Joel McHale joins Melissa McCarthy in The Happytime Murders

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I'm aware that not everyone is down with Melissa McCarthy's particular brand of laughs, but a dark comedy set in the underbelly of Los Angeles where humans and puppets coexist is just too good for me to pass up. Directed by Brian Henson and staring Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, and Elizabeth Banks, THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS recently kicked off principal photography in Los Angeles, but now it appears that Joel McHale (Community) will be joining the cast as well.

Per THR, McHale is set to play "a stern FBI agent who is working on the case." What case might that be you ask? Well, when puppet castmembers of 1980's children's TV show The Happytime Gang begin turning up dead, puppet private eye and disgraced ex-cop, Phil Phillips, teams up with his ex-partner, Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), in order to track down the culprit. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS has been in development for almost a decade, with actors such as Cameron Diaz, Katherine Heigl, and Jamie Foxx in talks for the lead role at various points, but it wasn't until Melissa McCarthy signed on that the project finally got moving. "When a really good script combines puppet strippers, Los Angeles’ underbelly and comedy, it’s like my fever dream has finally come true," said McCarthy at the time of her casting. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS is set for an August 17, 2018 release.

What are your thoughts on THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS?