Judd Apatow is teaming up with HBO on a two-part documentary about the late George Carlin, who starred in numerous comedy specials and appeared on the “Tonight Show” more than 130 times.
Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio will direct the project, which will include interviews with Carlin’s family and friends, as well as material from Carlin’s archives and clips from his TV appearances.
Carlin, a native of New York City, broke into show business in 1959 by teaming up with Jack Burns and performing at coffee houses in Texas. The duo broke up after two years and Carlin first appeared on the “Tonight Show” in 1962.
Carlin was best known for his incisive use of language and observations on social mores, with such lines as “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” and “Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.” He died in 2008 at the age of 71.
“It is an honor to be given the opportunity to tell the story of his life and work,” Apatow said Monday in a statement.
Apatow’s directing credits include “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Funny People,” “Trainwreck, “The King of Staten Island” and HBO’s “The Zen Diaries Of Garry Shandling,” which won an Emmy in 2018.
Teddy Leifer, the project’s executive producer for Rise Films, said, “The sting of his words is as sharp now as when he was on stage. Carlin is the comedian’s comedian who mastered his craft and shaped American counterculture such that he paved the way for a generation of comics that followed.”
Apatow is executive producing the non-fiction film along with Carol Leifer, Carlin’s daughter Kelly Carlin and Jerry Hamza. Apatow Productions and Rise Films are producing for HBO Documentary Films.
Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.
