‘Office Race’: Beck Bennett, Joel McHale, Kelsey Grammer TV Movie Sets Premiere Date
Comedy Central has announced an all-new, star-studded TV movie called Office Race coming this September.
Starring Saturday Night Live alum Beck Bennett, Joel McHale, Kelsey Grammer, Alyson Hannigan, J.B. Smoove, and more, Office Race centers around “an unambitious office worker [Bennett] who goes to great lengths — specifically 26.2 miles — to defeat his exercise-obsessed, micromanaging boss [McHale],” according to Comedy Central. Erinn Hayes, Geoffrey Arend, Kylie Bunbury, Karolena Theresa, Katlyn Carlson, and Matt Richards also star.
Bennett’s Pat is described as “a passionless pushover who coasts aimlessly through life until he’s goaded into running a marathon and soon discovers his love for the sport.” McHale, Pat’s boss and rival, is “a brown-nosing fitness fanatic with zero self-awareness and a crippling addiction to a quasi-legal sports drink.”
Hannigan plays “Girlfriend Pat, Pat’s same-named girlfriend, who’s growing weary of his lackadaisical approach to life,” with Hayes as Rita, “a potential investor in Pat’s company and the relentlessly positive, running gear-obsessed captain of the charity running team.” Bunbury plays Julie, “Pat’s smart, dynamic, refreshingly honest teammate and eventual coach, and maybe something more…”
Grammer plays Coach B, “Julie’s former high-school track coach and oft-injured marathoner who owns a local running store.” Smoove plays Harry, “a former world champion race-walker, who touts the purity of his niche sport and thumbs his nose at the running community.”
Arend plays Don, “an emo-adult who’s desperate for companionship and to be recognized for all his charitable efforts, which he’s more than happy to tell you about.” And rounding out the cast is Richards’ Dave, “Pat’s fun-loving best friend who enjoys marathons…of his favorite films, and enables Pat’s laid back lifestyle.”
Office Race premieres Monday, September 4, at 8/7c on Comedy Central. It’s directed by Jared Lapidus with a screenplay written by Lapidus and James Kilmoon (Impractical Jokers), marking their feature film debut. It’s co-produced by Above Average and Believe Entertainment Group and is executive produced by Kilmoon, Lapidus, Dan Goodman and William H Masterson III. Ally Engelberg, Marc Lieberman, and Brian Hunt serve as producers. It’s a production of MTV Entertainment Studios.
Office Space marks Bennett’s first major on-screen role since leaving SNL in 2021. He appeared an episode of Pause With Sam Jay that same year and has lent his voice to a handful of voice over projects in recent years. He can be heard in the new Netflix animated movie Nimona. McHale’s Fox comedy series, Animal Control, was renewed for Season 2 in May after its February 2023 premiere. Grammer will soon be seen in the Frasier reboot on Paramount+.
Hannigan has starred in a handful of TV movies since 2014 and has appeared in several guest-star roles, as well as lending her vocal talents to voice over titles. She previously starred on How I Met Your Mother from 2005-2014. Smoove, another SNL alum, is part of the Curb Your Enthusiasm cast and recently appeared on Hulu‘s History of the World, Part II and Netflix’s Blockbuster.
Office Race, Original TV Movie Premiere, Monday, September 4, 8/7c, Comedy Central
