One of the most exciting advantages of Netflix’s lack of traditional corporate sponsors is that its shows and movies should—in theory—have the freedom to do whatever they want. Taking that freedom to its extreme, Netflix is now forcing some some people to do whatever they want with The Characters, an upcoming sketch comedy show. The basic setup of The Characters is that Netflix gave eight comedians each an episode to fill with whatever kind of wacky sketch stuff they wanted to do, and the press release points out that there were “no rules” and “no limits” for how they did this.
The comedians appearing in The Characters include Comedy Bang Bang favorite Lauren Lapkus, The Meltdown’s Kate Berlant, Dr. Brown, Broad City’s Paul W. Downs, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp’s John Early, SNL’s Tim Robinson and Natasha Rothwell, and Heroes Reborn’s Henry Zebrowski. The press release also says that Cecily Strong, Bobby Moynihan, Tyson Beckford, and Abbi Jacobson make cameo appearances.
The Characters will premiere on Netflix on March 11, and you can see a trailer for it below.