New commissions announced

Sketch duo Cardinal Burns and internet sensations The Midnight Beast have both landed new comedy series on E4.

Cardinal Burns – aka Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri-Burns – have been commissioned to make six half-hour shows for broadcast early next year, after being spotted at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Channel 4’s comedy editor Fiona McDermott. said: ‘Quite simply, Cardinal Burns are one of the funniest sketch duos around.  Delightfully clever, imaginative and silly, theirs is a brand of comedy that is perfect for E4.’

And producer Jenna  Jones, from Left Bank Pictures, added: ‘As soon as we saw Seb and Dustin at the Edinburgh Fringe we realised they both had star quality and could bring something fresh and exciting to sketch comedy.’

Cardinal Burns made their Fringe debut in 2009, and this sketch show for E4 will be their first TV project.

Meanwhile The Midnight Beast – who are best known for their online parody of Ke$ha’s TikTok – have also landed a series following a successful pilot earlier this year. Comprising Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne, their clips have attracted 33million views on YouTube.

E4 has also commissioned Little Box Of Horrors –  a new compilation show of ‘the strangest, outrageous and disturbing clips ever broadcast around the world’, to be voiced by Inbetweeners star James Buckley.

Here is Midnight Beast’s Ke$ha parody, which has attracted 11million YouTube hits alone:

And here’s a sketch from Cardinal Burns:

Published: 5 May 2011