No Section

Nick Swardson don't get no respect

News that the Twin Cities-bred comic is getting a weekly show on Comedy Central was greeted by a raspberry from an industry reporter.

October 30, 2009 at 5:52PM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Nick Swardson (photo by the Star Tribune's Tom Wallace, shot in downtown Minneapolis in 2007)

By Tim Campbell

St. Paul native Nick Swardson will start production in November on a sketch series that will air weekly on Comedy Central starting sometime next year.

Swardson is both the star and executive producer, in conjunction with Tom Gianas, a former "SNL" writer and Second City vet, and Swardson pal Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions.

Of course, there are some who say Swardson is not terribly funny. One of them appears to be Josef Adalian, TV guy for the fledgling entertainment-news web site The Wrap. "Seriously, Who Greenlit A Nick Swardson Show?" is the headline on Adalian's item about Thursday's announcement, which goes on to describe Swardson as "The man behind a comedy album called "Seriously, Who Farted?' "

There is no accounting for taste. Anyway, here's the press release from Comedy Central:

NEW YORK, October 29, 2009 – It's Nick Swardson's party… and you're invited!

After numerous hit movies, highly-rated stand-up specials and memorable appearances on "Reno 911!," Comedy Central greenlights a new, half-hour weekly sketch series starring comedian Nick Swardson and executive produced by Swardson, Tom Gianas, Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions and Sony Pictures Television, it was announced today by Lauren Corrao, president, original programming and development, Comedy Central. The new series is slated to begin production in November and is scheduled to premiere in 2010.

"We love Nick at Comedy Central and even more importantly, our audience loves Nick," said Corrao. "We've seen it in his movies, his stand-up, with his 'Reno 911!' character 'Terry,' and in the work he's done developing Gay Robot. We can't wait to expand his creative voice into a sketch series."

"I'm very excited to be working with Comedy Central," said Swardson. "They are great people who understand me creatively. They also are very good looking…a lot of 8 and 9's in the office, guys are probably in the 4's."

Executive produced by Swardson, Gianas ("Saturday Night Live," "Human Giant"), Happy Madison and Sony Pictures Television, the fast paced live-action sketch show is a weekly series that centers around Swardon's twisted comedic viewpoint. The series will include irreverent digital shorts, man-on-the-street segments and animation inspired by the internet sensation "Gay Robot," which follows the life of a gay robot and his frat boy friends. Seth Cohen and Scott Landsman are the executives in charge of production for Comedy Central.