Banijay’s Truly Original Inks Deal with Comedy Producers

The unscripted production company Truly Original, owned by Banijay, has signed a first-look deal with New York-based comedy producers Jim Biederman (Kids in the Hall) and Jodi Lennon (At Home with Amy Sedaris).

Under the deal, Biederman and Lennon will help expand Truly Original’s unscripted comedy slate for streaming and broadcast. They will focus on talent-driven comedy in the narrative, sketchy, variety and game-show spaces.

Biederman and Lennon will work closely with Chachi Senior, head of development, and Michelle Schiefen, senior VP.

The two producers have known each other for more than two decades from the New York comedy and sketch scene. Biederman’s credits include The Kids in the Hall, The Tom Green Show, The Whitest Kids U’ Know and The Howard Stern Show, and Lennon’s work includes the Emmy-nominated At Home with Amy Sedaris, Impractical Jokers, Billy on the Street and The CW’s Would I Lie to You?, which she and Biederman collaborated on with Truly Original last year.

Glenda Hersh and Steven Weinstock, co-CEOs and executive producers of the company, said in a joint statement: “We had a fantastic experience working on Would I Lie to You? with Jim, our showrunner and EP, and Jodi, who was co-EP and writer. Jim and Jodi have each been integral to some of the most iconic and groundbreaking sketch, variety and talk programming, and as partners, we feel they’re even better positioned to mine distinct comedy voices and talent for the reality genre.”

Biederman and Lennon added: “We look forward to working with Steven, Glenda and the whole Truly team to make a slew of great comedy shows, once they stop asking us to write ‘funny quotes’ for press releases.”