According to an exclusive report in Variety, the show business bible, Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show fame will play the GM of the Brooklyn Nets in yet unnamed comedy series being developed for Hulu by producers Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar.
Next up, Variety can break the news that Hulu is developing an untitled comedy from Kasdan and Mar starring comedian and “The Daily Show” correspondent Ronny Chieng, who has been tapped to play the new GM of the Brooklyn Nets. The story is inspired (but not about) real-life Nets owner Joe Tsai.
Indeed, NetsDaily can report that the Nets are already cooperating in the production, working with Mar on the concept but not actively involved in the scripting or other aspects of the production. The NBA will have to sign off on the production. No further details on the show’s concept or timing, but a report out of Hollywood suggests shooting will begin in late July.
Kasdan and Mar were behind the highly successful “Fresh Off The Boat,” a comedy about an Asian-American family and as Variety reports are working on a number of productions involving Asian-American and Pacific Islanders. May is AAPI Heritage Month.
“It’s all part of the fabric of being American,” Mar says of the programming. “Every sort of American story has a specific that needs to be told. ‘Asian American’ is such a big term, with so many people a part of it. This is an opportunity to narrow down and tell [unique stories].”
That’s in sync with what Tsai told the Post at the beginning of last season. “Asians generally are not really seen in Hollywood, or in popular media,” Tsai told Brian Lewis
Chieng, 36, is best known for his work as correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. He made his film debut in “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018 and in 2017, he began co-writing and starring in the sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student, based on his own experience as a Malaysian student in Australia. It was developed for Comedy Central in America and ABC TV in Australia.
In 2016, Chieng got notice when he gave an expletive-laden criticism of a Jesse Watters clip on FOX News deemed by many as racist. Watters interviewed Chinatown residents on their choice in the 2016 presidential elections, suggesting that Asia-Americans, several of whom spoke only Mandarin or Cantonese, were uninformed about the issues.
Chieng revisited Chinatown, where Watters had mocked residents and conducted more respectful interviews in Mandarin and Cantonese. The video went viral and received coverage in The Washington Post and on Slate.com The incident inspired a protest at FOX headquarters in New York and Watters issued an apology.
Chieng has also been vocal in his support of the COVID-19 vaccine, as has Tsai. Last fall, after anti-vaxxers attempted to storm Barclays Center in support of Kyrie Irving’s refusal to get the shot, Chieng made fun of Irving.
In 2010, The Nets cooperated with the producers of the “Just Wright,” a film starring Queen Latifah as a Nets trainer and Common as a Nets All-Star.
