Season 3 of IFC’s (sort of) sports comedy Brockmire delivers plenty of laughs with its first trailer. The series, which is expanded from a Funny or Die video, stars Hank Azaria as a washed-up, alcoholic baseball announcer, who is trying to recover from a very public meltdown when his marriage fell apart. While that might seem like a tricky place to start a comedy from, the series has spun its title character’s misfortune, notoriety, and lack of sobriety into comedy gold.
In addition to Azaria getting to do both a character with an unusual voice and be seen on screen, the series also stars Amanda Peet as Jules James, the owner of the minor league team Brockmire finds himself being the color commentator for, as well as his romantic partner. Then there’s Tyrell Jackson Williams as Charles, an A/V Club kid who winds up learning more than he’d like to working alongside the likes of Jim Brockmire.
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The show has always had its fair share of celebrity cameos — mostly those working in broadcast sports — but in season 3 it looks as though Brockmire has finally become enough a cult hit that it’ll feature an impressive lineup of guest stars, like J.K. Simmons, Richard Kind, Linda Lavin, Martha Plimpton, Christine Woods, and, as the trailer makes abundantly clear, Bob Costas. Check out the trailer and read a synopsis of the season below:
As is made apparent, the new season also means some new opportunities and challenges for the title character, like his past coming back to haunt him in the press conference with J.K. Simmons and being forced to share the spotlight with newcomer Gabby. Still, despite all the changes, it is clear season 3 will have plenty of the old Brockmire on hand to keep making things as uncomfortable as they can possibly be. And what better way to sell that to the show’s audience than by having Brockmire reveal to Bob Costas he’s the one who gave the famed sportscaster the nasty case of pink eye that became an inadvertent emblem of the 2014 Sochi Olympics and a legendary meme at the same time.
“Season 3 takes place three months after his stint in rehab, with Brockmire (Azaria), a famed major league baseball announcer who suffered a notorious public breakdown after stumbling upon his wife’s infidelity, doing play-by-play in the radio booth for the major leagues in central Florida during spring training while maintaining his brazen and narcissistic tendencies, despite actually being on the wagon. When an opportunity arises for Jim and his new co-host Gabby (Newsome) to take over as lead broadcasters in Oakland, he must fight to change his ever-present amorality.”
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Brockmire season 3 premieres Wednesday, April 3 @10pm on IFC.
