Kevin Nealon, Jane Kaczmarek Join JoAnna Garcia Swisher in Tommy Johnagin's Comedy Pilot for CBS
Kevin Nealon, 61, best known for his role as Doug Wilson on Showtime's Weeds, and Jane Kaczmarek, 59, best known for portraying the character of Lois on Fox's Malcolm in the Middle, have joined JoAnna Garcia Swisher, 35, who plays the mermaid Ariel on ABC's Once Upon A Time, in the cast of the still untitled CBC comedy pilot that is loosely based on the life of stand-up comedian Tommy Johnagin.
The untitled Johnagin project was written by Johnagin with Surviving Jack creators Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, and will also star Johnagin as himself. The comedy pilot will be executive-produced by Bill Lawrence and Jeff Ingold.
The still untitled sitcom follows the story of a thirty-something stand-up comic named Tommy who is raising a young family in a small Midwestern town. Like his character in the show, Johnagin himself lived in southern Illinois and St. Louis, launching and building his career from there, until four years ago when he moved to Los Angeles. As a stand-up career, Johnagin makes it a point to keep his act clean and family-friendly. To this day, he never uses profanities in any of his performance.
In the upcoming comedy pilot, Garcia is cast as Michelle, described as an accomplished pediatrician married to Tommy, with whom she has a daughter, Ashley. As for the two TV comedy veterans, Nealon plays Tommy's dad Jack, described as a charming but manipulative loose cannon who flirts with every woman and says everything with a smile, but has a self-destructive streak and has ruined his marriage to Linda(played by Kaczmarek), Tommy's responsible mother who owns a local diner. As described in the pilot's outline, Linda still treats her adult children like babies and loves a chance to brag about Tommy's talk-show appearances and career path. She has held her ex-husband in absolute contempt for the past 17 years and forces him to eat at the crappiest seat in her restaurant.