FX's new comedy explores a "League" of obsessed gentlemen

By Stacey Harrison

It's one of those ideas that comes along and makes everyone wonder how no one else thought of it before.

The League, which airs Thursdays on FX, follows a group of five otherwise well-adjusted men in their early 30s who live and breathe fantasy football, to the point that it often gets in the way of their jobs, their relationships and generally makes their lives a fractured mess. With a pedigree including a producer from Curb Your Enthusiasm, the semi-improvised comedy takes a deeper look into a hugely popular hobby that has inspired a rabid following and is a staple on sports TV and call-in radio.

Each of the guys has achieved varying degrees of success in their lives -- they range from doctor to stoner -- but when it comes to the league, they revert to the same group dynamics they've always had. The cast is made up of many vets of improv comedy troupes like Human Giant, Upright Citizens Brigade and the Groundlings, along with actors from the independent film world who are used to working with low budgets and little time.

Mark Duplass (Humpday) plays Pete, who says the goal was not to create yet another variation on the man-child character popularized in Judd Apatow films, but to present a comedic portrait of regular lives derailed by an obsession.

He took some time to chat about what it's like to improvise when you have to spout all sorts of arcane football knowledge, and how working on this TV series isn't all that different from the world of independent film.

Tell me about the guys in this. Have they been friends for a long time?

It's a group of four best friends, and they've known each other since high school, and through college, and the fifth guy is one of the younger brothers of my best friend, Kevin. He's just kind of always around. They basically grew up the same way and even though they're now in their early 30s and some of them have become very successful, some of them have not. The existing dynamic that was established when they were 14 years old fortunately for some, not so fortunately for some, still dominates the group dynamic.

So, are they basically pretty good guys, and this is their one hang-up, or do they just need to grow up?

I think they're pretty good guys. The football thing is the one big tunnel-vision component to their lives. Once they get pulled into that tractor beam, we see the buffoons that they can be. But beyond that, they're functioning dudes in their life but for this one obsession.

What about your character? How does he fit in to all this?

Pete works in marketing for pharmaceutical sales company. We picked that for Pete because Pete's the guy who tries to get as much out of life as he can without trying. He's naturally charming and this is about as far as he could get without doing any effort. Pete's married. He's got a bit of a troubled marriage. His wife would really like him to stop spending so much time on fantasy football and put a little more effort into their marriage and his career and potentially the discussions of them having a child. But he is somewhat resistant, he's got a little bit of that Peter Pan syndrome, and you start to realize that there are some deeper problems with Pete and his wife in their marriage.

Next: Your wife in real life, Katie Aselton, is on the show, but does not play your wife. Is that a little strange?

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