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Julio Torressnew special,My Favorite Shapes,is not the typical stand-up show.
Thats putting it mildly.
For one thing, he barely stands.
The conveyor belt had to be custom-made, according to the specials production designer Michael Krantz.
They generally manufacture for sushi restaurants, he told Vulture.
My Favorite Shapesbegan life simply as Torress most prized possessions.
Ive always liked objects.
Theyve been funny and stimulating to me, he told Vulture.
I didnt really know how to translate that into a live performance.
Until I realized I could hook a cable up to my iPhone and hook that up to a projector.
That iPhone and projector rig became a show in 2017.
Torres performedShapesoff and on all summer before taking the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that August.
Now, its an HBO comedy special.
But adapting the live stage show for television required test after test after test.
We played around a lot with the geometry, Krantz said.
The original plan was too elaborate to realize in the amount of time they had.
There was an area behind him that had, like, a little room.
There was a reflecting pool.
There were other shapes and bits of geometry that were hanging, he said.
There were amoebic-shaped platforms.
Krantz had to boil it down to the most essential parts: stairs, screen, conveyor belt.
Despite all the moving parts, he was struck by the singular nature of Torress vision.
Its such a wonderful, unique, and amazing show, Krantz said.
Id never worked on anything like it.
The revolutionary thingMy Favorite Shapesdoes is, rather than make jokes pretty, it makes prettiness a joke.
The more exquisite the shape, the more revealing it is of Torres as a comedy character.
The set is pretty, said Torres.
But beyond it being pretty, it indicates a workshop or my little lab.
Visually, I think there are context clues for the audience to interpret the show for what it is.
The titular shapes come from all sorts of places.
Some of them were gifted to me.
Some of them, I have the idea for, and a friend made them for me.
The swan burdened by beauty was manufactured for Torres, as was its shadow and soul.
Krantz was particularly taken with the soul of the swan.
Women in comedy are constantly told that being too pretty will get in the way of their being funny.
Like a Ferrero Rocher chocolate?
What if an attempt to become pretty is funny, like that shoe that holds other shoes?
I dont think the special would work any other way.
The prettiness isnt a liability; its the point.
Speaking of the shoe that holds other shoes, it has a monologue.
Torres had worked with all of them previously onSaturday Night Live, in voice-over-heavy shorts.
These three have really great voices, really specific voices.
And theyre all really good at being self-serious and funny at the same time, said Torres.
These three objects take themselves deathly seriously.
Thats one of the funnier things about beauty, right?
Something that is so humorless that it becomes funny.
Because the spoon felt so maternal and sweet, and the fork felt so odd and spiked.
For all I know, you didnt care what the other two were up to.
Maybe its because every shape brings its own story that Torress favorite color, famously, is clear.
But, shockingly, this special may be the send-off for the clear aesthetic.
The set got a pastel dreamscape palette.
And breaking news Torres has accepted color into his life.
I think Im kind of phasing out of that [clear] moment.
Im really attracted to colors, the summer ones.
Suddenly Im very into orange.
