by This is a banner week for Michael Ian Black.
Black has a new children’s book that he promoted on Late Night with Seth Meyers (you can pre-order A Child’s First Book of Trump now), his latest stand-up special, Noted Expert, premieres this Friday night on EPIX, and he’s been announced as host and moderator of a new Seeso series, Debate Wars.
Debate Wars will feature two teams of comedians and improvisers facing off to settle classic arguments such as cats vs. dogs, pie vs. cake and vacation vs. staycation.
“I look forward to moderating spirited debates on all manner of inconsequential subjects that are, nonetheless, of grave national importance. Hopefully our debaters will conduct themselves with exactly the same level of maturity as our presidential candidates,” Black said.
We’ll find out next week when the series tapes in New York City.
What’s more, the first episode will reunite Janeane Garofalo and Andy Dick for the first time ages as they team up for possible victory! Garofalo and Dick broke out together as part of The Ben Stiller Show in 1992. Though they reunited for an anniversary panel in 2012, Debate Wars will mark the first comedic reunion for these two in forever.
Who will they be facing off against? What will be their topic?
Other performers on the debate lineups will include Judah Friedlander, Gilbert Gottfried, Eugene Mirman, Aparna Nancherla, Todd Barry, Jo Firestone, Connor Ratliff, Guy Branum, Phoebe Robinson and Dave Hill.
While Black moderates the debating duos, a separate duo of improvisers — Brandon Scott Jones and Morgan Grace Jarrett — will provide running commentary.
Brian McCann, longtime writer for Conan O’Brien, is showrunning Debate Wars behind the scenes, with direction by fellow Conan vet Liz Plonka. Big Beach TV is producing, with Dan Pasternack and Marc Turtletaub and Black as EPs, Erin Keating as Co-Executive Producer, Molly Breeskin as Co-Producer, Kyle Stratton as Producer and Aparna Nancherla as Supervising Producer.
“I feel like this show is, in a way, the realization of Donald Trump’s vision of building a wall and making Mexico pay for it,” Pasternack said. “Except in this case it’s Seeso paying instead of Mexico. And it’s not a wall, it’s a half hour comedy debate show. But otherwise, it’s totally the same thing.”
Tickets for tapings to Seeso’s Debate Wars, happening May 19-21, 2016, in NYC.
