HBO orders a pilot for T.J. Miller’s The Gorburger Show

By William Hughes  |  May 28, 2015 | 1:21am
Aux Features TV

Dave Letterman’s old set has barely had time to start to rotting in the dump or wilting under the drooling attention of eBay savvy obsessives, and already a new talk show star has lumbered forward, devouring all challengers and smashing the competition. Variety reports that Funny Or Die’s The Gorburger Show, which stars T.J. Miller as a ravenous blue space monster who hijacks a Japanese chat show in order to interview and occasionally devour famous musicians, has been picked up to pilot by HBO.

Now in its second year on YouTube, The Gorburger Show has settled into a comfortable, if bizarre pattern. From within the monstrous host—who resembles a mixture of the titular creatures from Where The Wild Things Are and one of Jim Henson’s gnarlier creations—Miller grills musical celebrities like Tegan And Sara or The Mars Volta, alternating between blithe talk show conversation, surprisingly pointed insults, and the occasional murderous tantrum. Japanese people are threatened, awkward musicians are invited to hug the giant blue monster, and a fun time is generally had by all who survive.

Gorburger is HBO’s second dip into adapting a popular web series this year; the network already ordered a pilot for the pot comedy High Maintenance back in April. It remains to be seen how much of Gorburger will arrive intact on TV screens; the Variety announcement hinted that the show might incorporate some kind of ongoing plot about the creature’s mission on Earth. (Hopefully said goal isn’t to become the weirdest extent talk show on the planet, since The Eric Andre Show has already been renewed.)

 
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