Fox is launching a half hour Saturday night sketch series called “Party Over Here” with Andy Samberg as executive producer, TheWrap has learned.
Samberg and his “Lonely Island” partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, all “Saturday Night Live” alumni, will executive produce the new series along with Billy Rosenberg. Actor and comedian Paul Scheer will also serve as an executive producer and one of the series’ directors.
“When we first conceived this idea, we thought of it as a spinoff of ‘Empire,’” The Lonely Island said in a statement. “We failed miserably…now it’s much more of a sketch comedy show.”
“In an age where most millennials don’t even know what a TV is, we are really excited to be getting into the TV business,” added Scheer.
The half-hour series stars newcomers and comedians Nicole Byer, Jessica McKenna and Alison Rich. Byer is one of the breakout stars of the cable hit comedy series “Girl Code.” She and Shasheer Samata wrote and star in the web series “Pursuit of Sexiness.”
McKenna has studied sketch and improv at The Groundlings and the Upright Citizens Brigade, where she is a regular performer. Her television credits include the Fox improv comedy series “Riot,” “The Goldbergs,” “Comedy Bang! Bang!,” “Hot Wives of Las Vegas” and “The Jeselnik Offensive.” McKenna is one-half of the musical comedy duo The Zach and The Jess.
Rich was a staff writer on “Saturday Night Live,” where she was hired after testing for a featured player position. Rich won the IFC “Out of the Box” Award and Best Actress Award from the New York Television Festival for the web series “Incognito,” which she created with Andrew Law. Her additional acting credits include the comedy series “Angie Tribeca,” “Life In Pieces” and the HULU original series “Resident Advisors.”
“Party Over Here,” will premiere March 12 at 11 p.m/10c on Fox.