“Hard Funny”: Channing Dungey Breaks Down Warner Bros TV’s Comedy Business As Studio Sets Up Amazon Projects From Mindy Kaling & ‘Hacks’ Duo
deadline.com“If that’s a joke, I love it. If not, can’t wait to unpack that with you later,” said Ted Lasso, perhaps accidentally highlighting two varying differences of comedy – the darker dramedy side and the laugh out loud variety.
Channing Dungey, Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Television Group, which makes the Jason Sudekis series, as well as breakout comedy hits Night Court and Abbott Elementary, says we’re in a moment where “hard funny” is making a comeback. “It’s like The Three Stooges, hard funny is the pie in the face, it’s that instant thing that makes you laugh and off you go,” she tells Deadline.
Dungey, who runs the studio that made Friends and The Big Bang Theory, believes that these types of shows are having a moment. “People are looking to try to figure out how can we do more shows that lean into kind of that hard funny perspective because the lines of comedic drama and all of that has become a little bit blurry,” she says. “As a country and as a world, we’ve been going through some really difficult, challenging times with Covid and the economy, the whole nine yards.
When you look back at Ted Lasso, which really became a breakthrough success when we were all home in 2020, I think people are looking for things that make them laugh and things that are a little bit brighter, and things that make them feel a sense of community,” she adds.
Read more on deadline.com