Comedian Ro'dey lands role in LA TV sitcom

After 30 successful years in comedy television, the producer behind classic hits such as The Jaime Foxx Show starring Jaime Foxx and Garcelle Beauvais, Martin featuring Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell and Love That Girl, starring Tatiana Ali (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), will be creating a new, Caribbean-themed comedy series featuring a mix of actors and star personalities from the region.

Top Caribbean comedian and entertainer Rodell Cumberbatch more widely known as Ro'dey announced his involvement in the project last week and his trip to Los Angeles California along with other Caribbean personalities including Ultra Simmo (Jordan Simmons) and DJ Ana (Ana-Leesa Ramnarine) in November to shoot four episodes of House Out of Order, said a media release from Black Collar Creative.

In an interview with Black Collar Creative Ro'dey said, "It’s truly an honour to be casted for this new sitcom by executive director Bentley Evans. Getting the opportunity to work alongside a team of people who enjoy what they do just as much as I do is amazing, and being able to play a role that will highlight Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean culture is a dream come true."

House Out of Order is a new comedy series from writer, producer and director Bentley Kyle Evans who has several classic, black American situation comedies under his belt and who co-founded Harvest Studios for content creation – one of the few black-owned studios. Recently, Evans reunited with Best Actor Oscar winner Jamie Foxx to executive produce Dad Stop Embarrassing Me, another new situation comedy starring Foxx, which is currently on Netflix.

"House Out of Order is about ‘James’ and his ex-wife ‘Karyn’ who own a home together where they raise their teenage son, ‘Deon’," Evans in a remote interview with Black Collar Creative said.

"After getting a divorce, both of them refuse to move out. James moves his new wife ‘Lisa’ in, so Karyn moves her nosey mom in to spite him," Evans said as he explained the show’s theme.

Evans has two number one comedy series records for 2021 – Millennials on AMC Network’s streaming service ALLBLK, which is the number one show in the history of the network, the release said. Dad Stop Embarrassing Me is the second, and is also the number one comedy series in the world as reported by Netflix.

House Out of Order will be available on National Black Television (NBT), on Flow cable.

"NBT is excited about creating more Caribbean content so we felt it was important to have authentic, talented and entertaining stars," Evans said as he revealed the general growing interest in Caribbean stories and content.

One of the key ingredients of the trend toward working more closely with Caribbean stories, is the importance of using talent and actors from the region and the Caribbean diaspora.

"Our team on the ground in Trinidad showed us Ro'dey's work and we were impressed. He has a lot of talent and casting him will take this show to a higher level," Evans said. "(He) is playing ‘Xavier’, James' good friend. He's super smart with a masters degree from Howard. He has a hustler’s mentality and hates working for people."

Ro’dey is considered one of the top rising star comedians in the Caribbean, embracing the reach and flexibility of digital media as his main platform and making full use of his background in video production to create his content, the release said. As the CEO of his own production company, Blu Moon Productions, his skills in photography and videography have earned him critical acclaim in both film and staged theatre. He has also earned the title of “the one-man theatre company” as the creator, writer, producer, and actor of his social media comedy sketches.

Since his start in 2015, Ro’dey has developed over 20 characters that appear in these sketches – all played by him – entertaining over 500,000 of his fans online, both internationally and locally. With his witty use of light-hearted satire, his work touches on relationships and other everyday issues to capture the heart of his fans.

In 2019, he expanded his reach to national television with the creation of The Ro'dey Show. The show features 12, 30-minute episodes and is now streaming on Pavilion’s newly-launched streaming platform Pavilion+ available on the Roku Channel for international audiences in US, UK, and Canada.

For House Out of Order, Ro'dey described the casting process as "unexpected". With his new role as Xavier on House Out of Order, he intends to maintain his rigorous work ethic and apply it to the opportunity ahead.

"I got the role based on the body of work the directors saw on my social media. The years of sketches and theatre work landed me this role. I feel like God has been preparing me for this and I'm nothing less than excited and ready for this new venture.

"I have been definitely reading through the script looking and feeling out the character, but I think once I meet the rest of the cast members everything will evolve naturally. I stay doing my short sketches every week consistently too, and that helps keep me sharp."

A launch event for House Out of Order to Caribbean and international audiences is scheduled for January 2022. The launch will include the broadcast of a series of sitcoms starring Caribbean actors on NBT/Flow.