Paul Finebaum reveals Jason Biggs nearly played him in sitcom based around his radio show

For years, The Paul Finebaum Show has featured some of the most passionate fans in sports — going above and beyond at times — to show their loyalty and love for their team.

The Paul Finebaum Show nearly went from a call-in show to a sitcom, Finebaum revealed to Andy Staples of On3 Tuesday evening.

Finebaum sold the rights to the sitcom featuring his show to ABC, but the show was never produced due to COVID-19. It was set to be about the early days of The Paul Finebaum Show.

“It was an amazing experience,” Finebaum told Staples. “Right before COVID, everything just stopped. It was devastating. I’ve had some big disappointments, but when a network buys it it’s like you think you’ve got it made. And then you find out you’re only beginning.”

Finebaum met with several different networks as he was pitching the show and told them about multiple regular callers.

That includes Alabama fan Harvey Updyke, who called into Finebaum’s show to reveal that he had poisoned the trees at Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner, as well as “Legend,” who has called into the show for years.

“I’m sitting there with the head of CBS, and they said, ‘Well, tell me more about this crazy guy who poisoned the trees.’ So I pulled out the recorder… my phone. We played the tape of Harvey Updyke, and you should’ve seen these guys. I mean they were cringing listening to Harvey Updyke,” Finebaum said. “Legend was probably the easiest to explain. I said, ‘Very simple. He killed a man cold blood and he’s now a famous Finebaum caller.’ That’s not even difficult. But some of the other ones were more difficult.”

ABC even went as far as to hire someone to play Finebaum, choosing Jason Biggs. The 45-year-old actor is most well-known for his starring role in the American Pie trilogy.

Finebaum is obviously much older than Biggs, but since he would’ve been playing a much younger version of Finebaum, it would have worked.

“It turned out, and he’s not that well-known but he was if you go back 20 years ago — the guy that agreed to play me, and took these meetings, as well, was Jason Biggs from the American Pie trilogy,” Finebaum said. “The series took place in Birmingham, 25-30 years ago. So he was a much younger version of me. That’s why people, when I mentioned who it was, could not understand it. But it was pretty funny. I went back and had to watch all the movies. It was a fun trilogy.”

It remains to be seen if the sitcom will ever end up getting made. For now, it’s just a fun “what if.”