Take it from Britney Spears: You can make a hell of a career out of lip-syncing.
You can also make a great TV show, or at least that is what Jimmy Fallon, John Krasinski, Stephen Merchant and Spike TV are banking on. The three funnymen are teaming up with the male-skewing cable channel to turn “The Tonight Show’s” fan-favorite “Lip Sync Battle” into a television series, serving as both executive producers and participants.
The show will film in January in New York City and kick off April 2 on Spike TV. Other executive producers include Rick Schwartz at Fallon’s Eight Million Plus and Jay Peterson of Matador, as well as Casey Patterson, executive vice president of Talent Development and Production at Viacom Entertainment Group.
Beth McCarthy-Miller of “Saturday Night Live” will serve as director. Additional talent, as well as a host, will be announced soon.
The NBC late-night battles have gone super-viral, racking up tens of millions of viewers and raising the recognition level of the game’s already-famous participants.
“I have not heard from people about anything I’ve ever been a part of more than I’ve heard about the lip-syncing,” Emma Stone told TheWrap.
Merchant’s had the same experience: “Really, the only thing that anybody recognizes me from, is the lip-syncing nonsense,” he told Fallon on Thursday, humorously comparing himself to O.J. Simpson in the process.
Watch Paul Rudd crush it during his turn:
Watch Emma Stone destroy Fallon:
Watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt best both Fallon and Merchant:
Watch Krasinski and Fallon kick the whole thing off:
Steve Pond contributed to this report.
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