Josh Thomas Politely Asks America To Like Him; America Obliges
The Aussie comedian's TV show, Please Like Me, has been picked up for two seasons by a cable channel in the States. Yay!
Earlier this year, the adorably awkward Josh Thomas wrote and starred in Please Like Me, a comedy series about a boy who gets dumped by his girlfriend and discovers that he’s gay on the same day. The series struck a chord with Australian viewers, and is about to go international.
Please Like Me has just been picked up by Pivot, a new American cable network which launches on August 1 — and in addition to showing the six-episode first season, they have already signed Thomas up for a 10-episode follow-up, to be co-produced with ABC2.
“I’m excited that they’ve trusted me with their money,” Thomas said of the Pivot deal. “I hope I don’t spoil everything with my ideas and mediocre face, which is currently ruining the days of thousands of bus commuters all over America.”
We’re not quite sure how the deal went down, but we imagine it went a little something like this:
INT. A LOS ANGELES OFFICE – DAY
Two TV EXECUTIVES from the PIVOT NETWORK sit at a desk, an enormous pile of cocaine between then.
TV EXECUTIVE 1
He needs more attitude.
TV EXECUTIVE 2
How? What?
TV EXECUTIVE 1
Oh, you know, attitude, attitude! Sunglasses!
TV EXECUTIVE 2
Could we put him in more of a ‘hip-hop’ context?
TV EXECUTIVE 1
I feel we should Rasta-fy him by 10 percent or so.
TV EXECUTIVE 2
We could just leave him as he is.
TV EXECUTIVE 1
Let’s do that.
–
Pivot aims to show programming for Millennials – we’re assuming that means in-between episodes of Please Like Me, they’ll be showing cat videos and reruns of old Pokémon episodes.
This has been a big year for Australian comedians on American TV. The adorable Rebel Wilson has parlayed her Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect success into a sitcom, Super Fun Night, which premieres on the American ABC network in October.
Her American accent is a little … eccentric, and we wish they’d let her keep her Aussie inflection as in Pitch Perfect, but we love her so much that we’re willing to let it slide for now.