Hamish and Andy’s TV series True Story has been adapted for U.S. audiences and it honestly sounds like they might not mess this one up.
True Story aired on Nine back in 2017 and 2018. It saw Hamish and Andy listen to hilarious true stories that happened to everyday Australians, with the stories then being recreated by Aussie actors in filmed dramatisations.
It only ran for 20 episodes and two seasons but NBC clearly saw something promising in it: it was announced in 2020 that it would be adapted for U.S. audiences, with Ed Helms and Randall Park taking over from Hamish and Andy. Considering how, um, chaotic the U.S. has been for a while now, they should have plenty of material for the new series.
“The Australian show, I happened to see it. I loved it,” Helms told Collider. “Hamish and Andy, I think, are brilliant. What I loved was just seeing the human connection in the studio, when they’re telling these stories, and they’re listening to the stories. The re-enactments are almost like a bonus. They’re just this really fun, epic, additional layer.”
Park wasn’t initially as familiar with True Story but he quickly warmed up to it. “I was unfamiliar with the Australian show, but when I got a call from Ed and his team to be a part of it, I watched as many episodes of the Australian version as I could, and I was blown away by the heart in a lot of these stories,” he said.
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“Just the thought of being able to sit down with Ed, who I’ve been a fan of and just loved for so long, and to just hang out with him and listen to these incredible stories from all these different people, it was such a no-brainer. I was like, “I’m in.””
Helms seems like quite the Aussie comedy connoisseur. He executive produced the Netflix debut of Melbourne’s absurdist sketch comics Aunty Donna, which premiered on the streaming platform in 2020.
And here’s hoping the True Story remake goes a lot better than the U.S. adaptation of Kath & Kim: the remake of the beloved Aussie sitcom was so bad The San Francisco Chronicle calling it “a contender for worst remake ever.”
True Story with Ed and Randall is set to stream on Peacock on January 20th.
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Check out the trailer for True Story with Ed and Randall:
