• Harland Williams has been hired to host The TBS Comedy Roadshow, an upcoming vaudeville-themed reality series on the U.S. cable channel. The show features Williams (Half Baked, RocketMan) in a cross-country talent search of regional theaters. The Toronto-born funnyman is due home in summer 2009 to direct Wingman, the $10-million comedy he co-wrote, to be produced by Toronto-based Stardust Pictures. Williams is repped by APA Artists’ Management.

• Jeffrey R. Smith has landed a part in The Prisoner. The redo of the British cult series has been shooting in Namibia and Cape Town for just under two months and also stars Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen. Smith has previously been seen in guest spots on Little Mosque on the Prairie and in the Roxy Hunter MOWs for Nickelodeon and The N. He is repped by Nancy LeFeaver of LeFeaver Talent Management.

• Mary Garofalo is the face of Global’s new half-hour news magazine 16:9. The Emmy-winning Toronto native worked at Fox 5 News in New York and began her career in radio doing traffic reports at Toronto’s 1050 CHUM. She also worked as an anchor/reporter for Citytv Toronto in the early ’90s.

• Laura Harris (Dead Like Me, 24) and Peter Howitt (Laws of Attraction, Sliding Doors) have joined the cast of Defying Gravity, along with Israel-born American Eyal Podell (Commander in Chief, Behind Enemy Lines). The 13 x 60 series for CTV, the BBC and Germany’s ProSieben, begins shooting in Vancouver in January. Podell is repped by the Paul Kohner Agency, Howitt is with UTA, and Livingston and Harris are both represented by Endeavor.