British comics join The Great American Joke Off
Tom Allen, Milton Jones, Hugh Dennis, Ed Gamble, Glenn Moore and Rhys James have landed spots on a new US panel show based on quickfire gags.
Filmed in London last summer and airing from 31st March on The CW network, The Great American Joke Off is made by Angst Productions, creators of Mock The Week and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the long-running improv show whose American version also broadcasts on the channel.
Billed as "celebrating the world of gags, wisecracks and one-liners", Joke Off represents the first significant American exposure for Allen, Jones, Dennis, Moore and James, who were regulars on Mock The Week in its final years until it was axed in November.
Gamble previously appeared on the 2014 BBC America mockumentary Almost Royal, which appeared on E4 in the UK, and became a springboard for his fellow comic Amy Hoggart becoming a star in the States.
Hosted by The Daily Show correspondent Dulcé Sloan and produced by Mock The Week's Dan Patterson, Joke Off pledges to blend "the finest comedians from the UK and USA and sets about testing their skills as they compete across a succession of quickfire rounds designed to generate as many laughs as possible".
The first episode features Gamble competing alongside American comics such as Alonzo Bodden and married couple Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher.
Gamble posted an image from the set, commenting that it was "a great pleasure to work with some many brilliant comics. This picture also announces my engagement to @dulcesloan".
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Moore and James both appear in the second episode airing next month, alongside Joe List, Mark Normand, Chanel Ali and Ismael Loutfi. Moore tweeted that he and James would be on "most episodes", adding: "Next stop: playing the Copacabana, baby!"
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The CW is not currently available in the UK and it has yet to be revealed whether a domestic broadcaster will acquire The Great American Joke Off.