Will Sasso Throws Away the Keys – Literally – While Playing a Beleaguered Sitcom Dad in UNITED WE FALL

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Will Sasso has set a rather lofty goal for himself in his new role as a husband and father of two daughters in the sitcom UNITED WE FALL. “I want to be known as the Daniel Day-Lewis of TV dads,” Sasso said. Was he kidding? Probably. Well, maybe. Regardless, Sasso wants everyone to know that he’s fully committed to the comedic realism of UNITED WE FALL, which debuts July 16, exclusively on CTV.ca and the CTV app (the first two episodes are available July 16, with subsequent new episodes dropping on Thursdays). UNITED WE FALL is a family sitcom that follows married couple Bill (Sasso) and Jo (Christina Vidal). They’re raising two small girls while also dealing with Bill’s judgmental live-in mother Sandy (Jane Curtin), and Jo’s equally judgmental brother Chuy (Guillermo Díaz). Sasso’s comedic reference to Daniel Day-Lewis – a three-time OSCAR^® winner considered to be one of the greatest actors of his generation – came up organically in the conversation, after it was mentioned to Sasso that one of the funniest running gags in UNITED WE FALL is his character’s tendency to fling his keys disgustedly upon entering the house. It’s an action that’s both aggressive and defeatist, in a hilarious way. “I just wanted to do it in every episode and toss them in a different direction – it started basically when I arrived on set, and saw what the art department was doing,” Sasso explained. “There’s stuff everywhere. There are kids’ clothes everywhere. It’s not like a TV set where everything is neat and tidy. And we (Bill and Jo) are constantly running around holding stuff. I’m figuring, these guys don’t know where their keys are whenever they go to leave the house. So as a good actor, I want to set that up. So … lose the keys every scene.” Now THAT’S commitment to the craft from Sasso, a Canadian who has been a staple on the comedy scene for decades, way back to his early days on MAD TV. Even though UNITED WE FALL was filmed before the pandemic, it seems thematically relevant to current times, with so many people dealing with family members at close range – sometimes uncomfortably close! “In one way it’s kind of a nostalgic throwback for a sitcom, with the dad and the mom in the house and the whole thing, so hopefully it’ll remind people of the way things were back in, what was it, 2019? Seems like 20 or 30 years ago now,” Sasso said. “Hopefully this is a show that – if people chose – can take them out of what’s going on right now, globally and locally, and remind us that even though everyone’s kid is a holy terror, you wouldn’t have it any other way. And even though nobody wants their mom living with them, you probably wouldn’t want that any other way, either.” Speaking of holy terrors, UNITED WE FALL also isn’t shy about occasionally making fun of the kids, which will be a refreshing take for cooped-up parents everywhere. “The show is based on the true life of the creator, Julius Sharpe, which kind of gives them ultimate license to be very real,” Sasso said. “Julius Sharpe and his wife are extremely loving parents, and because I follow them on Instagram, I always see them, you know, building forts in their living room with their daughters, and doing this and that. Of course, they have their own rapport with their children. But just like these characters on the show, sometimes they’re able to call their kids jerks and stuff. And on this show, the kids are really young, like, two and five years old, so it’s not like they’d notice, right? We’re talking over their heads.” It sounds as if they’ve thought of everything with regard to UNITED WE FALL. So look out, Daniel Day-Lewis – Will Sasso is coming for you! billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv