Loudermilk explores substance abuse through comedy

According to science, laughter is the best medicine — and writer-director Peter Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber) and Bobby Mort (The Colbert Report) are using humor to tackle addiction with their new show Loudermilk, starring Ron Livingston as Sam Loudermilk and Will Sasso as Ben Burns.

The show focuses on the journey of Loudermilk, a recovering alcoholic and counselor, whose unapologetic and bad attitude overshadows every aspect of his life, getting him into some tricky situations.

“We describe him sort of like a drunk whisperer. He kind of knows what everyone needs to kind of get them on track. Sometimes its nice, sometimes its not.” Mort told EW.

“I wanted to deal with people who had substance abuse issues and show them in their real life and what goes on and how they take one step forward one step back, so on.” Farrelly added.

The first season of Loudermilk consists of 10 episodes directed by Farrelly. Laura Mennell, Anja Savcic, Toby Levins, Mark Brandon, and Timothy Webber also star in the show.

Loudermilk premieres Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 10:30 p.m. ET on AT&T Audience Network.