Molly Shannon to Co-Star With Vanessa Bayer in Showtime Comedy Pilot ‘Big Deal’

Shannon will play Jackie, “the charismatic, popular” host of a “successful home shopping channel”

attends the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. 27522_010

Molly Shannon is joining fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Vanessa Bayer as her co-star on Showtime’s half-hour comedy pilot “Big Deal,” the premium cable channel announced Tuesday.

The potential series is co-created by Bayer and inspired by her own past. Bayer plays a character “who overcame childhood leukemia to achieve her lifelong dream of landing a job as a successful home shopping channel host,” according to Showtime. Shannon will star as Jackie, “the charismatic, popular host at the network,” and would be a series regular on “Big Deal,” should it get ordered to series.

Bayer co-created the comedy with Jeremy Beiler and the two will executive produce alongside showrunner Jessi Klein. Other executive producers include Michael Showalter, who will also direct, and Annapurna’s Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle and Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal.

“Big Deal” pilot is produced by Showtime.

Best known for her Emmy-nominated tenure on “SNL” from 1995-2001 and her current series regular role on Comedy Central’s “The Other Two,” Shannon’s other TV credits include “Will & Grace,” “Enlightened,” “Divorce” and Netflix’s “Wet Hot American Summer” sequel series, in which she reprised her role from the 2001 film.

On the movie side, Shannon won a Film Independent Spirit Award for her role in “Other People.” She also appeared in “Horse Girl” opposite Alison Brie and will be seen in the upcoming film “Promising Young Women” with Carey Mulligan.

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