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