Druski signed a multi-year exclusive deal with Netflix Monday, headlining "Collect & Praise," a semi-scripted series premiering Dec. 1 that adapts his viral "Mega Church Pastors Love Money" sketch. According to Variety, Mike Epps plays the deacon.
The fictional megachurch from the sketch is now the name of the actual deal. That's the whole machine. The joke was that a pastor running a church named like a fundraising slogan is a tithing machine with a pulpit. The punchline was supposed to be "pastors love money." Now the punchline is a multi-year exclusive through his own label, the existing catalog licensed on the side, and a December slot on the biggest subscription box in the world.
The show's logline, per the trade, is that the two of them "scheme their way through scandal, chaos and controversy." That is no longer satire of a televangelist. That is a job description. Pastor Drew, as in his actual first name, now has a content pipeline, a deacon with name recognition, and a brand partner that wants to "take our creativity to new heights," which is a sentence that could be printed on a press release about anything.
And he hosts Saturday Night Live this weekend, the first true digital creator to do it. So the machine is already spinning. The church is open. The collection plate is out. It just happens to be your streaming password.
YOUR TURN: Is the show about a pastor asking for money, or a platform asking for money? Pick one and live with it.
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