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Rowan Atkinson's HBO Comedy Hour Special.
Following is a report from Marc Midura (marc@claven.cambridge.ibm.com)
on the taping of Rowan Atkinson's HBO COmedy Hour special:
I was at HBO's 'On Location' taping of Rowan Atkinson Dec 19 & 20 at
Huntington Theatre in Boston. It was all 'skits' and approximately 2 hrs long
with breaks. Most skits were just Rowan Atkinson monologue with 3-4 done
with Angus Deayton. From what I can remember there were about 10-15 skits
in total. I thought the performance was hilarious. One thing that I will
let you in on, because it will be edited out. While Rowan was performing
his one-man skit (priest giving funeral) with curtain started to fall.
It started to come down slow at first, then sped up. Everyone thought that
it was going to come down in front of him and be part of the skit. However
he was standing directly beneath it. Finally someone in the front yelled,
"Look out!" and Rowan managed to get out of the way just in time. He put
on a really strange face and said, "Well, I didn't expect THAT to happen"
and then went on with jokes about the curtain as it related to the skit.
Below is the flier that was given out at the show:
HBO's 'On Location' taping of
Rowan Atkinson
Britain's Most Popular Comic Actor
December 19&20
Rowan Atkinson was born on the twelfth night of Christmas in 1955 (his middle
name is Sebastian after Shakespeare's character in Twelfth Night). He studied
Electrical Engineering at Newcastle and Oxford. He gained the critic's
attention playing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the Oxford Review in
1977. In 1978 he joined the BBC's Award winning _Not the Nine O'Clock News_
(which would later become _Not Necessarily the News_ in the United States) and
in 1981 became the youngest person ever to have a one-man show in London's
West End.
In 1983 he began working with Richard Curtis on the 'situation tragedy'
_The Blackadder_ for BBC television.. Over the next seven years, the
Blackadder spawned four successful television series: _The Blackadder_ (1983),
_Blackadder II_ (1986), _Blackadder the Third_ (1987) and _Blackadder Goes
Forth_ (1990). The Blackadder series has won three ACE awards for Best Comedy
on American Cable television and Blackadder Goes Forth won the 1990 Best Comedy
Series Award from the British Academy.
After retiring Blackadder in 1989, Atkinson created a new character,
Mr. Bean which has subsequently launched a popular comedy series. _Mr. Bean_,
_The Return of Mr. Bean_, and _The Curse of Mr. Bean_ have been widely honored
with awards including the 1990 Golden Rose of Montreux, and won 1991
International Emmy award.
His stage appearances include the title role in Larry Shue's _The Nerd_
in 1985 in the West End and Broadway in 1986 in a one-man show called _Rowan
Atkinson at the Atkinson_. In 1989 Rowan Atkinson completed a six month run
_The Sneeze_ a collection of humorous one-act plays my Anton Chekov in the
West End.
On film, Rowan Atkinson appeared as the British Consul in the Sean
Connery James Bond hit _Never Say Never Again_ in 1982. He was recently seen
in Steven Wright's 1989 Oscar Award Winning Best Short Film _The Appointment
of Dennis Jenning's_, _The Tall Guy_ with Jeff Goldblum and Nick Roeg's film
_The Witches_.
Angus Deayton - Writer/performer Angus Deayton has worked with Mr. Atkinson as
his stage partner for over five years, taking him to Australia, New Zealand,
th Middle East, Broadway and London's West End with different Atkinson revues.
He has numerous television and radio credits in the United Kingdom including
eight series of the award-winning BBC comedy show _Radio Active_ and current
television comedy series KYTV and _Alexis Sayles Stuff_. He is the presenter
of the hugely successful topical quiz show _Have I Got News For You_ (BBC).
Howard Goodall - Musical Director Howard Goodall's stage work includes Rowan
Atkinson in Revue 1977-91 in the United Kingdom and on World Tours. He has
also worked with Comic Relief 1986 and prductions of _As You Like It_ and
_King Lear_ with the Oxford Stage Company. For television, Mr. Goodall credits
include the four _Blackadder_ series and _Not the Nine O'Clock News_.
Richard Curtis - Writer Richard Curtis started working with Rowan Atkinson in
1976 as one of the main writers of _Not the Nine O'Clock News' and went on
the write the _Blackadder_ series for BBC television. He is the screenwriter
for the Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson film _The Tall Guy_.
He continues his work with Rowan Atkinson as one of the writers of the
_Mr. Bean_ series.
Director - Tommy Schlamme
Set Designer - Will Bowen
Lighting Designer - Alan Branton
Theatre Lighting Consultant - Mark Henderson