Actor Steve Carell is getting in the TV producing game. Fox has picked up Slide Show, an unscripted comedy that the former Office star will executive produce.
Carell is producing the show with Shine America and Fox has ordered eight episodes. The show will have the funniest comedians in the country competing against each other in two teams. They will all be challenged to perform in hilarious, unexpected sketches all while trying to survive on the set, which is tilted at a 22.5 degree angle.
“Comedy is subjective,” Carell said in a statement. “But if you don't find Slide Show to be funny and enormously entertaining, then you will never be my friend.”
Fox Entertainment’s Kevin Reilly called Slide Show “the most ridiculously fun and out-there thing I've seen in quite a while.” He added, “Steve Carell knows a thing or two about big laughs and I am really happy to be working with Steve again, and the team at Shine, to bring Slide Show to Fox.”
Slide Show was created by Arthur Essebag and is based on a French show originally produced by Satisfaction, The Television Agency. It premiered on France’s TF1 in January 2012 and has been adapted in Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, China and elsewhere.
Carell’s Carousel Television is co-producing with Shine America. Shine International will distribute internationally.
Carell was last seen during The Office’s finale in May and will next be seen in Anchorman 2 in December. He also took on a very different dramatic role in Foxcatcher, directed by Bennett Miller. That film will be released next year.
Fox didn’t set a premiere date for Slide Show.
image: NBC