Barstool Sports is now “jumping into the scripted realm” with their new comedy series, “Les Mascots,” according to Justin Kroll of DEADLINE. Premiering today on the Out of Order YouTube channel, the seven episode series is Barstool’s “first official scripted series” and features Barstool personalities John Feitelberg, Harry Settel and Tommy Smokes from co-creator Owen Roeder, who also works on the Barstool sketch comedy show “Out of Order.” Co-creator and director Mikey Pavinelli said that the shooting style was “a ‘100 percent Guerilla’ using the handheld cameras they had at the company,” and “only really getting a permit if they were stopped by cops and asked to stop shooting.” Kroll wrote the finished product is “as seamless as anything you would see on a network that is constantly pumping out these shows on a weekly basis from the laugh out loud script to the high-quality cinematography, one would think this is exactly something a network would want to add to an upcoming slate.” He added the group is “going the same route” as they did for how audiences consumed “Out Of Order” episodes by dropping it on their YouTube Channel. Smokes is “still holing out hope that Netflix swoops in and says they want,” but for now the channel “will suffice” (DEADLINE, 8/18).
ON YOUR RIGHT: In Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel noted that Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy will “get the privilege of riding in the Fastest Seat in Sports” for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on Aug. 31. Portnoy has “built a career on mean-spiritedness and misogyny.” He is “here because IndyCar jumped into bed with Fox, and FOX Sports jumped into Portnoy’s misogynistic bed, and this is what happens when you lie down with pigs: You get muddy.” In defense of IndyCar owner Roger Penske, it’s “possible -- likely, even -- that he’s never heard” of Portnoy. Doyel: “Then again, Portnoy is a far-right cretin, and Penske seems to have embraced that movement” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 8/18).
