The Kicker: JB Smoove Joins CBS Comedy Series Pilot

Deadline reports Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s J.B. Smoove has been cast opposite Geoff Stults and David Spade in The Kicker TV series pilot for CBS. Smoove co-starred in The Millers TV series, which CBS cancelled, four episodes into its second season. He recently appeared on Life in Pieces, which CBS is expected to renew for a second season.

A multi-camera comedy, The Kicker features Daryl Thorkelson (Stults), a quirky jock who, when cut from his pro football team, makes everyone in his path nuts. Per Deadline, Smoove will play Daryl’s loyal-to-a-fault employee, the “totally lovable” Gil.

Spade is set as Russ Thorkelson, Daryl’s sports agent brother. Deadline describes the character as “[spending] most of his time doing damage control while Daryl says something else controversial. Though he’s eternally stressed, Russ loves his brother more than anything for giving him a career opportunity in the sports world.”

Writer Jack Burditt, a 30 Rock alum, will executive produce with Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, whose history can be traced back to Saturday Night Live. Burditt has written for Fey and Carlock’s TV comedy series, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which was cancelled by NBC then picked up by Netflix.  Netflix has already renewed that show for a third season.

One of Burditt’s earlier television writing jobs was on Spade’s Just Shoot Me! TV series. The Kicker pilot is starting to feel like a huddle at the big Homecoming game. The project is from Universal TV and Fey’s Little Stranger studio.

Also in the cast is Joanna Garcia Swisher, late of The Astronaut Wives Club, which ended after on season on ABC. In The Kicker, Garcia Swisher plays Bambi. Deadline describes the character as “Daryl’s intelligent and patient wife and a physical therapist to pro athletes.”

What do you think? How do you like the cast of The Kicker TV show pilot? What do you think of the premise? If CBS orders The Kicker to series, do you plan to check it out?