Home » Krister Johnson

Krister Johnson

Inside the Chaos and Cameos of Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery. Do not read until after watching!] “We wanted the whole thing to feel like a surprise party, where just one thing after another happens,” showrunner Krister Johnson says about the newly released Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery, a special episode of the Netflix improv comedy series where the chaos of Season 1, released last February, gets amplified to a whole new level. In the special, hard-nosed and mustachioed Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) is joined by not one, not two, but three clueless celebrities as he attempts to solve a murder; there are additional guest stars sprinkled throughout the double-length episode, along with plenty of other surprises. Advertisement “Th...

Murderville: How They Made Will Arnett’s Wild Improvised Cop Comedy for Netflix

The premise for Netflix’s new semi-unscripted comedy Murderville isn’t actually that hard to explain, on the surface: Each episode, shot in the style of a classic police procedural, features a new mystery being investigated by a tough mustachioed cop (Will Arnett) and his trainee partner. The catch is that said trainee is a celebrity, and they don’t have any idea what’s going on, because only Arnett and the other actors have the script. This leaves famous folks like Season 1 guest stars Conan O’Brien, Marshawn Lynch, Kumail Nanjiani, Annie Murphy, Sharon Stone, and Ken Jeong to improv their way towards solving the case — which they may or may not do correctly. If that sounds complicated to you, showrunner Krister Johnson (Medical Police) would agree. “I certainly had never figured this out...

Murderville Showrunner Wants Dave Grohl for a Potential Season 2

The upcoming Netflix series Murderville stakes an early claim to the title of “wildest comedy of 2022,” bringing together a number of elements, including cop parody, improv comedy, and famous people being pranked, to deliver something remarkably unique. And while the first season has yet to premiere, if you ask showrunner Krister Johnson who he might want to involve in Season 2, he has an answer: Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. Each episode of Murderville features a trainee detective (played by a celebrity) being paired up with senior detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) to solve a crime — the catch being that while everyone else involved has a script, the “trainee” has no idea what’s going on, and has to improv their way through each scene before ultimately coming up with the answer to w...