Comedy Central has picked up 10 old episodes of Kenny vs. Spenny and wants 10 new ones, to be produced with help from South Park creators and fans of the show Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
Parker and Stone reportedly came across the comedy/reality series — seen in the U.S. on GSN — a few years ago and struck up a friendship with creators Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice after an accidental run-in at the Los Angeles airport.
The new eps will be produced by Blueprint Entertainment and Breakthrough Films and Television, in association with Showcase. Parker and Stone join the already lengthy list of exec producers: Hotz, Rice, John Morayniss, Noreen Halpern, Peter Williamson, Ira Levy and Abby Finer.
‘When we first saw Kenny vs. Spenny we thought it was really funny,’ say Parker and Stone, in a release. ‘And the fact that they are Canadian somehow makes it even funnier. Truthfully, the show isn’t just funny, it’s the most accurate examination of male friendships that we’ve ever seen.’
Lauren Corrao, EVP of programming at Comedy Central, says viewers can relate to Hotz and Rice as they try to outdo and humiliate each other with various challenges. ‘Who among us hasn’t challenged someone to a staring contest or dared a friend to wear a dead octopus on their head longer that you can?’
High praise. And yet the show, from Blueprint and Breakthrough, has had irregular luck with broadcasters, airing first on CBC, which cancelled it after one season, before hopping the fence to Showcase.
‘Thank God for Comedy Central. We were about to sign a deal with Al-jazeera,’ says Hotz. The series will debut on Nov. 14.