‘Pickled’ Features Local Celebrities, Raises Funds for Charity

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Combining pickleball, a former honorary mayor and a fundraiser for charity, CBS’ “Pickled” premiered on Thursday, November 17, and is now available for streaming on Paramount+.

Hosted by Stephen Colbert, the TV special, billed as “the ultimate celebrity pickleball tournament,” features former Honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades Sugar Ray Leonard, as well as Palisadian Max Greenfield.

“A new sport will get its close-up with a tournament of all-star teams battling it out for charity and a chance to win the coveted Golden Gherkin,” according to a synopsis on IMDb.

The 16 celebrity entertainers who rounded out the cast of “Pickled” included Luis Guzmán, Will Ferrell, Emma Watson, Kelly Rowland, Daniel Dae Kim, Kenny Loggins and others—who all appeared as themselves. The special was written by Jody Lambert and Matt Oberg.

“Today we have a front-row seat to a celebrity pickleball tournament unlike any other,” Colbert said in the introduction to the tournament, “mostly because there haven’t been any others.”

Some of the team names featured in the show include Volley Ranchers, Party ’Til You Cuke, When Harry Net Rally and the Paddle Snakes, TV Insider reported.

“Hey [Emma Watson], see you on the court!” Leonard wrote in an Instagram caption ahead of the premiere.

Pickleball has gained a massive following in the Palisades, with Recreation and Parks slated to paint one of the tennis courts at Palisades Recreation Center to serve as a hybrid court for both sports.

“The ‘comedic tournament’ hails from Stephen Colbert’s Spartina, Funny or Die and CBS Studios,” according to IMDb. It was filmed in September at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks—“a city where they count their trees,” Colbert joked at the start of the special.

“Calls to action during the broadcast will raise funds to support Comic Relief’s safety programs,” TV Insider reported of the charity element, “which address the life-altering impact of homelessness, rootlessness and lack of safety often experienced by children and families living in poverty.”

Funds will support programming designed to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, according to the Comic Relief website.