earlier — he was in Australia performing at the Melbourne comedy festival. Here is a clip of him and Kate Micucci doing a live version of Dreams, which appears on Thune's new CD/DVD combo, Thick Noon. Roll the clip.

If you'd like to hear/see more of Nick Thune, then you can order his CD/DVD Thick Noon here:

Nick Thune - Thick Noon (Live)

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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5 thoughts on “Tell Your Friends! Lorne Michaels eyed Nick Thune before casting him in NBC sitcom pilot Beach Lane

  1. Nick Thune’s definitely good looking… but I was VERY disappointed to hear that Patton Oswalt was out.
    I watched a few episodes of Nick’s Big Show last year and it was sort of funny. Honestly, I only watched it because, after seeing the credits, I thought Kroll was the titular Nick, and stuck around despite the bait and switch.
    Hope this guy can carry a series. His Comedy Central special was elaborate… so that bodes well.

  2. I was at that show! I thought I saw Paul Simms sitting in the back. The SNL crew left after Nick’s set, but Paul stayed until almost the end.
    I wish I’d known for sure it was Paul, I would have told him that Newsradio is one of the best shows ever in the history of fun.

  3. Nick did a great job on the pilot, but the show’s star is Broderick who was terrific. Hopefully, the pilot will catch on.

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