Get a Peek at “How To with John Wilson” the Latest Project/Scheme/Show Nathan Fielder Is Involved In

September 16, 2020

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Since the end of Nathan For You, millions of folks have been wondering what will be the next thing from the hysterically enigmatic Nathan Fielder that we all can obsess over. Sure, he’s fought anti-semitism via his outerwear company Summit Ice, but the next show that Fielder devises is what the general public is looking for.

Well, that time is just about here as How To with John Wilson is coming to HBO on Oct. 23rd at 11PM. The docu-series follows one John Wilson showing all of us how to navigate such a complex, often baffling city like NYC. Fielder is serving as executive producer on the series and that assuredly means that there will be plenty of twists and some sort of blurring between comedy and performance art.

From the looks of this teaser, there is a bit of Joe Pera Talks With You energy present here, but something tells us that there’s more sly subterfuge here and, like Nathan For You, it would appear that titular John Wilson is dealing with real referee supply store sales people, furniture cover specialists, etc.

Perhaps we’ll get a full trailer that will give us a bit more of a hint as what Wilson and Fielder have up their sleeve. If not, honestly, that’s fine too as it seems potentially very rewarding to keep the mystery up for as long as possible until the premiere.

Mo Welch’s Comic Strip “Blair” Sold to HBO Max

September 3, 2020

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(via Deadline)

For years, the very funny Mo Welch has not only dazzled stages with her stand-up, but she has also made a comic strip that she’s posted online called “Blair”, centered on Blair, an “antisocial icon”. Welch has even put a book together from the comic called, How to Die Alone: The Foolproof Guide to Not Helping Yourself.

Now, Welch is moving on up to potentially have Blair be on TV. With Chelsea Handler attached as an EP, Blair just got bought up as a project at HBO Max. We can only hope that it gets pick up to have an animated series that speaks to our collective feelings of being stuck in so many literal and figurative ways right now.

We’ll keep you posted if it gets a series order at HBO Max or elsewhere.

HBO Max Announces a New Trio of Specials from Colin Quinn, Phoebe Robinson, and Aida Rodriguez

August 21, 2020

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Hot off the heels on releasing four different stand-up specials yesterday, HBO Max has just announced three more (in addition to the back half of the Team Coco specials whose production got interrupted by lockdown).

One will be a drive-in special curated, directed, and headlined by Colin Quinn taped in Brooklyn. Quinn’s line-up has yet to be announced (but we’ll keep you in the loop)

Another one will be Phoebe Robinson’s debut special (done solo from Jessica Williams and 2 Dope Queens).

Lastly, Aida Rodriguez will have her very first hour special where she will get to put her brand of unfiltered, calls-it-like-she-sees-it comedy on its biggest stage yet.

This trio of specials is a more than solid addition to their comedy programming slate over at HBO.

We are pondering about one small thing: are there going to be those hybrid comedy specials done over at HBO and HBO will just use HBO Max for more conventional stand-up specials? We’ll just have to wait and see at this point.

Beth Stelling’s Debut Hour Special “Girl Daddy” Shows Beth at Her Best Yet

August 20, 2020

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Beth Stelling‘s debut hour special Girl Daddy exemplifies all the things that we’ve known and loved about Stelling for years and years. The magnetism of her stage presence is undeniable, she’s balanced in how silly/clever and how genuine/vulnerable she is, and we can’t help but want to just keep hearing her talking about whatever she wants to talk about.

Girl Daddy shows off all those qualities no matter how dark or how fun loving Beth goes with her stories and observations. Often, Stelling will switch between the two extremes in the same breath and do so flawlessly. In fact, she exudes nothing but a sense of command and confidence throughout this hour that make any sudden tonal shifts completely work. Also, Beth’s material really highlights the power and resilience of women through her experiences with men (both good and bad), her family, and the entire world, expertly accented by Beth’s unshakeable poise and calm.

Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy is now streaming on HBO Max and you really ought to go watch it ASAP.

Please Enjoy Trailer for New Buddy Road Comedy at HBO Max “Unpregnant”

August 12, 2020

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HBO Max seems to be coming with the goods to make up for the transition of HBO having a new arm and folding HBO GO and HBO Now into the exclusive streaming service. They’ve got Team Coco stand-up specials coming around the corner, a new season of Search Party on the horizon, and a new buddy road comedy, Unpregnant from director/co-writer Rachel Lee Goldenberg and writers Ted Caplan, Jenni Hendriks, William Parker, and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.

Starring Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferreira, there seems to the same sort of promise of a fun loving coming-of-age journey as Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart offered last year, though with more focus on getting an abortion rather than having one last chance at partying properly.

See for yourself in the trailer for Unpregnant here, then, if you dig it, look for it on HBO Max on Thurs. Sept. 10th.

Please Enjoy the Trailer for Beth Stelling’s HBO Max Special “Girl Daddy”

August 10, 2020

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Starting soon, HBO Max will start their roll out of their stand-up specials, continuing HBO’s expansion into the streaming space. Several months ago, Conan and HBO had struck a deal to produce a handful of comedy specials exclusively for the streaming service. They got to taping some of them, and then, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, interrupting any and all production.

Thankfully, the always splendid and delightful Beth Stelling got her special Girl Daddy in the can before all of that happened and will thusly be releasing her special next week on Thurs. Aug. 20th at HBO Max. A trailer for Girl Daddy was just posted today and shows off more of Beth’s signature undeniable warmth and sharp wit.

Give it a watch here, while you wait for next week to start streaming (you can and should also go watch/listen to everything else Beth’s done in the meantime; it’ll really make your day).

