EXCLUSIVE: HBO has ordered Untitled Male Friendship Show, a new half-hour comedy pilot from the creator of their Peabody Award-winning comedy Insecure, Issa Rae.
Written and exec produced by Rae, the pilot centers on Menzel, a 30-year-old barber, aspiring sports manager, and professional best friend to JB, an up-and-coming boxer, as they navigate ambition, insecurity, loneliness, and the double-edged sword of success within the high-stakes world of professional boxing in Las Vegas.
Prentice Penny, a key collaborator of Rae’s on Insecure, will serve as showrunner, EP and pilot director. Jax Clark will exec produce for Hoorae alongside A Penny For Your Thoughts and Jonathan Berry and Dave Becky for 3 Arts Entertainment.
Signed to a three-year first-look film and television production deal with Paramount in January, Rae was formerly under an overall deal with HBO beginning in 2021. The friendship comedy presumably predates her new pact.
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Rae has been closely affiliated with HBO since her big break with Insecure, a comedy series they ordered based partly on her web series Awkward Black Girl, where she would serve as showrunner, writer and executive producer. Created by Rae and Larry Wilmore, and starring Rae, the show follows Issa Dee, a South Los Angeles woman navigating the messy intersections of friendship, romance, career ambition and identity alongside her best friend Molly Carter. Celebrated for its authentic and unvarnished take on Black womanhood, contemporary romance, and millennial life, the show was a cultural phenomenon, earning an Emmy from 14 nominations, along with three Golden Globe noms, a Peabody and other major honors.
Ahead of the conclusion of Insecure, Rae returned to HBO with A Black Lady Sketch Show, a sketch show from Robin Thede that she’d exec produce, which went on to multiple Emmy wins. Subsequently, she unveiled Rap Sh!t, a Miami-set music-world friendship comedy for the service, where she was creator, pilot writer and EP. That show, starring Aida Osman and KaMillion, ran for two seasons.
A writer, director and producer who was Emmy-nominated for his work on Insecure, Penny is otherwise best known for work on shows like Pause with Sam Jay, Scrubs, Happy Endings and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, along with the Netflix film Uncorked.
Rae is repped by CAA, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Penny by WME, Blue Marble Management, and Hansen, Jacobson.
