Comedians Nicole Byer, Jessica McKenna and Alison Rich Set to Star

New late-night half-hour sketch comedy series PARTY OVER HERE will premiere Saturday, March 12 (11:00-11:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The series is executive-produced by the Emmy Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated comedy trio The Lonely Island – writer/performers Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone.  Actor/comedian Paul Scheer (“The League,” “Fresh Off The Boat”) also will serve as an executive producer and one of the series’ directors.

“When we first conceived this idea, we thought of it as a spinoff of EMPIRE,” said The Lonely Island. “We failed miserably…now it’s much more of a sketch comedy show.”

“In an age where most millennials don’t even know what a TV is, we are really excited to be getting into the TV business,” added Scheer.  

“The late-night landscape is wildly competitive, and we thought long and hard about the kind of audacious, attention-getting voices we needed,” said David Madden, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “Andy, Akiva, Jorma, Paul and our three stars – Nicole, Jessica and Alison – are the ideal group of talent to do just that. They’re fearless, original and, of course, very, very funny.”

Skewering everything from pop culture to politics, PARTY OVER HERE will feature sketch comedy shorts, along with in-studio segments filmed in front of a live audienceat the Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The half-hour series stars newcomers and actress/comedians Nicole Byer (“Girl Code”), Jessica McKenna (“Riot”) and Alison Rich (“Resident Advisors”).

Nicole Byer is one of the breakout stars of the cable hit comedy series “Girl Code.” Byer’s additional acting credits include “Lady Dynamite” and “30 Rock.” Byer and Shasheer Samata (“Saturday Night Live”) wrote and star in the web series “Pursuit of Sexiness.”

Jessica McKenna has studied sketch and improv at The Groundlings and the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), where she is a regular performer. Her television credits include the FOX improv comedy series “Riot,” “The Goldbergs,” “Comedy Bang! Bang!,” “Hot Wives of Las Vegas” and “The Jeselnik Offensive.” McKenna is one-half of the musical comedy duo The Zach and The Jess.

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Alison Rich was a staff writer on “Saturday Night Live,” where she was hired after testing for a featured player position. Rich won the IFC “Out of the Box” Award (which came with a blind script offer) and Best Actress Award from the New York Television Festival for the web series “Incognito,” which she created with Andrew Law. Her additional acting credits include the comedy series “Angie Tribeca,” “Life In Pieces” and the HULU original series “Resident Advisors.”

Comprised of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, The Lonely Island coined their name from the cramped West Coast apartment they shared as comic start-ups. They are currently in post-production on their Judd Apatow-produced, Universal Studios feature. The Grammy-nominated and Emmy Award-winning trio are responsible for creating the popular “SNL Digital Shorts,” including, among many others, “D**K In A Box,” “Lazy Sunday” and “I’m On A Boat.” The trio has more than 6.5 million subscribers and more than 1.7 billion views on their YouTube channel, as well as three Platinum singles (“I’m On A Boat,” “Jizz In My Pants” and “I Just Had Sex”) and one Gold single (“Like A Boss”). Their singles, “I’m On A Boat” and “Turtleneck & Chain,” were both nominated for Grammy Awards. The group also collaborated with Shawn Patterson, Joshua Bartholomew and Lisa Harriton to write the song “Everything Is Awesome,” featured in “The Lego Movie,” and performed with Tegan and Sara. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song last year. In 2014, they formed the production company Kablamo!.

PARTY OVER HERE is produced by Kablamo!  Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Billy Rosenberg and Paul Scheer serve as executive producers. Scheer also serves as one of the series’ directors.

“Like” PARTY OVER HERE on Facebook at facebook.com/PartyOverHereFOX. Follow the series on Twitter @PartyOverHere and join the discussion using #PartyOverHere. See photos and videos on Instagram by following @PartyOverHere. 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Beginning Saturday, March 12, encores of COOPER BARRETT’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE will air from 11:30 PM-midnight ET/PT. Original episodes of COOPER BARRETT’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE will continue to air in its regular Sunday 8:30 PM ET/PT timeslot]

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