SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s favorite sketch comedy stars are heading to NBC.
“Bring The Funny,” a comedy competition show premiering July 9 on NBC, will feature members of JK! Studios, the Utah-based comedy production company founded by the original cast of BYUtv’s “Studio C.” The new NBC show will feature judges Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”), Chrissy Teigen and Jeff Foxworthy, and be hosted by comedian Amanda Seales. The winners will receive a $250,000 prize package.
In a video interview with the Deseret News, JK! Studios members Matt Meese and Stacey Harkey said they spent most of March filming for “Bring The Funny.” As for which JK! Studios cast members are taking part, they weren’t allowed to say.
“We had a really great experience,” Meese said. “And we can’t talk about how well we did in the competition, but we are pleased, and excited for it to start airing.”
According to Meese, the show finishes airing in September and will have some live elements and fan voting, so JK! Studios may be returning to the NBC lot in a few months.
According to a news release, “Bring The Funny” incorporates comedy of all kinds, from sketch comedy to standup to “anyone who can make audiences laugh.” And the members of JK! Studios have a lot of experience with that. Between their experience at Brigham Young University’s sketch comedy troupe Divine Comedy, then “Studio C,” and now JK! Studios, many of them have been doing comedy together for a decade.
“You put your live performance comedy skills to the test, which is how we started,” Stacey Harkey said. “They want people that can put on a show, not only in front of a live audience, but for a broadcast audience, which is our jam.”
“For us, I think it reaffirmed our belief that what we do is accessible to everyone,” Meese added. “We make this safe-for-work content, if you will, and we hope that it will resonate everyone. And we got more evidence that that is the case.”