Dane Cook starring in NBC comedy pilot

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As the upfronts get readied, pilots will be a big part of the offing. For NBC, comedian Dane Cook is going to star in a half-hour comedy pilot at NBC called “Next Caller Please”. Via Weeds writer and producer Stephen Falk, the pilot is a single-camera sitcom that is set in the offices of a satellite radio station.


A la “The Odd Couple,” the potential series would follow the clash between radio co-hosts of the opposite sex, one an alpha male DJ and the other a feminist  female DJ–Collette Wolfe.

Cook will be cast as Cam Doherty, a “disheveled, unshaven, hung-over and purposely detached magnetic grouch who doesn’t like that his co-host is a woman,” said THR. Wolfe will play Stella and Joy Osmanski (who voiced Julie on the short-lived Allen Gregory) is also part of the pilot’s cast playing Winnie, the radio show’s producer.

In 2006, Cook starred in his first leading role as the slacker box boy Zack Bradley in Employee of the Month, which co-starred Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. In 2007, Cook co-starred in his first dramatic role as the devious photographer “Mr. Smith” in Mr. Brooks, which starred Kevin Costner. In September 2007, Cook starred as dentist Charlie Logan in Good Luck Chuck, which co-starred Jessica Alba and Dan Fogler. The film was the second-highest grossing film (#1 Comedy) at the U.S.box office in its opening weekend, grossing $13.6 million.

A month later, Cook co-starred as Mitch Burns in Dan In Real Life, which starred Steve Carell. In 2008, Cook starred as air purifier call-center supervisor Tank Turner in My Best Friend’s Girl with Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, and Alec Baldwin. The film grossed $8.2 million in its opening weekend, debuting at #3 at the box office. Not much since has happened for him, so the NBC role is ripe–probably a good move for him right now into a new venue.