EXCLUSIVE: Almost Friday Media is bringing the absurdity of classic ’90s courtroom television into the modern digital age with Petty Cases, a new video podcast hosted by stand-ups Willie Simon and Steve Furey that premieres on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts on Tuesday, September 22.
Set to air weekly, Petty Cases‘ premise is simple: put ridiculous arguments on trial and let comedians decide who’s right. In each episode, Willie and Steve preside over absurd, low-stakes disputes that would never make it anywhere near a real courtroom, but are somehow important enough to ruin a friendship, relationship, roommate situation or group chat. And they aren’t doing it alone.
Comics stepping into the courtroom alongside the duo include Bert Kreischer, Ron Funches, Morgan Jay, Frankie Quiñones, Craig Conant, Steph Tolev, Caitlin Peluffo, Shapel Lacey, Asif Ali and Fiona Cauley, with additional guests to be announced. Check out a teaser above.
Watch on Deadline
Because Willie and Steve are stand-ups first, every case becomes a comedy set in disguise. They deliver opening statements that function as mini stand-up sets, before getting into the case and arguing their positions through a barrage of jokes, interruptions, accusations and increasingly ridiculous evidence. A guest judge decides the verdict in the end.
Petty Cases is executive produced by Paige Hymson, EVP of Talk Content & Podcasts at Almost Friday Media, and produced by Katie Felber, who also plays the show’s courtroom clerk.
At the center of the series are two comics who are quickly making names for themselves in the Los Angeles comedy scene.
“Willie and Steve are exactly the kind of hosts we wanted for this,” Hymson said. “They’re genuinely funny stand-up comedians, so we’re not trying to manufacture comedy around a format. The format gives them a playground. You get the opening statements, the arguments, the guests, the verdict and basically nonstop punchlines the entire time.”
Furey told us of the inspiration, “Willie and I were huge fans of Judge Judy and always thought it was a hilarious show. We started thinking about what it would look like to take that courtroom format and turn the comedy way up. After a few beers and a lot of deliberation, Petty Cases was born.”
Petty Cases, Simon said, “has a little bit of everything. Part courtroom show, part advice column, part comedy podcast with some stand-up mixed in. The production value is insane, and I’ve never seen anything like it. That’s what makes it so exciting in a saturated field where so many shows are just two people talking.”
Almost Friday Media is a media company producing sketch comedy, branded content, podcasts and social video across a growing portfolio of brands, including Almost Friday TV and Friday Beers. Recently, the company has been expanding into film and television with On Campus: Game of the Week, an unscripted format at Netflix, the film Boys for Life, slated for theatrical release via Paramount Primal, and Last Night Was a Movie, a half-hour comedy series in development at FX.
Simon and Furey are represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
