Urban411.com: No Show for Kanye West, He's "Too Hardcore" for HBO
No Show for Kanye West, He's "Too Hardcore" for HBO
HBO pulls out of Kanye's show: "it was too hardcore"
Kanye West's HBO show has been shelved by the cable network, the show's co-executive producer has revealed. The untitled show was to be a improvisational comedy loosely based on his life and would have been directed by Larry Charles (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Borat) and also involved Hip Hop/Rock producer Rick Rubin. In a recent interview Charles says HBO pulled out of the show because they felt it was too racy.
Larry Charles, who directed the pilot episode, told comingsoon.com, "It was really good, but ... I think it was too hard-core for HBO. Also, HBO's management shifted. HBO doesn't have a good track record when it comes to black shows, and I felt like that may have had something to do with it also," he told the site. "I don't see a lot of shows about that experience at all. This was very entertaining and we showed it to a lot of people. People gave it a very good response, and it seems to be on the shelf right now. The management has shifted at HBO so we're waiting to see."
When the show was first announced many felt it was a reality show but Kanye quickly set the rumors to rest declaring, “I wouldn’t do something as clichéd as a reality show. At least give me the credit for being more creative than that... For the last couple of years, Larry, Rick and I have been developing this pilot. It’s a situational half-hour comedy. It’s fictional, and loosely based on my life.” No further details were known about the show until now. Charles said the show is roughly Kanye's version of Larry David's show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," an idea that Kanye thought up himself. "What Kanye West said to me the first time, he said, 'I'm the black Larry David.' That's the first thing he said to me. So it's like a Kanye-and-'Curb' show, it's kind of improvised about the situations and stuff."
Charles said he was impressed with Kanye's ability to improvise comedy in front of the camera. "He's so much funnier than people realize," Charles continued. "Even the whole being-full-of-himself stuff is a joke to him, and he likes to play that of being like, you know, Kanye. And he's kind of a brilliant guy actually."
An HBO representative confirmed that the show has been in development but nothing has materialized. She said she had no knowledge of the show's status, noting that the show has been in development for some time and adding, "Until it is actually shot or picked up as a pilot, we don't have any info."
In related news, Kanye West has announced he will perform two New Zealand shows with fellow rapper Nas in Auckland in December. West, who last performed in New Zealand when he opened for U2 at Mt Smart Stadium in 2006, will perform with Nas and Kiwi rapper Scribe at Auckland's Vector Arena on December 1st. They'll then head south to perform at Wellington's TSB Arena on December 2nd.
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