Comedy Headlines for 6/11/13

What’s happening in the comedy world these days…

  • You knew it was happening before it happened, but Community creator Dan Harmon is back running his show for the NBC sitcom’s fifth season in 2013-2014. Chris McKenna, who also left before the fourth season, also is returning as an executive producer.
  • OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network has ordered a second season of Raising Whitley, which follows comedian/actress Kim Whitley.
  • WEtv has renewed Joan & Melissa for a fourth season, presumably allowing us to see the celebrations of Joan Rivers’ 80th birthday on cable TV.
  • Miramax and Screen Gems have teamed up Kevin Hart and Josh Gad for an untitled buddy comedy in which Hart’s “best man” services come under the employ of groom-to-be Gad. Hilarity will ensue.
  • Jim Carrey has one movie moving forward, another stalling. Warner Bros. no longer is interested in a Dumb and Dumber sequel, apparently. Meanwhile, Relativity is relatively good with pairing Carrey with Owen Wilson on an action comedy directed by Jared Hess and based on a screenplay by Emily Spivey. It’s got an armored car driver who goes in on a bank robbery. Producers include Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn, plus Danny McBride and Jody Hill.
  • Speaking of Lorne, two more items in which he’s the e.p….
  • Amy Ozols will be the producer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon when it debuts next winter on NBC. She had been a writer for Fallon. Producer Mike Shoemaker is sticking with the Late Night franchise when Seth Meyers takes over the later time slot — Shoemaker and Meyers have a Hulu series together, as well as their previous working relationship at SNL.
  • Two other former Fallon writer/performers, Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin, have a new half-hour pilot in the works with HBO. The pilot will place them in Atlanta as aspiring reporters. Dave Flebotte will serve as showrunner, with Andrew Singer co-executive producing.

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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