Homegrown comics co-create Comedy Central show, "Detroiters"

A couple of local comedians have co-created a Comedy Central show set to debut on Feb. 7.

Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson wrote and star in "Detroiters," a show about two ad-men and good friends from Detroit. The New York Times recently published an article about the show and its creators, which labeled Detroit as "Comic City."

In it, the pair talk about their distaste for portrayals of Detroit: "'The typical depiction of Detroit is this blighted, 'RoboCop' post-apocalyptic world,' said Mr. Richardson, best known for playing the unflappable aide Richard Splett on 'Veep.'

"Mr. Robinson, a featured player and then a writer for "Saturday Night Live," described the look in even darker terms. 'It's ruin porn,' he said. 'It's all burnt-out buildings. It seemed like almost everything that was getting shot in Detroit for a while was a horror movie. We just wanted to show the city the way we saw it growing up.'"

Richardson and Robinson both honed their comic skills at Second City: Detroit before it closed. And if you're lucky, you can occasionally catch them improvising at the Planet Ant Theater.