EXCLUSIVE: Comedic multi-hyphenates Kate Berlant (The Moment) and John Early (Maddie’s Secret) are the latest additions to Naughty, the holiday comedy from Universal marking director Olivia Wilde’s follow-up to the lauded A24 chamber drama The Invite.
Character details are being kept in Santa’s sleigh. The duo joins a cast led by Jennifer Aniston and Peter Dinklage.
This is just the latest of many collaborations for Early and Berlant, who as the latest guest on Deadline’s Comedy Means Business podcast, described Early as her “first real comedy friend” — a “sibling,” from whom she’s long been “inseparable.” The duo earned Emmy and Critics Choice Award nominations for their Peacock sketch special Would It Kill You to Laugh? and have also appeared together in Early’s recent feature directorial debut Maddie’s Secret, HBO Max’s Search Party, and much more.
Releasing in theaters on November 5, 2027, Naughty follows Mallory (Aniston), whose only hope of securing custody of her son from her gaslighting trash-bag ex is to find Santa Claus (Dinklage) and convince him to testify in her divorce hearing.
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Written by Cocaine Bear‘s Jimmy Warden, the film also stars Chase Sui Wonders, Regina Hall, Ike Barinholtz and Samara Weaving. LuckyChap is producing alongside Wilde and Warden, with Executive Vice President of Production Development Sara Scott and Director of Production Development Jacqueline Garell overseeing the project for Universal.
Coming off the release of Parmesan — her second-ever comedy special, and first for HBO — Berlant’s recent credits include such films as The Moment and Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, as well as the hit series Nobody Wants This and The Bear.
Best known for starring alongside Alia Shawkat on Search Party, Early’s debut feature Maddie’s Secret, which he wrote and stars in, premiered as the opening night film in the Discovery section of the 2025 Toronto Film Festival before screening at the 2026 New Directors/New Films Festival and The Museum of Modern Art. Other recent credits include Coyote vs. Acme, the Tribeca indie comedy Never Change!, the final season of HBO’s The Comeback, and a role Off-Broadway in Wallace Shawn’s newest play What We Did Before Our Moth Days, directed by Andre Gregory.
Both Berlant and Early are repped by UTA and Rise Management. Berlant is also repped by Felker McGinnis & Ryan; Early by Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
