‘Bender’: Bill Burr & Chris O’Dowd To Star In ’70s-Set Coming-Of-Age Irish Comedy Helmed By Adam Bernstein

Comedic actors Bill Burr and Chris O’Dowd are joining forces for a coming-of-age comedy set and filming in Ireland, as Adam Bernstein is set to direct the two in “Bender.”

“Bender” is being compared as a mix between “Superbad” and “Derry Girls” (a local comedy series about a group of teenage girls set in Derry, Ireland, during “The Troubles”) in the casting update from Deadline, and is based on the post-punk Dublin experiences of Adrian Cunningham, who also penned the script. The story also includes events leading up to a visit by Pope John Paul II, which took place in 1979.

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A character description from the report says that “O’Dowd plays a self-made family man trying to put on a brave face while his business, his marriage, and his faith begin to crumble amid a brutal economic recession.” Meanwhile, as previously reported, “Burr plays a gruff American record-store owner who convinces a ragtag gang of teenage misfits that their best, and possibly only, chance to lose their virginity before graduating high school is at a massive open-air mass for the visiting Pope.”

The Irish funny man is likely best known for his British series “The IT Crowd,” playing a cop in “Bridesmaids,” leading the series reboot of “Get Shorty,” “Black Mirror,” “The Cloverfield Paradox,” “Slumberland,” and had a minor cameo in Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World.”

Burr, a rather popular stand-up comedian, has been acting throughout his comedy career with notable roles in projects like “Breaking Bad,” “The Mandalorian,” “The King of Staten Island,” and led his own project, “Old Dads,” commenting on being an older parent, reflecting his life.

Bernstein is a veteran director from the world of television with a heap of impressive credits over the years such as “Silo,” “Sneaky Pete,” “Orange Is The New Black,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Fargo,” “Better Call Saul,” “Masters of Sex,” “The Big C,” “Shameless,” “Breaking Bad,” “Californication” and “Oz.” Most recently, he reunited with writer/creator Vince Gilligan for his Apple TV sci-fi series “Pluribus” and worked on Dan Levy‘s “Big Mistakes.”

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This will be Bernstein’s first major theatrical feature film effort since the “SNL” spinoff comedy, “It’s Pat,” one of the few misfires based on the popular characters from the sketch comedy series.