'Avenue 5' Teaser: The Creator Of 'Veep' Takes Us On A Luxurious Space Cruise With Hugh Laurie And Josh Gad
Veep creator and In the Loop director Armando Ianucci got bored with political satire a little while back, mostly because the real politics of today are far too ludicrous and depressing to effectively make comedy out of them. But that's not stopping the masterful comedy writer and director from starting a new series.Avenue 5 has Armando Ianucci taking us to space aboard the luxurious space cruise ship of the same name. Hugh Laurie is the captain who seems to love his job, that is until the ship encounters a problem and he's stuck with a plethora of smarmy socialites who are all the kind of people who immediately need to see a manager. Even on a space cruise, people are total dicks. Watch the Avenue 5 trailer below for a taste of what's to come.
Avenue 5 Trailer
Even though Ianucci isn't playing in the familiar field of politics for this series, he still gets to skewer high society and all the entitled behavior that comes along with it. But this also does have a familiar feeling of Ianucci's political comedy as there's an ensemble cast here that makes up the ship's crew, and they bicker just as much as any of the administrations from Veep or The Thick of It.
Hugh Laurie is back and putting on his American accent again. He seems cool and collected enough, but clearly he's started to get a little annoyed with all the passengers who are panicking on the ship.
We also have Josh Gad as Herman Judd as the billionaire behind the Avenue 5, which has been branded with his name, just like all the hotels, fitness clubs and other space tourism endeavors he's created. Gad seems like he's doing a Richard Branson kind of character, one that might give Ianucci an opportunity to mock Donald Trump outside of politics.
As for the rest of the cast, it includes Silicon Valley and The Office star Zach Woods; Nikki Amuka-Bird, who has a role in Ianucci's forthcoming feature film The Personal History of David Copperfield; Rebecca Front, a veteran of The Thick of It; Lenora Crichlow of Being Human and Fast Girls; Suzy Nakamura, who had a guest role on Veep and starred in Dr. Ken; and Ethan Phillips, who also hails from Veep and Inside Llewyn Davis.
Avenue 5 premiere sometime in January 2020 on HBO.