Trailer is here for my @hbomax special Girl Daddy pic.twitter.com/LCuVAQ1cp5

— Beth Stelling (@BethStelling) August 10, 2020

Team Coco’s HBO Max Comedy Specials Start Streaming Next Month; More to Come Soon

July 23, 2020

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Right before lockdown, Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco managed to shoot two hour long comedy specials, destined for HBO Max, from the amazing Beth Stelling and James Veitch. More specials that they had planned to shoot got postponed because of COVID-19 shutting down production right around their shoot dates.

Still, those special are set to start streaming on HBO’s newly minted HBO Max next month in an announcement made yesterday.

Also, hour specials from Chris Redd and Moses Storm that had been previously slated for production, along with shorter specials featuring the likes of comedians that you really ought to know already: Naomi Ekperigin, Solomon Georgio, Tommy Johnagin, and Ismo. The dates for when those will happen and subsequently released are TBA. We’re assuming that the nature of the dates will depend on how protocol on TV production with any sort of live audience might change (as that’s not really happening right now) over the next few months.

In any case, you have two new hour comedy specials that are coming in a few weeks from the HBO and Team Coco side of things rather than at Netflix, which is still pretty much on pace for releasing a comedy special every week.

HBO Max Orders Up Six Episodes of a Michael Che Sketch Series

July 14, 2020

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Announced today, sketch comedy has a new series on the way, effectively spun-off from the sketch comedy behemoth, Saturday Night Live. It’s untitled as of this moment, but the series is coming from SNL Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che with SNL’s very own Lorne Michaels attached as an EP.

The series, which has gotten an order for six episodes will focus on such themes as “police brutality, unemployment, and falling in love” from a black perspective.

We’re glad to see another sketch series set to arrive, when there has been a scarcity of sketch comedy on TV (not to mention the cancellation of Astronomy Club on Netflix). The intriguing aspect of this is Che’s sketch series being at HBO Max as opposed to NBC on SNL. Is it going to take more risks and be bolder than SNL (which isn’t that hard to do these days). Supposedly, this series won’t be afraid to get controversial. To see how true that is, there will be a wait because, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic is as much a reality (arguably more so) than it was in March/April.

HBO Max Developing Aida Rodriguez Comedy with Tiffany Haddish Attached to EP

January 30, 2020

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HBO Max Developing Aida Rodriguez Comedy with Tiffany Haddish Attached to EP

Of the lives of a comedian that you could explore in a sitcom, Aida Rodriguez sure has one hell of a life where she fought tooth and nail to get where she is now.

Just listen to her ep. of The Crabfeast and you’ll get a pretty get sense of how compelling her story is. Knowing that Haddish will be EP’ing and that Rodriguez will get to star and co-write this project that follows, “an Afro-Latina comedian (Rodriguez) who is trying to kick start a career while raising two very different teenagers on her own over multiple time zones,” has us pretty intrigued.

Additionally, HBO Max’s development slate just keeps getting more and more enticing.

HBO Max Orders an Unlikely Friendship Comedy Pilot From Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky & Mike Schur

January 28, 2020

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HBO Max Orders an Unlikely Friendship Comedy Pilot From Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky & Mike Schur

The combination of Broad City alumni Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky and a significant portion of the forces behind The Good Place, creator Mike Schur along with that has a Vegas diva mentor an “outcast 25 year-old” seems to be the sort of thing that a lot of streaming services are looking for right now.

While this pilot order did come from HBO Max, we could see such a series get developed at Hulu, Quibi, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, etc. etc. All of that is too say that many streaming services are clearly aiming at younger cord cutter viewers that also have somewhat discerning taste in comedy. If that’s so across the board (in the realm of streaming), perhaps that means cheesy multi-cams will be no more? Only time will tell.

In any case, this pilot definitely is intriguing with very, very funny people in charge and we kind of can’t wait to see who they cast as the leads.

HBO Max Announces Stand-Up Specials from Tracy Morgan, John Early, Rose Matafeo, and Ahir Shah

December 4, 2019

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HBO Max Announces Stand-Up Specials from Tracy Morgan, John Early, Rose Matafeo, and Ahir Shah

Well, well, well.

As Netflix announced today that it beat out HBO to keep Ali Wong in the fold, HBO swings back with their own exclusive stand-up special offerings that will be coming to their streaming service HBO Max next year. It’s a pretty intriguing slate thus far that includes comedy superstar Tracy Morgan, comedy star on-the-rise John Early, New Zealand comedy star making-her-way-stateside Rose Matafeo, and up-and-coming political English comedy star Ahir Shah.

We were actually wondering what would happen to this sort of segment in stand-up comedy as Netflix is currently in the business of doling out hours for comedy’s biggest stars and then giving who they think are up-and-comers (but are somewhat established, certainly enough for an hour special) 30 min. or 15 min. specials. Our hunch was that Amazon and other streaming services/networks like HBO Max would fill in this niche and it is certainly coming to pass. Amazon’s already put out hours from Alice Wetterlund and I Mom So Hard and, from the looks of this announcement, HBO is getting in while the getting is good.

HBO Max Announces 5 Comedy Specials from Team Coco, New Looney Tunes, and New Comedy Series from Elizabeth Banks, Issa Rae, and Mindy Kaling

October 30, 2019

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As the world is on the precipice of Apple TV+, HBO is taking a big swing for their own streaming service, HBO Max, with regards to their comedy programming.

Just today, they made this flurry of announcements.

Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco will be producing five stand-up special, two of which will be with multiple comedians and three of which will be full hours (Deadline). A new batch of Looney Tunes (Deadline), a DC Universe series from Elizabeth Banks, a female rap group comedy from Issa Rae, and a coming-of-age-in-college sitcom from Mindy Kaling (Deadline) are all on the way.

If you’ve been following the trail of HBO Max, you know that this is only the tip of the iceberg for them. So, are you ready to cue Futurama’s most famous meme yet?