While Saturday Night Live has introduced us to a dozen or so youthful sketch comedy talents each year for the last four decades, TikTok now teams with literally thousands of them each day, some of them commanding millions of followers.
Sam Grey, a former producer for SNL mastermind Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video, as well as a former Management 360 talent exec, is seeking to harness some of that awesome power with a new sketch comedy show called Stapleview on TikTok Live, which will run on a new eponymous TikTok channel.
The new weekly sketch show, which will debut at 9 p.m. EST Thursday on TikTok Live, features a handful of already successful TikTok up-and-comers -- including Dylan Adler, Sydney Battle, Sarah Coffey, Gray Fagan, DaMya Gurley, Grace Reiter and Jane Wickline -- who have collectively amassed around 7 million followers on the platform.
Stoney Sharp (who produced Sarah Silverman’s I Love You, America, Comedy Bang! Bang!) is executive producing with Grey. Reggie Henke (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, The Eric Andre Show) is head writer and producer.
Sketches produced independently and collectively by the Stapleview group are already festooned on the Stapleview channel, which touts nearly 5,100 followers as of midday Thursday.
The content will also show up on other social media platforms.
“Our artists and writers are a talented and nimble bunch, and we are excited to come together to blaze trails as the first comedy sketch show on TikTok,” Grey said in a statement. “I’ve had the good fortune to work with some of the reigning leaders in comedy, and I believe that TikTok has provided, singlehandedly, the most authentic platform to experience entertainment content. With the launch of Stapleview, I hope we can shepherd a new renaissance for the sketch comedy and variety show artform.”
