Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock are looking to take the zinger trade to a whole new domain.
The funnymen are joining forces with HBO to produce a multi-episode documentary on the history of standup, Daily Variety reports.
Seinfeld and Rock, old pals from back in their days working the comedy club circuit, had bandied about the idea for years, but it wasn't until recently--after the funeral for Rodney Dangerfield--that they decided to pitch it to HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht.
According to Variety, the cable network chief sparked to the project and initiated talks with documentarian Ric Burns to direct. Burns' credits include PBS' epic documentary series on New York and the Civil War, the latter of which he collaborated with brother Ken Burns.
The Seinfeld-Rock comedy doc will cull material from HBO's voluminous archive of standup specials from the last three decades, including turns by Dangerfield, Seinfeld, Rock and such tart-tongued joke slingers as George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Robert Klein, Roseanne and Steven Wright. There's also plenty of footage to be had from the cable network's series of Comic Relief benefits in the 1980s, which featured a who's-who of wisecrackers.
Aside from appearing, Seinfeld and Rock will also reportedly play a supervisory role in the making of the multipart series, though it's unclear how hands-on they'll be.
HBO declined to comment on the report.
Since his eponymous NBC show about nothing signed off six years ago, Seinfeld made the 2002 behind-the-scenes documentary Comedian that followed him around on a nationwide tour. He also did an HBO concert film that included a cameo by Rock.
More recently, Seinfeld turned up on NBC over Thanksgiving for The Seinfeld Story, a one-hour retrospective of the show's early history with costars Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, and Julia-Louis Dreyfus. The special also promoted the DVD debut of the first three seasons of Seinfeld.
In addition to hosting his own HBO show, Rock has done several standup specials for the cable net, including Bring the Pain, Bigger and Blacker and his latest, 2004's Never Scared. He'll next be seen following in fellow comic Billy Crystal's footsteps as host of the 77th Academy Awards, airing Feb. 27 on ABC.