There’s no shortage on television of “meta” programming — series playing with the personae of real people, or the show-within-a-show format — but the pairing of Billy Crystal and Josh Gad for FX’s The Comedians is still an unexpected one. To see such a recognizable star teamed with a lesser-known name is disconcerting at first; that it’s happening on TV instead of the big screen, even more so. But that’s the premise here: based off a popular Swedish show, The Comedians is a faux documentary about the making of the non-existent Billy & Josh Show — a sketch comedy program also ostensibly airing on FX.
If it all sounds a bit confusing, it will make a lot more sense when you see it. After premiering last week, the show’s first episode is now available to watch online. Ahead of its release, Crystal and Gad were joined by the series’ showrunners, Ben Wexler and Matt Nix, for a panel at the SXSW Film Festival, where they screened two episodes and spoke about the genesis of the show and what went on behind the scenes. Among the topics they covered was working with director Larry Charles (known for his work on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld), also an executive producer on The Comedians.
https://youtu.be/ZC1bBMkyOZY
“There’s this rabbit hole effect that happens, because it’s layer upon layer of real, but heightened real,” says Gad. “Like Larry Charles, who plays the director in the show, is the director of the show. FX is the network. So there are all these added layers that make it that much more hyper-realistic, which is where the audience is sort of like, should I be laughing? Shouldn’t I be laughing? This is confusing — in the best way possible.”
“To their credit, FX is also in on it,” adds Wexler. “They’re playing themselves. It’s not just a network — which probably another show would do — it’s FX, where The Billy & Josh Show is on. And the fact that they have enough of a sense of humor about themselves to send themselves up, too, it lends a verisimilitude to it.”
Of course, the most interesting aspect is that the two stars are also playing themselves, but doing so in an often-uncomfortable way. Crystal’s character is resentful of being paired up with the younger actor, rather than being able to take the spotlight fully for himself, while Gad’s character consistently puts his foot in his mouth via a combination of ignorance, awkwardness, and ego.
“I think these guys have been really brave to put themselves out there in a way that actors really aren’t called upon to do most of the time,” says Wexler. “There’s no safety net. They can’t hide behind the character. But we’ve also taken pains to sort of remove the characters of Billy Crystal and Josh Gad a little step from who these guys really are. It gives us a little bit more freedom, too.”
“There were a few examples, and you’ll see this as the season progresses, where it became very challenging — some of the dialogue that we had to say to each other,” explains Gad. “Because it can be perceived as hurtful. But what the show does amazingly, which I’m excited for you guys to see in its progression, is it becomes more than just a comedy, in the great tradition of FX’s other great show, Louie. It follows that trajectory of really sometimes making you feel uncomfortable, where you’re not supposed to laugh, but you’re supposed to see these two characters learning or growing.
“Moments like that, Billy and I would do the scene, and we would come up to each other and just give each other a hug and say, ‘Obviously what we’re saying is for the growth of these characters.’ And those days were a little difficult, because you do, you love each other. And you don’t have the barrier, or the protection of another name. You are Josh Gad saying weird, sick shit to Billy Crystal. And it’s Billy Crystal.”
https://youtu.be/NGvHU5KwzdY
“And America’s watching. That’s a big part of it, is going, what are people going to think? But that’s part of the fun of it too,” adds Crystal. “Some of the best moments in the show were the uncomfortable silences. It’s not the punchlines. It’s the awkwardness and the real behavior of two guys spraying musk and sniffing each other out.”
One of the benefits of the format is that even when things get uncomfortable in real life, they provide material that can then be channeled into the alternate world onscreen. “This show has one thing which I’ve never known a show to have,” says Nix. “To slightly pull back the curtain, in moments of tension or difficulty, I can’t even count the number of times that a conversation would end with, ‘We should put this in the show.’ And we did. We were able to put the struggles on the screen.”
Fortunately though, things between Crystal and Gad in our world aren’t nearly as fraught as what you’ll witness here. “It’s amazing to be able to get to play within the confines of what people think of you,” says Gad. “That’s been unbelievably rewarding, and getting to work with a legend who I grew up loving, that’s been an incredible thing. What you see on screen could not be further from our relationship.”
The Comedians airs Thursdays at 10pm on FX.