Animal Control, a Joel McHale comedy about employees in that line of work who can figure out animals but not their fellow humans, premieres on Fox February 16. McHale plays Frank, who was a cop before starting in animal control, but was fired after trying to expose corruption in the force. 

Michael Rowland, Vella Lovell and Ravi Patel are also in the cast. 

Rob Greenberg, Bob Fisher, Dan Sterling and Tad Quill are the executive producers. 

McHale’s comedy credits include Community and The Great Indoors. Fisher called him “hilarious,” and said he brings “a real strong comedic sense” to the Frank role. “He has a lot of humanity,” Fisher told B+C. “There’s a lot of feeling underneath the guy.”

The exec producers looked at a number of workplace comedies for inspiration. Fisher mentioned The Office, Parks and Recreation, Taxi and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. “We’re hoping this one has great office dynamics and a lot of fun physical comedy,” he said. 

Reviews have been mixed. The Hollywood Reporter said Animal Control will feel familiar to viewers. “You’ve seen Fox’s Animal Control before, even if you can’t possibly have seen Fox’s Animal Control before because it’s a brand-new series. From its opening seconds, the comedy feels familiar in everything from its character types to its interpersonal dynamics to the rhythms of its predictable punchlines,” the review said. 

“This is not necessarily a complaint,” it continues. “Sitcoms often thrive on the reliability of a well-worn formula, and in that regard, Animal Control knows how to deliver exactly what’s expected of it. What it hasn’t figured out, at least in the first three half-hours sent to critics, is how to deliver the extra bit of zing that might distinguish it from all the other shows serving up variations of the same thing.”

Variety, for its part, called the show and McHale “too snarky.” 

The pilot bears the title “Weasels and Ostriches.”

Besides those critters, the animal control folks deal with a wide range of animals on the loose, including a python, kangaroo and bear. “Killer rabbits who got into some recreational drugs, a bear in a hot tub, a cow in a fraternity house,” Fisher added. 

Animal Control offers viewers “a great ensemble,” Fisher said, and, of course, some mostly loveable animals. “It’s the traditional family stuff we love, physical comedy and emotional stories involving animals,” he said. ■ 

Joel McHale will star in and executive produce the Fox comedy Animal Control. Fox is going straight to series on the single-cam workplace comedy.

The series will follow a group of Animal Control workers who find animals easy to deal with, and humans more difficult. McHale will portray Frank, an opinionated, eccentric Animal Control officer who may not have gone to college but is still the most well-read person in the room. A former cop, Frank tried to expose corruption in his department, but his efforts get him fired.

Fox Entertainment Studios produces the show. Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg, Dan Sterling and Tad Quill executive produce with McHale.

"Dan, Rob, Tad and Bob had envisioned Joel as the lead of Animal Control from the very moment we began development, and we are all ecstatic to have him on board. Joel’s acerbic wit and ability to bring a comedic lens to everything he's involved with make him the perfect person to bring Frank to life," said Michael Thorn, president of entertainment, Fox.

McHale's credits include Stargirl, Crime Scene Kitchen, The Great Indoors and Community. ■

Baking competition series Crime Scene Kitchen premieres on Fox May 26, and Joel McHale hosts. Fox calls the show “a culinary guessing game in which bakers are tasked with decoding what type of dessert was made, when all that’s left are the crumbs, flour trails and a few elusive clues.”

“Crime Scene Kitchen is unlike any cooking show out there,” said Rob Wade, president, alternative entertainment and specials, Fox Entertainment. “It’s a truly original format with amazing baking creations, a brilliant play-along guessing game for the whole family, and Joel at the center of it all bringing hilarity at every turn. Just don’t watch it if you’re feeling hungry!”

Teams of two scour the kitchen for clues and ingredients to figure out what was just baked. Next, each team must duplicate the recipe based on their guess. Chef Curtis Stone and cake artists Yolanda Gampp are the judges. 

Fox Alternative Entertainment and Fly on the Wall produce the show. 

McHale hosts Card Sharks on ABC and hosted The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale on Netflix. 

“I’m deeply excited to be partnering with Fox and Fly on the Wall to host Crime Scene Kitchen,” said McHale. “Hosting a show where bakers try to figure out and then duplicate a dessert from just crumbs, crusty whisks and a soiled electric mixer, seems like a lot of fun and reminds me of college. Can’t wait. I’ve already picked out my apron. It’s leather.”

Ken Jeong and Joel McHale will host Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2021 (working title) live from Los Angeles. The hosts will look back at 2020 during the 3 ½ hour New Year’s event, and salute the year that awaits. Toast & Roast happens 8-10 p.m. ET live, MT/PT tape-delayed, and then 11 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET.

The duo were in the cast on Community and host podcast The Darkest Timeline. 

“Ken and Joel together are one of the funniest duos out there,” said Rob Wade, president, alternative entertainment & specials, Fox Entertainment. “These two have been toasting and roasting each other on national television for years, so they were the perfect pair to ring in the New Year. Also, we love Ken so much, we wanted to squeeze in three more hours of him before the new year!”

Fox Alternative Entertainment produces the broadcast and Carol Donovan is executive producer. This is the first year that Fox’s New Year’s Eve special will be produced entirely by Fox Alternative Entertainment.  

Jeong is a panelist on Fox’s The Masked Singer and created and starred in ABC comedy Dr. Ken. He appeared in Crazy Rich Asians and The Hangover film franchise.

