According to Deadline, one of this year’s Halloween goodies is a Comedy Central Original premiere scheduled very early in the month of October. The new eerie comedy Cursed Friends speculates on what would happen if the seemingly innocuous schoolyard game of M.A.S.H. actually did foretell the future. Nicole Byer, Harvey Guillén, Jessica Lowe, and Andrew Lewis Caldwell head up the ensemble cast. Comedy Central’s original asks what would happen if a group of friends woke up 20 years later to find that a game they played as kids has altered their lives. Cursed Pals is the first feature-length screenplay written by a group of friends in their 30s who get together every year on Halloween.
A game of M.A.S.H. (Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House) they played in 2002 has come true as they all wake up the next morning after a night of drinking and catching up. Everything they said about one other when they were teenagers has come true in “hilarious and unsettling ways.” The group of pals will have to band together once more if any of them is to avoid the calamities that have befallen them, such as having 100 babies with the loser at their high school, being taken in by a cult leader, or being married to Joey Fatone from NSYNC. The part of Nicole in the comedy series *Loosely Exactly Nicole made Byer a household name as an actress and writer. Besides Brooklyn Nine-Nine, she has also guest starred on A Black Lady Sketch Show and NBC’s Grand Crew.
Actor Guillermo Guillén, who is most known for his performance in What We Do in the Shadows, also lends his voice to the part of Nightwing in the animated DC series Harley Quinn on HBO Max. Guillén will soon be seen as Blue Beetle in the DC Extended Universe. Caldwell portrayed Jude in The Matrix Resurrections and had a recurrent part in Henry Danger, while Lowe played Bambi in HBO Max’s comedy series Minx and Lindy Lissons in The Righteous Gemstones. Cursed Friends features a stellar ensemble that includes the original member of NSYNC, Fatone, as well as Nicole Richie, Kathy Griffin, James Austin Johnson, Nikki Glaser, Ken Marino, Rob Riggle, and a special cameo by Will Arnett.
Laura Murphy (Awkwafina is Nora from Queens) makes her directorial debut with this film. Arnett, together with Marc Forman and Evan Thompson of Electric Avenue, Joel Zadak and Peter Principato of Artists First, Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, Isabel San Vargas, and Drew Buckley of Propagate, and Ari Pearce and Andrew Lutin of MTV Entertainment Studios served as executive producers. On October 8th, Comedy Central will debut the new show Cursed Friends.