As we’ve seen over many years of tabloid headlines, Hollywood, California, easily merits the nickname “Hollyweird” – but it turns out that to find the true epicentre of American weirdness, you have to scoot across to the other side of the continent.
The Sunshine State of Florida, it turns out, has its own Hollywood – and it is the setting for Ben Stiller’s latest foray into television comedy.
It's not for nothing that the internet abounds with "Crazy Florida" lists and "Weird Florida" tours, as well as headline-spinning yarns of substandard behaviour and redneck folly. And Hollywood, a sun-fried suburb of 140,000 souls tucked between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, doesn't disappoint as it bashes the funny bone as the locale for Big Time in Hollywood, FL, which premières on Tuesday on OSN.
The Comedy Central series follows two delusional brothers, and self-proclaimed filmmakers, played with giddy energy by Alex Anfanger and Lenny Jacobson (Nurse Jackie), who are kicked out of the family home by their parents and forced to fend for themselves for the first time in their lives, leading them to embark on an epic journey in pursuit of their American dream.
"Big Time combines the directorial style of Hitchcock, the acting prowess of Streep, the budget of House of Payne, and the nutritional value of Velveeta," says executive producer Stiller, whose TV sketch comedy, The Ben Stiller Show, lampooned pop culture in the early 1990s. "I think people's minds will be blown wide open. For real."
In this instance, Stiller hype and hoopla is justified, for two reasons. First, Big Time effortlessly breaks the mould of sitcoms that simply stitch together a sequence of gags. Secondly, his discovery and mentorship of newcomers/series creators Anfanger and Dan Schimpf has brought two unique voices to television.
Variety columnist Brian Lowry describes the show as "an infectiously energetic, wonderfully silly serialised comedy that feels like a mash-up of the Three Stooges and Quentin Tarantino".
In the first episode, brothers Ben (Jacobson) and Jack (Anfanger) are shocked to get their marching orders from their parents, who feel it is time for them to go out into the world and stand on their own two feet – as in, they’re getting the boot.
This unsettling news pushes them – with help from a local actor, played by Stiller – to stage an elaborate scam to squeeze US$20,000 (Dh74,360) out of their mum (Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Picket Fences star Kathy Baker) and dad (Stephen Tobolowsky, fondly remembered as the annoying life-insurance salesman in Groundhog Day and more recently seen in TV shows including Deadwood, Glee, Heroes and Californication).
But their ruse soon takes a dark and dangerous turn, as the brothers find themselves entangled in chaos that threatens not only their cinematic ambitions, but their lives.
The series also stars Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding, Jr, in a delightful turn playing himself, and Reservoir Dogs star Michael Madsen, who parodies hard-boiled detective gumshoes of the past.
Showing his generosity towards new talent, Stiller heaps praise on Anfanger and Schimpf, who met as students at New York University and who caught his eye with their hit web drama, Next Time on Lonny, about a twentysomething hipster stumbling through life desperately trying to meet girls.
"When I saw what Alex and Dan were doing on the internet and this little show they made for no money at all, called Next Time on Lonny, which just blew me away in terms of the tone, the comedy, the production value – and which had an element of satire and parody, but in a different framework where it wasn't just: 'Here's a sketch, here's a sketch.' That, to me, was something that I just felt was very fresh," says Stiller.
Big Time in Hollywood, FL is broadcast at 8pm on Tuesday, June 2 on OSN First Comedy HD
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