Denis Leary is returning to his “Rescue Me” home with a typographically complicated comedy pilot at FX.
FX announced on Tuesday (January 7) that Leary has signed on to write and star in the comedy “Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” from FX Productions and Fox Television Studios.
Per FX, “Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” will star Leary as Johnny Rock, the talented lead singer of the early ’90s New York-based band The Heathens. In their prime, they were critical darlings on the cusp of stardom, but Johnny’s appetite for sex and drugs led the band to break up on the day their only record was released. Now, 25 years later, Johnny is trying to get the band back together, fearing his own anonymity.
The network press release quips “25 years later the sex might be harder to find, the drugs might be Luvox and Crestor and Cialis – but rock ‘n roll will never die. It just has a bigger prostate.”
The half-hour single cam pilot will be shot in New York City, probably this spring, and FX teases that the series would feature original music and occasional guest appearances by real rock stars.
“Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll’ is a terrific script and concept with Denis Leary”s signature brand of comedy,” blurbs Eric Schrier, who shares the title of President of Original Programing for FX Networks and FX Productions with Nick Grad. “Denis is a tremendous talent who played a major role in the growth of our network with ‘Rescue Me,’ which was one of the most groundbreaking series of the last decade. We”re thrilled to have him back home at FX.”
Adds Leary, “I am very excited to be returning to FX where working with Nick, Eric and John Landgraf has been one of the best creative experiences of my life. Plus I hear they have much better swag now.”
In the seven season run of “Rescue Me,” Leary picked up two Emmy nominations for acting and one for co-writing the pilot with Peter Tolan. He’s an executive producer on USA’s spring comedy “Sirens.”