Saturday Night Live vets Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah – who learned earlier this week that their comedic services were no longer needed on the late-night sketch series – have both scored pilot deals at Showtime, the network announced on Thursday at the TCA Summer Press Tour.
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The half-hour potential series will be executive-produced by Jamie Foxx (Ray) and Tom Kapinos (Californication).
Killam, too, is in business with Showtime, signing on to star as a newly divorced man on the comedy pilot “Mating”. Tim Story will direct the pilot.
White Famous will focus on a talented, young African-American comedian, Floyd Mooney (Pharoah), whose star is rising, forcing him to navigate the treacherous waters of maintaining his credibility as he begins to cross-over towards becoming “white famous”.
Longtime “Saturday Night Live” cast member Taran Killam says he “was never given a reason why” he was being let go after six seasons on the NBC program.
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SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels has a history of switching out some cast members, but the involuntary departures of veterans such as Pharoah and Killam is unusual. Per the Showtime release, the project will be “an annual anthology”, with Killam playing “a recently divorced guy who married young and now finds himself completely unprepared for the fearless new, frank and fluid world of dating and hooking up”. Showtime was prepared to work around his schedule, Nevins said, but once the announcement came, it became easier. Michelle Lee will also serve as an executive producer.
