The National’s Matt Berninger is set to star in a new comedy series

Bands like The National are often known for their brooding, emotive music rather than their comedy prowess, but according to vocalist Matt Berninger, there’s no reason the two fields should never meet.

With the band about to kick off their Australian tour in Sydney this evening, The National spoke to Double J this morning, where they discussed their upcoming TV series which is set to be directed by Aussie Trent O’Donnell (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Chaser’s War On Everything, New Girl).

“My brother [actor and director Tom Berninger] and my wife [writer Carin Besser] and I have been creating it, and then we teamed up with Trent and his wife,” Matt Berninger explained. “He’s the type of ‘rush forward without any fear’ sort of person we need, because we’d never done anything in television before. He’s pulling us through the woods on this one.”

“It’s something we’ve been cooking for a while,” Berninger continued. “My brother made this documentary [Mistaken For Strangers] and it has a lot of the same tone. But this is more scripted than that and it’s not a film Tom’s making, Tom is just a subject of it. It’s not a fake documentary.”

With Tom Berninger having spearheaded The National’s 2013 documentary Mistaken For Strangers, they’re arguably in good hands, but despite this, they’re keeping the vast majority of the details close to their chest, choosing to confirm however that “it won’t see the light of day this year.”

“I play myself and my brother plays my brother – Tom can’t play anyone else – but then the rest of it’s all cast,” he said.

“I’m in a band. Aaron [Dessner] helped cast the band with all the guys who were working on the Grateful Dead project together, it’s a bunch of guys from different bands who we’ve known and been friends with for a long time. Aaron is in it as a producer, not as himself.”

While we’ve still got plenty of time before this new project sees the light of day, we’re definitely keen for a little bit more information. Considering the fact that The National are involved (y’know, the indie-rockers who just can’t seem to put a foot wrong), we’re certain it’ll be a hit, but we’ll just have to wait and see.