The people are quirky and the stories are kooky — welcome to the weirdness of the Sunshine State.
This peninsula is filled with enough outlandish stories to get a TV show out of it.
From an alligator taking a man's arm to a witch harassing the mermaid next door, "It's Florida, Man" has embraced the quirks. The show retells true stories through actor reenactments, news stories, experts and witnesses. The HBO Original comedy series first came out last year.
"I really made this show as a love letter to Florida. I live here. I love it here. I find the people fascinating."Jeff Tomsic
And now on Nov. 28, it's back for Season 2.
The premiere is on HBO that Friday from 10-10:30 p.m. ET/PT. It will also be available to stream on HBO Max. New episodes of the six-episode season will debut weekly, according to a release.
The season includes guest stars like Adam DeVine, Tiffany Haddish, Rita Ora, Haley Joel Osment, Taika Waititi and more.
One episode details a guy who steals a casino boat because he wants to take revenge on the state for seizing his dog. There's also a story of a Sarasota man who heads to the Everglades looking for the elusive Skunk Ape.
On "Florida Matters: Live & Local," creator, director and executive producer Jeff Tomsic discusses the selection process for stories and more ahead of season two's premiere.
The interview below was edited for clarity and length.
How do you come up with these stories?
It's a surprisingly difficult process of finding stories weird. I think everyone's familiar with the meme — Florida man does this, that, or the other thing headlines.
But when you dig under the surface, a lot of them are people with pretty severe problems or pretty long rap sheets.
And I really made this show as a love letter to Florida. I live here. I love it here. I find the people fascinating.
My intent was really to see these people that at first you think are crazy, and then when you watch these stories, you think maybe these guys have life figured out, and you don't. That there's something wild and outlawish in their perspective on life that is hopeful and effervescent rather than depressing, but that's the trick.
So, we have a spreadsheet of thousands of stories.
Literally, there were headlines or submissions from people, and we really have to talk to everyone involved once we think that there's a compelling narrative there and just see what that outlook is — what's that x-factor that really makes it optimistic rather than just sad.
Is it kind of like documentaries? There are reenactments blended with interviews.
That's exactly right. We start with the real people, and we do interviews.
We do pre-interviews, but they're pretty quick, so we only get a modicum of what the story is — just the seed. And then once you start talking to these people, so much unfolds, and you realize how their lifestyle or their perspective on life has led them to this place. And often it's pretty surprising.
The narrative comes from there. Of course, we take huge comedic leaps in the show, but I try to only take my cues from these real people and not just make spoof or make fun of these characters.
I try to respect them as human beings always and look at them as people that might have a different way of charging at life than I do.
It was a big criteria for me going into the show that we weren't punching down ever. Not only did I love the idea of making a show about Florida, but Florida is so diverse.
There are so many worlds within this one state. Almost all of America seems to be represented here — for better or for worse.
But I didn't want to go into this using people. I wanted to just see people that you normally don't see on television and show these crazy other ways of living life that maybe it never occurred to us outside the realm of this kind of insanity.
Has the show developed where famous actors reach out to say they want to be part of it?
I think now that we're in Season 2, it's less scary for actors. They've seen the show — they know it's fun and funny. They've heard from their friends that it's just a way to play around — especially when you're talking about some of these big actors.
Also, a lot of these guys are my friends, and I've dragged them into it just by pestering them, really, because the show is very low budget.
We're not paying Taika Waititi or Tiffany Haddish their usual paychecks. They just do it to kind of add a friendship and fun. And Taika actually insisted on being in the show. He's a good friend and insisted on having a role in the show, which I was surprised by because he's a pretty busy man.
Do you plan to have more seasons?
I can't say for sure, but it looks very positive that we'll be moving into the next season.
It's still soon, and we don't know whether people are going to watch the show again or not, but I'm hopeful.
There is a lot of stuff that we couldn't use this season, and that I'd love to shoot and work on. Every season, we're learning a lot. It's a surprisingly difficult show.
It's just a quick comedy, but there's a touch of journalism built in, or a lot of it is, and there's a lot of x factors in there that you can't control. It's not like you're just mostly booking actors who will show up to work and say the lines and contribute. You never know what's going to happen.
You can listen to the interview in the media player above. This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Matthew Peddie for "Florida Matters Live & Local." You can listen to the full episode here.
