Roku Originals Serves Up Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry as Co-Hosts for “The Great American Baking Show”

Roku, Inc. today announced that Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Office) and Zach Cherry (Severance, Duncanville) signed on to co-host the Roku Original series “The Great American Baking Show.” Kemper and Cherry will take audiences into the iconic tent to watch contestants vying to become the America’s top baker. The highly anticipated U.S. adaptation of the iconic British competition series, “The Great British Baking Show,” will feature six 60-minute episodes, and will premiere in 2023. Production is underway in the United Kingdom.

Roku Original “The Great American Baking Show” is the American version of the most beloved baking show on the planet, bringing together passionate, talented bakers from around the country to see who will be named America’s Best Amateur Baker. Love Productions USA produces the all-new series. Love Productions USA brought the original hit series “The Great British Baking Show” to audiences, plus other adaptations of the competition series, including “The Great Celebrity Bake Off,” “The Great Junior Bake Off,” and more. In addition to Kemper and Cherry, judges featured in the original British iteration, celebrity chef Paul Hollywood and famed restauranteur Prue Leith, will serve as judges on “The Great American Baking Show.”

Brian Tannenbaum, Head of Alternative Originals, Roku: “We could not ask for a more perfect duo than Ellie and Zach to co-host ‘The Great American Baking Show.’ Our adaptation of the iconic series will continue to dish out the enduring warmth and humor that fans of the “Baking Show” universe love, with a twist that we know Ellie and Zach will deliver. The passion that fans have for this franchise is unmatched, and we’re so honored to kick off production with Love Productions USA to bring “The Great American Baking Show” exclusively to The Roku Channel.”

Ellie Kemper recently appeared in the latest installment of Home Alone, HOME SWEET HOME ALONE, available on Disney+. Before that, she appeared in the UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT INTERACTIVE SPECIAL as a conclusion to Tina Fey & Robert Carlock’s half-hour comedy for Netflix, UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT. She received 2 Emmy nominations and 2 SAG Award nominations for her performance on the show. She also co-starred in the two renditions of LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE: NORMAN LEAR’S ALL IN THE FAMILY for ABC. Next up, she’ll be seen in Vicky Wight’s HAPPINESS FOR BEGINNERS debuting on NETFLIX later this year, opposite Luke Grimes.

In 2018, Ellie published her debut book of essays, MY SQUIRREL DAYS. She can be seen in Lynn Shelton’s film LAGGIES alongside Keira Knightley, as well as the Sony Pictures comedy SEX TAPE, directed by Jake Kasdan and starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel. Ellie Kemper portrayed ‘Erin Hannon’ on the last 5 seasons of NBC’s series THE OFFICE. Kemper first gained attention with her one-woman show, “Feeling Sad/Mad,” at the UCB Theater. She co-starred in BRIDESMAIDS (Universal) and has also appeared in 21 JUMP STREET (Sony), IDENTITY THIEF (Universal), THEY CAME TOGETHER (Lionsgate) and SOMEWHERE (Focus Features).

Zach Cherry is a series regular on the Emmy-nominated thriller drama SEVERANCE on Apple +. He is also a series regular on the FOX animated comedy DUNCANVILLE, and can be seen in the Roku Original series MOST DANGEROUS GAME opposite Liam Hemsworth and Christof Waltz. He most recently recurred in HBO’s SUCCESSION, LIVING WITH YOURSELF on Netflix, YOU on Netflix. and was a series regular on NBC’s I FEEL BAD.

Other TV credits include the lead voice role in the Comedy Central animated movie WASHINGTONIA, recurring roles as the voice of ‘Ben Carson’ on Showtime’s OUR CARTOON PRESIDENT, TBS’s THE LAST OG, HBO’s CRASHING, SyFy’s THE MAGICIANS, FOX’s THE RESIDENT, and TBS’s SEARCH PARTY. On the film side, he can currently be seen in SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS. He’s appeared in SPIDERMAN: HOMECOMING, Stephen Soderbergh’s thriller UNSANE opposite Claire Foy, AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN with Aubrey Plaza and Craig Robinson, ISN’T IT ROMANTIC with Rebel Wilson and Liam Hemsworth, and IRREPLACEABLE YOU alongside Gugu Mbatha Raw.

Executive producers for “The Great American Baking Show” are Richard McKerrow, Al Edgington, Joe LaBracio, Jeremy Finn, and John Hesling.

Love Productions USA develops and produces addictively watchable unscripted competition formats and award-winning documentary series for network, cable, and premium streaming services. It is a division of the UK-based Love Productions, which operates under the SKY umbrella, with an impressive portfolio of thought-provoking programs across all genres and platforms, including the extremely popular formats, “The Great British Bake-Off,” “The Great British Sewing Bee” and “The Great Pottery Throw Down.”

Known for taking successful formats from the UK to the US with distinctive adaptations, Love Productions USA also develops original premium long-form television, documentary, and short-form programming. The company is helmed by Emmy® Award-winning producers Joe LaBracio and Al Edgington, who have a proven track record in documentaries, scripted and unscripted entertainment, features, and daytime television.

The Roku Channel is the exclusive home of Roku Originals. From award-winning scripted entertainment and engaging documentaries to new breakout unscripted series, Roku Originals gives viewers free access to bold, fresh entertainment from the biggest names in Hollywood. Half of the top 10 on-demand titles by reach on The Roku Channel in 2021 were Roku Originals.

Launched in 2017, The Roku Channel is the home of free and premium entertainment on the Roku platform. In Q4 2021, The Roku Channel reached U.S. households with an estimated 80 million people. The Roku Channel was a top 5 channel on the Roku platform in the U.S. by active account reach and streaming hour engagement in Q2 2022. Today, The Roku Channel features a diverse lineup of more than 80,000 free movies and programs and over 300 free live linear television channels in the U.S. It licenses and distributes content from more than 250 partners. In addition to Roku devices, The Roku Channel is available on Web, iOS, and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV, and select Samsung TVs and can be accessed internationally in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.