Amy Schumer + Chris Rock = New comedy dream team
Amy Schumer has been absolutely killing it lately. Her kickass Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer has been having a breakout third season; and later this summer, she’s set to star in the highly-anticipated Judd Apatow comedy Trainwreck. The girl is finally getting some well-deserved attention for her super-smart hilarity — and now, it has just been announced that she will be headlining her very first HBO comedy special.
“Amy is one of the most inspired comics working today, and we hope her first HBO special marks the start of a long and beautiful relationship,” Michael Lombardo, HBO programming president, told The Hollywood Reporter. “This event is even more special because our good friend, the incredibly talented Chris Rock, is directing.”
Yes, you read that right: Schumer and Rock are collaborating on a comedy special, and it’s basically what comedy dreams are made of. The special is set to tape at the Apollo Theater in New York on May 29, and will air on HBO later this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schumer will write and serve as executive producer, along with Jimmy Miller and Mike Berkowitz. It’ll be her first stand-up film since 2012’s Amy Schumer: Mostly Sex Stuff, and given how busy she’s been since then, we’re sure she has some incredible new material to bring to the table — and we can’t wait to see it.
The news comes fresh at the heels of Inside Amy Schumer‘s Peabody Award and Rock’s directorial debut, Top Five (which has an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and is getting pretty solid reviews). It’s super rad that two of the most talented comedians around are collaborating to begin with, but we’re even more stoked to see what they do with the special given that both of them got their start in stand-up.
Given how many big names have recently decided to release their comedy specials on Netflix (Aziz Ansari, Chelsea Handler, Chris D’Elia, and Chelsea Peretti, just to name a few), the announcement is also a huge win for HBO. Lately, funny women have finally been getting their due on television — totally breaking down the idea that “girls just aren’t as funny as the boys” and taking names in the process. Schumer is definitely one of these women, and her upcoming special is incredibly well-deserved.
“It’s a good time for women on TV,” Zooey Deschanel recently said in an interview with Cosmopolitan. “We can be funny in our own way . . . and funny doesn’t mean just one thing. Funny isn’t just one-liners. It’s big personalities and individualism.”
Right now, there are few people that this better applies to than Amy Schumer — and we couldn’t be more excited to see her do what she does best on HBO later this year.
