Norway’s TV2 Commissions Comedians at Work

TEL AVIV: Armoza Formats has scored a deal with Norway’s TV2 to launch Comedians at Work on the network this spring.

Comedians at Work features comedians performing real jobs for a day, and then returning to the studio for a stand-up routine based on their experience. The show recently completed its sixth season on Israel’s Reshet Channel 2 and has just wrapped its debut season on Germany’s RTL network, where each episode saw a growth of about 300,000 new viewers. Endemol produced the German locally titled Stars bei der Arbeit for RTL, where the show scored a 30 percent share, nearly doubling the channel average in that time slot. The series will be produced for TV2 by Monster.

Arno Schneppenheim, an executive producer at Endemol, said, "We were attracted to Comedians at Work as the chance to reinvent comedy in German. For the broadcaster, it was also important to do a show that praises hardworking German citizens in their jobs everywhere, while also making them laugh. We are thrilled with the results."

Avi Armoza, the CEO of Armoza Formats, added, "We were blown away by the German audience’s enthusiastic reception of the show and the incredible ratings it generated on RTL. The format’s success proves that Comedians at Work has a solid and culturally-transcendent premise that will appeal to audiences around the globe. In Norway, we are very happy to continue our broadcast partnership with TV2. We look forward to building on the success of Upgrade and to bringing stand-up comedy to Scandinavia."