Reno 911!
Reno 911! is a comedy television show on Comedy Central. It debuted in 2003.
About
Reno 911! is in some respects a parody of the long-running television show COPS. The show features the members of a fictional Reno, Nevada police squad, which are videotaped by a camera operator during the course of their jobs, and sometimes address the camera directly as though being interviewed. The joke, of course, is that they are terrible cops who cheat, lie, play pranks, plant evidence, and engage in other sorts of mischief and display a general sense of extreme incompetence at their jobs. The force also has problems with racism, unrequited attractions, promiscuity, passive-aggressive feuds, drug use, and other dysfunctional troubles that supply a lot of the show's humor. It was nominated as Outstanding Comedy Series for the 2004 GLAAD Media Awards.
The show is not written with specific lines for the actors to say; rather, they are given general guidelines and improvise the details. This enhances the illusion of "reality."
On March 21 of 2004, Comedy Central ran a special of the show, Reno 911: Off Duty.
The series is currently in its third season.
Cast
- Cedric Yarbrough as Deputy S. Jones, a semi-competent ladies man. He also works as a stripper.
- Niecy Nash as Deputy Raineesha Williams, a loud cop who likes to push women and (especially) men around. She broke up with Officer Jones before the show premiered.
- Robert Ben Garant as Deputy Travis Junior, a redneck who wears his bulletproof vest everywhere.
- Thomas Lennon as Lieutenant Jim Dangle, gay station supervisor. Dangle is the subject of a running gag in which his police bicycle is stolen after walking away from it for only a minute. He is often seen wearing his trademark embarrassingly short shorts.
- Carlos Alazraqui as Deputy James Oswaldo Garcia, a racist, sexist, ruthless Mexican.
- Wendi McLendon-Covey as Deputy Clementine "Clemmy" Johnson, a promiscuous female officer.
- Kerri Kenney as Deputy Trudy Wiegel, an emotionally unstable, racist, slow-witted officer with low self esteem.
In addition, the cast members frequently play the roles of criminals, complete with blurred faces. Kenney, Lennon, and Garant also write and produce the series.
Producers and creators
- Danny DeVito - Executive Producer
- Michael Shamberg - Executive Producer
- Stacey Sher - Executive Producer
- John Landgraf - Executive Producer
- Peter Principato - Executive Producer
- Paul Young - Executive Producer
- Ben Garant - Creator
- Kerri Kenney - Creator
- Thomas Lennon - Creator
Other characters
- Terry, the gay prostitute often seen around the jail.
- Craig, the shy serial killer and boyfriend of Trudy.
- TeeTee, the large black woman whose face is always blurred out. Every time she appears, she is screaming nonsensically about a mistaken belief, such as that she has won the lottery.
- Eric, the lunatic.
- The French mime.
- Captain Duane Hernandez and Lieutenant Suzy Kim
- Hernandez and Kim are criminals who posed as homeland security inspectors in order to get their hands on the Reno Sheriff Department's money and evidence in the episodes "Terrorist Training: Part 1" and "Terrorist Training: Part 2." Oscar Nunez and Cathy Shim play the duo. Trudy falls for Hernandez in the plot arch.
Cast history
- Many of the cast members are recognizable from The State, a sketch comedy series which aired on MTV.
- Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney were the stars of a short-lived series on Comedy Central called Viva Variety. Their co-star, Michael Ian Black, has also appeared in several episodes of Reno. Ben Garant was the creator and head writer of this show, which was a spin-off from a sketch on The State.
- Wendi McLendon-Covey is a current member of The Groundlings theatre company, located in Los Angeles.
