Growing up we had an HBO subscription in our house. Not cable, just HBO. It was one channel, and it was glorious. My dad had gotten the HBO service because of the Mike Tyson fights that were shown on there before Pay Per View boxing became the norm. Tyson was electric, and his fights every six month were justification enough to own the service. But one of the things that always drew me in was the amount of stand up comedy shows that HBO played. They didn't have the original programming that they are currently know for, and they didn't have the massive amounts of movies licensed to show... so they filmed comedians up on stage, doing their bits, and pre-packaged them in a way that was rarely seen before. Comedy specials have existed for years... but they were usually full length, from an hour to two hours of one comedian. HBO perfected the short form, 30 minute stand up specials that were perfect for introducing new comedies to a broad audience. They also were know for their 'Young Comedian' specials that featured 3-4 comedians doing 5-8 minute bits. It was a great time for the genre, and I was hooked. Andrew Dice Clay, Jeff Foxworthy, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Nelson... these are just a few of the names that I saw rise and shine through HBO. But one particular comedian stood out to me: John Pinette.
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