HBO wants more Julio Torres. The network announced today that it’s added a comedy special from the stand-up and Saturday Night Live writer, which also marks his first hour-long comedy special. Titled after his current live show My Favorite Shapes, the special was taped in front of a live audience at Elsewhere in Brooklyn and counts Lorne Michaels and Fred Armisen as executive producers, with Dave McCary (who collaborated with Torres on SNL sketches like “Papyrus” and “Wells for Boys”) directing. It will air on HBO sometime this summer. Here’s the network’s official log line for My Favorite Shapes:
In this multimedia comedy show, Torres explores his favorite shapes, which include a plexiglass square, a triangle, an oval that wishes he were a circle, a self-conscious cactus and a Ferrero Rocher chocolate that Julio is mad at because she left her little skirt at home. The objects are presented via an industrial conveyer belt and serve as a jumping-off point for fantastical stories, anecdotes and jokes.
Torres also provided a quote about the news: “I just need to show my shapes. That’s all this is for.”
In addition to his work on SNL, Torres has a Lorne-Michaels-produced half-hour Spanish-language comedy series in the works at HBO called Los Espookys, which was ordered to series last year and debuts on June 14. Torres co-wrote the show with co-stars Ana Fabrega and Fred Armisen, and it centers on “a group of friends turning their love for horror into a peculiar business.” Torres previously had a half-hour Comedy Central special air back in 2017.