McHale hosts Card Sharks on ABC and was in CBS comedy The Great Indoors. 

The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale premiered on Netflix Feb. 18. As the title states, twice, McHale is host, and he is executive producer. On board with him as exec producer is Paul Feig, whose films include Bridesmaids and the Ghostbusters remake.

McHale, formerly in the cast of The Great Indoors, also played a unique role in the Netflix film A Futile and Stupid Gesture, about comedy writer Doug Kenney and National Lampoon. McHale portrayed Chevy Chase, his former castmate in NBC's Community. Multichannel News spoke with McHale about his new projects. Here’s an edited transcript.

MCN:Why was Netflix attractive to you forThe Joel McHale Show?
Joel McHale: Netflix is king of the hill. The fact that Netflix-and-chill is gonna be part of Webster’s Dictionary very soon — it shows the grand vision that [chief content officer] Ted Sarandos had is working. They are in every country except North Korea and China. They are translated into 27-28 languages. As we pitched it around and they made the offer, we were very excited to work with them because they had the vision five, six, seven years ago and it’s working.

Some people have asked me, are you worried about being at a place with so much content? I said no, I want to be on somewhere where we have a chance to be seen.

MCN:Do the Netflix execs help you shape the show, or just leave you alone?
JM: They’ve been remarkably hands-off. They guide us on, like, the length of the show, and they tell us it’s going to drop Sunday nights at 12:05. We don’t know why, but they know. So far, they don’t go, “We would like you to tell more jokes that involve, I don’t know, dogs.” There’s nothing like that. They’ve been only supportive. They do show up to our clip meetings and see which clips we are going to select.

I know you probably hear this all the time, where people are buttering up their executives. But I would be happy to purchase several hundred pounds of butter and then cover each executive in it.

MCN:What did you hear from viewers about the first episode?
JM: I’ve never had a bigger response in social media. I was very encouraged and very happy. It shows you the penetration that Netflix has. It’s instantaneous. Time will tell if people stay around, but thank god most of the feedback was positive.

MCN:Will you ever have sit-down guests?
JM: No, never. I’ve never done that. And I never will on this show. People call us a talk show, but other than celebrities showing up, chiming in, we’ve never sat down with guests. It should be a different format, like this would be called a clip show.

MCN:Had you worked with Paul Feig before?
JM: No. He’s a very powerful producer and has incredibly good taste for comedy. We didn’t know how much he’d be around but he’s around almost every day. He’s a busy man so we are thrilled he’s there. He dresses like s--t but ….

MCN:What kind of humor does he bring?
JM: He sees the whole picture and he sees the minutiae very well.

MCN:You played Chevy Chase inA Futile and Stupid Gesture. What was that like?
JM: The first day of shooting was a bit weird — I am doing an impression of this guy that I know. I didn’t want it to just be a mimicry of him. I wanted to capture the essence of somebody who was the most confident person on the planet right before they become the biggest comedy star of the ’80s. I was very interested in that moment.

The movie is ultimately about [National Lampoon co-founder] Doug Kenney — it’s his story, and Chevy was good friends with Doug. I found my character really needed to help serve the legacy of Doug Kenney.

Chevy was happy that Doug was finally getting some recognition because he died so young. National Lampoon and Caddyshack and Animal House are still talked about today, and yet this guy was ostensibly forgotten. He’s kind of like the [Alexander] Hamilton of comedy. It’s a story that should be told, and Chevy was very happy that it was getting told.

Comedian Joel McHale will serve as the host of ESPN’s 2015 ESPYS sports awards show, the network announced Friday.

McHale, who starred in Community and hosts E!’s The Soup, will host the event, which recognizes major sports achievements of the year. McHale previously hosted last year’s White house Correspondents Dinner.

“Joel is an extremely talented performer, a unique voice and a huge sports fan,” said Connor Schell, senior vice president, ESPN Films and Original Content in a statement. “His experience as a comedian and love of sports make Joel the perfect host for The ESPYS inaugural broadcast on ABC.”

ESPN is moving the ESPYS to ABC for the first time after airing on the sports network since its inception in 1993.

Community is set to bring on Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) and Keith David (Enlisted) for the new 13 episode season six series, Yahoo and Sony announced today. 

Produced by Krasnoff-Foster Entertainment and Harmonious Claptrap, in association with Universal Television and Sony Pictures Television, season 6 will air exclusively on Yahoo in early 2015.

Frankie Dart (Brewster) joins the group as a consultant looking to bring positive change to the school, while Elroy Patashnik (David) plays a retired scientist trying to reinvent himself.

The half-hour comedy series follows Greendale Community College members, including returning stars Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong.

Joel McHale will continue as the host of The Soup through 2016, as per an extended agreement, the network announced today.

McHale's production company, Free Period Productions, will also carry on with the development deal where the comedian gives E! first look rights into ideas for a non-scripted series.

"I'm thrilled to be working at E! for two more years hosting The Soup,” said McHale in a release. “Although I narrowly beat Mitt Romney out for the job in a number of states, I'm confident that I can keep up the same quality of humorous observation of shows like “Naked Dating” and “Bad Girls Club Season 12 Reunion Part 2” that the American people age 18-49 have come to expect and deserve.

The comedy show is produced by Wilshire Studios and airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on E!.