With the exception of Arli$$, 1996 was a banner year for comedy at HBO. The Larry Sanders Show was still going strong, Mr. Show had entered its second season and a comedian named Louis C.K. appeared on his first stand-up special. But forgotten amongst those milestones was an obscure gem called The High Life. Created by Adam Resnick, The High Life shared a lot in common with his previous efforts Get a Life and Cabin Boy. It was smart, subtly absurd and unpredictable. But unlike Get a Life or Cabin Boy, The High Life never managed to find its cult audience. As Resnick notes, “nobody watched [The High Life]…there [...]
HBO has been on a bit of a roll lately, with Game of Thrones capturing the imaginations of everyone who loves both dragons and depictions of doggy-style sex (read: everyone) and the imminent premieres of two of the most promising new comedies of the year, Girls and Veep (the first three episodes of both shows that were sent out to the press are truly excellent). The downside, of course, is that it'll cost you $15 bones a month to watch said shows. But the network is looking to get you on board with their premium offerings by teasing you with the premieres of the two new comedies free of [...]
Rather than just nodding politely as people make cracks about the aging stars of The Sex and The City, creator Darren Star has instead decided to scream "What?," drop the mic and walk off stage by casting Goldie Hawn in The Viagra Diaries. In Hawn's first role since 2002, the HBO series follows a woman "who, after her husband has a 'mid-life crisis' at 65 and leaves her, struggles with being single for the first time in 35 years." More importantly, who will be the Samantha?
Here are two more short teasers for HBO's upcoming special, Talking Funny. If you recall, it sticks Jerry Seinfeld, Ricky Gervais, Chris Rock and Louis CK in a room and has them talk about comedy for an hour. It looks downright delightful, right? The first teaser is above, and the second is below.
Garfunkel and Oates, the adorable musical comedy duo, have landed a development deal with HBO to create a new show for the network. This is exciting! They've got big shoes to fill in the musical comedy department over there, with the incredible Flight of the Conchords being the last show of that genre on HBO, but I think they're up to it.
Garfunkel and Oates were reported to have made a deal to shoot a pilot for HBO last year, and it appears this is what came of it: it's been cut into five shorts, all between three and six minutes long, available exclusively on HBO GO under the HBO Digitals banner. The one above is the second in the series, and it's a full-blown music video to go along with their song "Pregnant Women Are Smug." It's the only short that's solely a music video; the first one is about Jon Daly and Thomas Middleditch's unsuccessful hookup attempts with our heroes, for example, and they all fit together to [...]
When was the last time you saw people blogging really excitedly about Bored to Death? Hung? Other than Curb Your Enthusiasm, does HBO have any great comedies right now? And why not, if dramas like Boardwalk Empire and True Blood get people so jazzed?
This article makes the argument that HBO's "It's not TV" attitude actually works to its detriment when it comes to comedy. By trying to emphasize what's different about HBO, the network misses out on tried-and-true comedy formulas. Take Enlightened: the show is "nuanced and muted" on HBO, but "on Showtime, it would star Elizabeth Banks as a lovable psychopath who escapes from a mental [...]
Alan Sepinwall got a chance to check out HBO's Talking Funny before it debuts tomorrow night, and, well, it sounds like it's going to meet the already-high expectations folks have for it: There's a fascinating discussion, for instance, of profanity on stage and why Seinfeld has refused to curse in his act. At one point, Seinfeld performs a bit from C.K.'s act, and C.K. marvels at how much Seinfeld's more polished delivery changed the nature of the joke. At one point, the men get into an argument about how easy it is to just go on stage and make people laugh, regardless of material, and C.K. surprises [...]
Noted in the latest chapter of Vice's super-in-depth set reports from Your Highness is this tidbit: Danny McBride and Jody Hill are currently writing the third season of Eastbound and Down. The plan is to shoot it later this year for a premiere in early 2012. Where will the third season take Kenny Powers? We've already seen that these guys aren't afraid to make huge changes between seasons, so it seems like anything is in play. So we've all got that to look forward to.
Here's a quick clip from HBO's Funny or Die Presents, which returns for season two on Friday night, featuring Ben Schwartz as a hapless undercover stooge to Gary Cole's stern FBI agent.
As the third season of Eastbound & Down started, I knew that this would be the final season, so as the episodes aired, I started coming up with theories on how the show would end. Knowing Jody Hill’s capability of darkness as evidenced by Observe and Report, I figured that one of the most logical endings would be Kenny Powers dying in the series finale. After all the low points he had endured, it would be weird and unfitting to cast aside the attitude built by the show over three seasons and make everything happy again.
Here's Susie Essman on how every season of Curb Your Enthusiasm is going to be its last season according to Larry David, until it isn't: Well, after every season, Larry says, “That’s it, I’m not doing another season.” After every season. And then he’ll finish editing, and the show will air, and then I’ll get a call, and he’ll say, “I’m not promising anything, but I am letting you know I’m working on a couple of outlines. But until I get at least eight outlines, I’m not promising. I’m just letting you know I’m working on it.” And then another couple of months later I’ll get another phone [...]
This summer, July 10th to be precise, marks the return of the venerable Curb Your Enthusiasm. And here's a little behind-the-scenes video to get you even more excited about it. It takes place in New York City! For real, this is cooler than the Seinfeld thing was for me.
Here's a new teaser for the new season of Curb, which still doesn't have a solid date for when it's coming back yet. And man, am I excited about it. Sure, the Seinfeld season was amazing, but I'm actually more excited for an NYC season. It just has so much potential.
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