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DiggJack Black producing VH1 sketch show
By Colin Mahan - TV.comThe Department of Acceptable Media will feature user-submitted comedy shorts.
Jack Black
Jack Black is going back to his sketch-comedy roots.
Funnyman Jack Black, who is about to appear in the film Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, cut his TV teeth on HBO's sketch show Mr. Show With Bob and David. Now, the actor will produce and sometimes appear in VH1's The Department of Acceptable Media, a partially user-programmed sketch show.
Department will be coexecutive-produced by longtime Black collaboraters Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, who are currently prepping the upcoming Sarah Silverman Programme for Comedy Central. In 2003, Black, Harmon, and Schrab created Channel 101, a monthly film festival in Los Angeles that featured submitted comedy shorts.
Channel 101 offspring include current Saturday Night Live writer/perfomer Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island partners, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. Department will focus on short films written and produced by Black, Harmon, and Schrab, as well as user submitted pieces.
VH1 head of programming Michael Hirschorn said that since the first explosion of online video, standards have been raised and the time is right to port the concept to TV.
"It's not 'anything goes.' Digital shorts now have to meet a bar of execution and humor," he told Variety. "It could turn out that a whole bunch of the viewer-created content is good enough for on-air."
