TALLBOYZ stars (L-R) Tim Blair, Vance Banzo, Guled Abdi, and Franco Nguyen
“Diverse sketch troupe TallBoyz II Men hilariously combine bro humour and political satire without ever seeming preachy.” – NOW Magazine
March 27, 2019 – CBC today announced it has greenlit new half-hour sketch comedy series TALLBOYZ (8x30) from Accent Entertainment and executive producers Bruce McCulloch (The Kids in the Hall, Young Drunk Punk) and Susan Cavan (The Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town, Young Drunk Punk). Starring the four members of acclaimed Toronto-based sketch comedy troupe TallBoyz II Men - Vance Banzo, Guled Abdi, Franco Nguyen, and Tim Blair – and creatively nurtured and developed by Bruce McCulloch, the series will start production in Toronto in April for broadcast on CBC and the CBC Gem streaming service in fall 2019.
TallBoyz II Men is a group of diverse comedians who explore themes of friendship, race, nostalgia, toxic masculinity and more in their sketches. In 2018, the Boyz won Outstanding Comedy Short at Toronto Sketchfest, Best of the Fest at Montreal SketchFest and Best Comedy at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
"I am blown away by how funny, fierce and modern they are,” said Bruce McCulloch. “Very original, surprising and sweet."
“TALLBOYZ is an irreverent and thought-provoking sketch comedy series that will introduce four brilliant new comedic voices to audiences across the country,” said Sally Catto, General Manager, Programming, CBC. “We are thrilled to be working with Accent, Bruce, Susan and the Boyz to bring this project to our award-winning comedy slate.”
McCulloch and his fellow The Kids in the Hall troupe members will receive the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s Academy Icon Award at the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards this Sunday, March 31, broadcast on CBC and CBC Gem at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. AT/ 9:30 p.m. NT).
Produced by Accent Entertainment, TALLBOYZ is created by Guled Abdi, Vance Banzo, Tim Blair, and Franco Nguyen with Adam Bovoletis and Luc Mandl. Bruce McCulloch is Executive Producer and Director, and Susan Cavan is Executive Producer. Paula Smith is Supervising Producer, Caitlin Brown is Co-Producer and Jen Goodhue is Consulting Producer. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Programming; Trish Williams is Executive Director, Scripted Content, Michelle Daly is Senior Director, Comedy, Scripted Content; and Karen Tsang is Executive in Charge of Production.
-30-
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
About Accent Entertainment
One of Canada’s leading independent film and television production companies, Accent Entertainment is dedicated to developing, financing and producing high quality, talent driven projects with an original point of view that ranges from comedic to dramatic and most often, a combination of the two. With work spanning over two decades, producer Susan Cavan’s extensive credits include many projects with Bruce McCulloch ( Kids in the Hall) such as Young Drunk Punk, Kids in the Hall;Death Comes to Town, and Superstar starring Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell . Credits also include Take This Waltz coproduced, written and directed by Sarah Polley and starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby and Sarah Silverman and Mesmer coproduced with David Bowie and starring Alan Rickman. Her first foray into comedy was the groundbreaking Gail Singer documentary Wisecracks starring a very original and fresh voice, Ellen DeGeneres.
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Goddard, CBC
sarah.goddard@cbc.ca
416.205.2983
