Joel McHale: New Netflix show will ‘make fun of everything’

Joel McHale's new show debuts on Netflix at midnight Sunday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

Feb. 17 (UPI) — Joel McHale says his new weekly, topical program for Netflix is “definitely a clip show, but it’s going to be a lot more than that.”

“The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale” is to begin streaming at midnight Sunday.

“We’re going to take television and the Internet from around the world and we’re going to make fun of Netflix — our employers — and we are going to make fun of everything and … use those clips and make sketches out of them,” the 46-year-old comedian told UPI in a recent phone interview, adding he enjoys “the anarchy of not having to have commercial breaks or a set amount of time.”

“We even asked them how long should the show should be and they said, ‘How long do you want it to be?’ They literally said, ’25 minutes to 35 minutes?’ And we said, ‘Sounds good to us.'”

Asked what he thinks about how the U.S. comedy landscape has changed over the years and what it is like to tell jokes when people seem easily outraged these days, McHale emphasized he has always understood and appreciated how much freedom American comedians have to express themselves.

“Yes, there may be repercussions, but you do get to try so many different things and that is what has made America so wonderful. Obviously, it’s way better than growing up in North Korea where you could be shot for telling a joke. Yes, there is always risk in comedy and I think that is one of the reasons why comedy exists,” he said. “If everything was safe, it’s not comedy anymore. I know there are really safe comedies out there that people love and if they are really funny, they are really funny and that’s it. But if people are just trying to be risky and just trying to be shocking and it’s not funny, then it’s not [comedy] and I am not interested.”

“TONIGHT/(early morning) @thejoelmchaleshow premieres on @netflix. After you see @blackpanther watch me from the comfort of your any device. #thejoelmchaleshowwithjoelmchale,” McHale posted as a reminder on Instagram Saturday.

McHale is best known for hosting the pop-culture analysis show “The Soup” for more than a decade. He also co-starred in the sitcoms “Community” and “The Great Indoors,” as well as in the movie “A Futile and Stupid Gesture.”

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