In the untitled show, Lil Dicky, aka Dave Burd, will play a suburban guy in his late 20s who becomes convinced he’s destined to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Now he must convince his closest friends, because with their help, he might actually convince the world.
“Not only has Dave Burd cemented his place in the rap community, but he’s now poised to take over TV with his infectious comedic sensibility in his own series,” said Nick Grad, president original programming for FX Networks and FX Productions. “We’re thrilled to have partnered with an impressive creative team featuring Jeff Schaffer, Saladin Patterson, Kevin Hart, Greg Mottola and Scooter Braun to bring the story of Lil Dicky to TV audiences.”
Added Burd, “I’m so thankful for everyone who made this possible. It really is what I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid. I love making people laugh, it’s my favorite thing ever. And even though I’m still fully in love with and committed to my career as a rapper, I’m excited to write jokes that don’t need to rhyme every time. Ugh, that rhymed.”
Burd’s first video as Lil Dicky, “Ex-Boyfriend,” went viral after its release in 2013, and he’s built on that fame ever since. His most recent single, “Freaky Friday,” has racked up more than a billion streams and has gone multiplatinum. His 2015 album Professional Rapper debuted at No. 7 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and hit No. 1 on the comedy and rap charts.
The Lil Dicky series is the first TV project for Hart since the controversy over his aborted gig as host of the Oscars. He stepped down two days after being named host in December after old tweets in which he used homophobic slurs surfaced.
The controversy does not appear to have affected the comedian’s workload. He signed a deal for two comedy movies with STXfilms and has also booked starring and producing roles in Lionsgate’s Monopoly movie and Sony’s Fatherhood.
The Lil Dicky series is co-created by Burd and Schaffer (The League). They executive produce with Patterson (The Big Bang Theory, The Last O.G.), Hart (via his HartBeat Productions), Mottola, Marty Bowen, Mike Hertz and Scooter Braun, James Shin and Scott Manson of SB Projects. The series comes from FX Productions.
It joins recent FX additions What We Do in the Shadows, which premieres March 27; limited series Fosse/Verdon, coming in April; and Y: The Last Man, which is set to debut in 2020. The cable network is also facing a year without several of its high-profile shows: New seasons of Atlanta, Fargo and American Crime Story aren’t expected until 2020.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
