Danny McBride returns in dark comedy Vice Principals

Danny McBride, Kimberly Herbert Gregory and Walton Goggins star in this new TV show set in a suburban high school.

From left, Danny McBride, Kimberly Hebert Gregory and Walton Goggins in Vice Principals, set in a suburban high school. HBO / OSN

After scratching the sordid ­underbelly of life after professional sports as the star of Eastbound & Down, actor Danny McBride is back in the comedy game with Vice Principals, a new two-season HBO series that skewers the world of education in modern America.

Created by McBride and his Eastbound partner Jody Hill, this 18-part dark comedy is a tale of manic ambition in North Jackson High, a suburban high school in the southern United States.

McBride co-stars with Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight, Justified, The Shield) as a pair of administrators who wage war against each other in the hopes of landing the top job after long-time principal (Bill Murray) retires to care for his ailing wife.

“The opening for the principal’s job pushes these two men to madness,” says McBride. “We want people to know this is not going to be a light, broad comedy.”

Expect some crude humour – McBride admits it is never easy to decide how far to push a joke before it crosses the line and simply offends viewers.

“We never really start any of this stuff trying to push the boundaries,” he says. “We start with characters who maybe have views that aren’t necessarily in line with the views of the modern world.

“From there, it kind of gives you a little bit more of a licence to explore those things because you, yourself, aren’t expressing those things – it’s really these characters [doing it]. And with that, you kind of see what’s ridiculous about it when you see a character who believes things are a certain way.”

The story goes into overdrive when neither of the rivals gets the job – instead, the confident and powerful Dr Belinda Brown, played by Kimberly Hebert Gregory (Devious Maids) swoops in to claim it.

This forces Gamby and Russell to set aside their mutual hatred of each other and team up for an all-out, take-no-prisoners effort to destroy Dr Brown – the only person who might have the school’s best interests at heart.

• Vice Principals is broadcast at midnight on Mondays on OSN First HD Home of HBO. The first episode is available on catch-up