HBO Max to Launch Hit Spanish Improv Comedy Show ‘Nadie Sabe Nada’ as Max Original (EXCLUSIVE)
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In a milestone move, HBO Max will bow on June 18 in Spain and Latin America a weekly Max Original TV format version of “Nadie Sabe Nada” (“Nobody Knows Anything”), a hit comedy improv format starring Andreu Buenafuente and Berto Romero, two of Spain’s best known and admired figures on its late-night talk show scene.
HBO Max has previously announced the adaptation of the reality dating competition and Max Original “FBoy Island” in Spain, Netherlands and Sweden. But “Nadie Sabe Nada” will be its first Spanish Max Original entertainment show to premiere in Spain.
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Buenafuente broke out in Spain bowing in 2005 on broadcast network Antena 3 the David Letterman-ish “Buenafuente,” a late night talk show which gently-ribbed some of Spain’s still sacred cows after 28 years of democracy.
“Nadie Sabe Nada” maintains Buenafuente’s hallmark bemusement and keen sense of irony, but simply has Buenafuente and Romero sitting at a table where they chat before a live audience about anything which comes to mind or respond to emails and Twitter messages. Romero tends to be the more effervescent, Buenafuente erupts into comedic riffs when he gets a bee in his bonnet.
“Nadie Sabe Nada” was first launched in 2013 as a radio program on Cadena SER, Spain’s top radio network and a traditional bastion of liberal values. It has also yielded a podcast and a YouTube version. All these other platforms for “Nadie Sabe Nada” will be maintained, HBO Max announced Friday.
“It’s like if you cook a 30-year career in a frying pan, reducing it with the heat and Berto Romero and I are the chefs. The remaining tasty reduction is ‘Nadie Sabe Nada,’” said Buenafuente.
“‘Nadie Sabe Nada’ is a protected space. A sort of yard for two comedians, a cage for fun, a playground for two elder men and weekly comedy boxing ring. In a nutshell, it’s a dream,” added Romero.
“The TV adaptation of ‘Nadie Sabe Nada’ is a logical and highly revitalizing step for our brand,” said Miguel Salvat, the show’s executive producer for HBO Max.
“Andreu Buenafuente and Berto Romero have been collaborating brilliantly for years, and we want to be their sidekicks and keep growing with them,” he added.
Rising to prominence on “Buenafuente,” where he ended up as Buenafuente’s wingman, Romero directed and starred in Movistar Plus original fiction series “Mira lo que has hecho,” in which a couple confronts the arrival of their first child. More offspring followed as the series ran to three seasons over 2018-2020.
“Nadie Sabe Nada” is produced by El Terrat, owned by The Mediapro Studio, for HBO Max. Executive producers for El Terrat are Buenafuente, Romero, Xen Subirats and Lydia Cerrudo.
Launching in 1989 with a Cadena SER radio program created by Buenafuente in his native Reus, a quiet rural town south of Barcelona, El Terrat has grown into Spain’s premier comedy powerhouse, mirroring the growth of Spain’s TV and online scene.
Buenafuente caught early large notice, for instance, working for Catalan public broadcaster TV3, launched in 1983, on 1995’s “Sense Titol,” before launching “Buenafuente” on first Antena 3, Spain’s first private-sector public network, over 2005-07, and then new broadcast net La Sexta over 2007-11.
Buenafuente’s own late night show “Late Motiv” became a flagship of #0, launched by Movistar Plus, Telefonica’s burgeoning pay TV/SVOD platform from 2016, for which El Terrat went on to produce hit talk show “La Resistencia,” from 2018. At the time of its purchase by The Mediapro Studio in Dec. 2019, El Terrat’s current or recent production slate featured nine TV shows on air, due to return or in pre-production; plus three radio programs, six theater productions, a comedy festival, Singlot, now in its sixth year, and two podcasts.
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