For comedic icon Michael Colyar, landing the starring role in the comedy sitcom “Highly Favored” represents more than a dream come true.
Not only is Colyar the lead of the Impact Network’s first scripted TV series, not only is Colyar No. 1 on the call sheet for the first time in his illustrious career. It was as if legendary showrunner Bentley Kyle Evans (who brought us “Martin” and “The Jamie Foxx Show”) had crawled inside Colyar’s head to read his thoughts, vocabulary, and mannerisms when he wrote the script for “Highly Favored.”
The ‘Highly Favored’ sitcom
“It looked like somebody was inside my head. They were saying the words the way I was saying. They even use one of my sayings. People like to say ‘God is good,’ but I say ‘chicken is good and God is great.’ It ended up in the script,” Colyar told rolling out.
“Highly Favored” revolves around Rev. Michael Crawley (played by Colyar), an old-school, fire-and-brimstone pastor of a church in Inglewood, Calif., who’s working to balance traditional religious ethos while simultaneously ushering his congregation into the modern era.
‘Highly Favored’ features an all-star cast
The series also stars Kiki Shepard (“It’s Showtime at the Apollo”) as the first lady, comedian Rodney Perry (“Madea’s Big Happy Family”) as the deacon, and features comedian Melanie Carmarcho, Chico Benymon and Anthony S. Goolsby. Fans can stream “Highly Favored” on the Impact Network (WatchImpact.com) every Thursday.
Colyar says he is eternally grateful for the opportunity to lead an all-star cast on subject matter near and dear to his heart.
“I was actually very honored that they even invited me to be part of it, and they allowed me to star in it,” he said. “This is the first time that I’m No. 1 on the call sheet for a sitcom. And I’ve been in many sitcoms, but I’ve never been in the top four or five, you know, but I’m No. 1 on this call sheet.”
The Chicago-born entertainer began his career acting in high school on Chicago’s South Side. But he was so funny that his colleagues and friends encouraged him he should also get into comedy. When Colyar started earning money immediately from telling jokes, it changed the trajectory of his career and life.
Today, with the starring role in “Highly Favored,” Colyar has come full circle from his teen acting dreams.
“I’m not really sure how to appropriately describe how you can feel about a thing like this,” Colyar said. “Like this is the kind of thing, if you’re lucky, it happens to you once in a lifetime, where you get to be exactly where you want to be, doing exactly what you want to do.”
Colyar recalls how he and his teenage friends “always talked about one day we’re going to be stars, we’ll be actors, we’re going to be TV, we’re going to be in film. So when something like this comes along, you see that you have actualized the dream. I talked about stuff like this 40 years ago, and today I’m smack dab in the middle of my dream.”
The multi-hyphenate star, who has worked alongside legends like Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, continues pursuing his dreams in other ways as well. Colyar has authored a children’s book, “Little Bobby White,” available on Amazon, which teaches the importance of doing the right thing.
“It’s the story of a kid who always wins because he always chooses to do the right thing,” Colyar explains. “This is a lesson we don’t teach our kids anymore. In fact, the lesson of being good for goodness’ sake, we’ve abandoned that.”
He’s also launched a 100-city tour with his one-man play “Michael COLYAR’S Momma’s” and is finalizing a film about his early career on the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, where his comedic performances drew massive crowds.
Through it all, Colyar manages to balance his many ventures with his marriage to his wife Sonia, who owns Simply Sonia, the top soul food restaurant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
When you consider all these blessings in his life, Colyar embodies the essence of his show’s title, “Highly Favored.”
