Showrunner of new Vince Vaughn series reacts to star’s comments on Hollywood avoiding R-rated comedies

Vaughn stars in Bill Lawrence’s ‘Bad Monkey’ as a former Miami detective investigating the mysterious appearance of a severed arm

Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence has reacted to Vince Vaughn’s comments about R-rated comedies, saying that producers don’t know what they want until they see a formula become a success.

Vaughn recently said Hollywood producers “overthink it” and have become too risk-averse to gamble on R-rated comedies that aren’t based on a pre-existing IP.

Lawrence writes and produces Vaughn’s new crime comedy series Bad Monkey, which arrives on Apple TV+ on August 14.

An adaptation of the 2013 New York Times bestselling novel by cult Florida crime writer Carl Hiaasen, Lawrence describes the series as the sort of show “you don’t see anymore… banter-driven, R-rated comedies that actually have some real stakes.”

“I hope it works,” Lawrence told The Independent. “Because the second one works, everyone wants it.”

Lawrence drew a comparison with Ted Lasso, the hit sports sitcom he developed with Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly. “I can’t tell you the amount of meetings I have now where people say: ‘Maybe you could do something like Ted Lasso’,” said Lawrence. “I like to remind them, we tried to sell Ted Lasso everywhere and only Apple bought it. Everyone else was like: ‘What is this? It’s like a 1990s sports movie?’”

Vince Vaughn and Natalia Martinez in ‘Bad Monkey' (Apple TV+)

In Bad Monkey, Vaughn plays Andrew Yancy, a former Miami detective demoted to “roach patrol” as a restaurant inspector in the Florida Keys. When a severed arm turns up on the end of a fishing line, Yancy teams up with Miami medical examiner Rosa Campesino (Natalia Martinez) to solve the riddle of its appearance.

Lawrence, a longtime Hiaasen devotee, said the series was also inspired by fast-paced 1980s crime comedies like Beverly Hills Cop, Fletch and 48 Hours.

“People remember 48 Hours as Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy goofing around, but that movie starts with Nick Nolte as an alcoholic cop and his partner gets killed with his own gun,” said Lawrence. “It’s crazy! There’s real stakes. I’ve always wanted to try and do this tone, and at least for a short period of time I have the ability to make this stuff.”

In his long career in television, which dates back to writing for Friends and co-creating the Michael J Fox sitcom Spin City, this is Lawrence’s first time adapting a novel. He chose Bad Monkey largely because of the appeal of bringing the character of Yancy to life.

“I’ve always been obsessed with characters that are driven by a skewed sense of justice, that can’t manage to stop getting in their own way,” said Lawrence. “I haven’t written it a lot, but it’s definitely my favorite type to read and watch. All those movies and TV shows of that ilk really appeal to me, so to try and put Yancy on screen and show off Florida seemed like the dream gig.”

The series was filmed on location in Florida, where Lawrence has family, and which Hiaasen writes about so vividly.

“If you read enough of Carl’s books, you know most of that stuff is based on people he’s met, some true stories and some real folks,” said Lawrence. “It’s crazy. It’s a messed-up state. It’s like you shook America and every crazy person landed in Florida. It’s also simultaneously beautiful. One of Carl’s things was that you have to have an environmentalist undercurrent.”

If Bad Monkey is a success, Lawrence hopes to return for a second season based on Hiaasen’s 2016 novel Razor Girl, which also features Yancy. “Knock on wood, if we get a second season then Carl’s letting me do Razor Girl,” says Lawrence. “He hasn’t often written about the same characters over and over, but that’s the next book and we’ve got it. I’m really hopeful we get to keep going with this show, because the crew was awesome, the cast was awesome, and some of them are still alive. I mean in fictional life! In real life, they’re all still alive!”

Hiaasen spoke to The Independent in 2020, when he predicted: “They’re gonna have to drag Trump out of the White House.”

Lawrence also told The Independent about his hopes for a Scrubs reunion and defended his decision to cast his daughter in his new show.

Bad Monkey is on Apple TV+ from August 14.