HBO special on standup details

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on January 26th, 2005

From the Washington Times/UPI:

The paper said the project got a boost after the funeral last year of Rodney Dangerfield, when Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock suggested to HBO executives that early HBO shows featuring Dangerfield and other standup comics should be marketed to a new audience. According to Variety, HBO is working on signing filmmaker Ric Burns for the project.

Burns did a documentary series on New York, and worked with his brother, Ken Burns, on the PBS documentary “The Civil War.”

Seinfeld and Rock are among the top comedians who have done HBO specials, along with such other comedians as George Carlin, Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams.

HBO declined comment concerning the Variety story.

We like the phrase “marketed to a new audience.” It’s yet another sign of the health of the business of standup. We seem to recall that HBO announced that they were getting out of the standup business about five years ago. The fact that they’re hiring a Burns is a step in the right direction. If he makes documentaries anything like his brother, we can expect a quality product that is sprawling, informative and compelling. (We watched the majority of brother Ken’s Jazz and found it to be riveting, due in no small part to the testimony of Gary Giddins. Heck, we even went out and bought a Thelonius Monk CD after watching one installment. If Ric’s standup docu has the same effect, expect the crowds at your local comedy club to swell shortly after it airs.)

We hope they clarify things before production starts, though. It sounds to us like Rock and Seinfeld were talking about the Young Comedians’ specials and Albrecht and other HBO suits immediately thought Robin Williams. Sure, a documentary about modern comedy would have wide appeal, and it couldn’t be made without Carlin, Murphy and Williams. But a documentary that only focused only on Carlin, Murphy and Williams and stars of that caliber would be excruciatingly boring. And a documentary that commences telling the story of standup the same year that HBO started would be wholly inadequate.