Three local radio personalities have made it to the third round of CBC ComedyCoup, a national online comedy competition, with their comedy show concept they describe as “WKRP in Cincinnati meets The Office”.
Linda Kash (of Magic 96.7), Megan Murphy (of Star 93.3 and 107.9 The Breeze) and Jay Sharp (of 107.9 The Breeze and formerly The Wolf 101.5) have leveraged their decades of radio experience for “Dead Air”, their proposed half-hour sitcom set in a small-town radio station. Their project has made it into the Top 55 of the online competition.
Announced back in July, CBC ComedyCoup is a joint effort by CBC, Toronto-based CineCoup Media, and Just For Laughs Television to give content creators from across Canada a chance to demonstrate their comedy chops. Known as an “comedy accelerator”, ComedyCoup gives comedy creators a foot in the door for a potential deal to develop a television show.
Three-person contestant teams are given weekly challenges — including 90-second video clips, images and artwork — to display their skills, build and audience, and delivery their comedy concepts through digital and social media platforms.
“CBC ComedyCoup is a launch pad for the funniest talent Canada has to offer, no matter where they live,” says CineCoup founder Jason Joly. “We put fans at the centre and we strive to be as transparent and democratic as possible.”
“We’re looking for the next Kids in the Hall, Larry David, or Seth Rogen,” adds Bruce Hills, chief operating officer of Just for Laughs. “What ComedyCoup is all about is finding comedy gold from all corners of the country.”
Team projects advance through the competition based on audience voting, support on social media, and other criteria. ComedyCoup will option at least five projects for development and will greenlight one project for $500,000 in production financing to create a half-hour comedy special to air during CBC Television’s fall 2015 prime-time schedule. If successful, the comedy special might lead to something more.
The Peterborough team’s “Dead Air” concept sees small-town radio as the bottom rung of the show business ladder, where celebrity hopefuls with big egos try to carve out a piece of spotlight real estate for themselves. Mike Street, the middle-aged morning show host at “The Lizard 90.3”, had big dreams of making it to a major radio market, but grew to enjoy the attention of being “The Morning Mayor” in his hometown. “Dead Air” follows the perks and pitfalls of being a “big fish in a little pond” — including all the social discomfort it brings.
To get “Dead Air” into the Top 55 of ComedyCoup, Linda, Megan, and Jay have already produced four 90-second video clips (see below) along with artwork and other images.
Their success so far has likely been helped by Linda’s background in stand-up comedy and comedic acting — she’s been a guest star of such iconic sitcoms as Seinfeld, Ellen, and Everybody Loves Raymond.
The next round of the ComedyCoup competition will narrow contestants down to the Top 15, followed by another round to the Final 5. The Final 5 teams will be announced on Monday, November 24th.
If “Dead Air” makes it to the Final 5, the team will travel to a live event called “The Big Deal” (date and location to be announced) where they’ll pitch their project to a panel of industry professionals from television and creative cultural industries, ComedyCoup producers, one advisory “Uberfan”, and a live audience. The winner will receive $500,000 in production financing to create a half-hour comedy special to air on CBC in the fall of 2015.
You can support the “Dead Air” project by visiting http://comedycoup.cbc.ca/dead-air/, where you can rate and review their concept and vote for them (voting opens for the Top 15 on Thursday, November 5th and runs through Sunday, November 9th).
You can also like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
Week #1: Show Teaser
Week #2: The Team
Week #3: The Differentiator
Week #4: Key It
Week #5: Hype It
Note: Another Peterborough project (“Jobless” by Adam Martignetti and Mike Moring) has also made it to the Top 55.
All videos and images courtesy of “Dead Air”
