''Derek and Simon: The Show'' is a 2007 web based series created by Derek Waters,

Simon Helberg Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Howard Wolowitz in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), for which he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supp ...

, and

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has re ...

, which aired on the website Super Deluxe. It went through several iterations and names, starting in 2005, before the 13 episode series came to fruition.

History

Derek Waters, Simon Helberg, and Bob Odenkirk first created ''Derek and Simon'' in 2005; after meeting with Waters and Helberg, Odenkirk suggested they capitalize on stories from their own lives. The project went through several different stages. First it was a pilot presentation. Then it was developed into two 15-minute segments, "Derek & Simon: A Bee and a Cigarette" and "Derek & Simon: The Pity Card", together in a half-hour pilot for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

as ''The Derek & Simon Show''. When it did not air, the two segments were sent to film festivals, including the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

, as well as being part of Timothy McSweeney's Wholphin

DVD Magazine A DVD magazine is a magazine that collects most of its content on DVD, or is issued in a DVD-only format. It was invented by Isak Bini who published the first DVD magazine: City and You DVD magazine. It will play on a regular DVD player. The cont ...

. Matt Tobey of ''Comedy Central Insider'' called ''The Pity Card'' "hilariously irreverent". The series ''Derek and Simon: The Show'' was then developed in 2007 for Super Deluxe. On May 7, 2008, Super Deluxe merged with

adultswim.com Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house pro ...

, moving some series over to the merged site, but most of the content has now become unavailable, including this series. However, the festival version short films can still be seen.

Series storyline

The show follows the exaggerated exploits of 'Simon' and 'Derek', exploring the tragic missteps that the pair encounter as 'outside' forces constantly work against them as they wander through Los Angeles, spending most of their time in

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

s and chasing women.

Supporting Characters and Guest Appearances

Derek Waters and Simon Helberg incorporated guest appearances from many of their comedy friends, including

, Richard Dunn, Bill Hader,

Sue Foley Sue Foley (born March 29, 1968) is a Canadian blues guitarist and singer. She has released 15 albums since her debut with ''Young Girl Blues'' (1992). In May 2020, Foley won her first Blues Music Award, in the 'Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues ...

Samm Levine Samuel Franklin Levine (born March 12, 1982) is an American actor, comedian and podcaster. He is known for his portrayal of Neal Schweiber on NBC's ''Freaks and Geeks'' and PFC Hirschberg in the 2009 film ''Inglourious Basterds''. Levine was al ...

, Joseph Nunez,

June Diane Raphael June Diane Raphael ( ; born January 4, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She has starred in TV comedy programs ''Burning Love'', Adult Swim's '' NTSF:SD:SUV::'', and ''Grace and Frankie''. Notable film work includes support ...

Casey Wilson Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television A ...

, Marianna Palka, Busy Philipps, Michael Cera,

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show ''Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''Th ...

, Jake Johnson,

Steve Agee Steven Douglas Agee (; born February 26, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, writer and musician, known for roles including Steve Myron on the Comedy Central series ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' and as John Economos in the 2021 superhero fil ...

, and

Perry Caravello Perry Frank Caravello (born November 17, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and internet personality who is best known as the star of the 2003 movie ''Windy City Heat'' and the host of the internet stream ''Perry Caravello Live''. Early li ...

Awards and nominations

*2008, winner, 'Best web video series', Hollywood NetAwards *2007, nominated, 'Best Original Web Comedy Series', TV Guide Online Video Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Derek and Simon American comedy web series