Patton Oswalt plays Rob Ford-inspired character on new Vince Gilligan show

TORONTO – The ignoble exploits of a certain former Toronto mayor often seemed like a made-up Hollywood story.

Now they appear to have inspired an episode of the new CBS/Global series “Battle Creek,” which features a Rob Ford-like character whose penchant for parties and drugs gets him into a mess of trouble.

Josh Duhamel (“Transformers,” “Las Vegas”) and Dean Winters (“30 Rock,” “Oz”) star as two mismatched law enforcement officers who butt heads over just about everything.

Comedian Patton Oswalt makes a guest appearance in episode six as a drug-addled mayor with an overbearing brother who micromanages his career.

Duhamel traces the dig to series co-creator David Shore, who is Canadian.

“Well, he’s from Toronto, I think that it was sort of an homage to Rob Ford,” Duhamel said Monday during a stop in Toronto to promote the series with Winters.

“Which I thought was great and I thought Patton Oswalt was fantastic. It’s one of my favourite guest stars that we had.”

Shore was born in London, Ont., and began his TV writing career on Canadian shows including “Traders” and “Due South” before becoming a TV sensation with his medical smash “House.”

For “Battle Creek,” he teams up with “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan to come up with an off-kilter comic-crime series that Winters said reinvents the standard network cop formula.

Kal Penn (“House,” “24”) plays a fellow cop while Janet McTeer (“Damages,” “Albert Nobbs”) appears as their boss.

Winters said he hopes Ford, now a Toronto city councillor, will take the tribute episode in stride.

“The guy looks like he’s got a sense of humour about life, hopefully he’ll have a sense of humour about this,” said Winters, whose character is a ragged local cop who prefers “old-fashioned police work” to the modern-day technical gizmos introduced by his new partner, a buttoned-down FBI agent.

“If he was smart he’d come do a cameo…. On behalf of David Shore I’m inviting Rob Ford to come be on ‘Battle Creek.'”

“Oh that would be a fun eight days,” Duhamel chuckled.

“Battle Creek” debuts Sunday.

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