Platypus man-a short-legged night-feeder who lives alone and tries to mate frequently, with limited success.
A k a comic Richard Jeni, a k a a sitcom starring the New York City native Monday at 8 p.m. on the new United Paramount Network (WPWR-Ch. 50).
“There are now three or four shows in the top 10 that star standup comics, so everyone wants the next (standup star),” says the glib, fast-talking comedian, explaining why he has gone the sitcom route.
“Standup is really ideal training for a sitcom. You don’t have to be so much a great actor, but someone who can deliver a joke. A good standup knows the difference between a good joke and a medium joke. And there’s a business element to this-if you’re a producer, you gotta have a pitch, an angle. Standup comedians give them something they can pitch.”
What they’ve pitched in “Platypus Man” is a sitcom in which Jeni plays the host of a TV cooking show geared to men who don’t know one pot from another. The concept, like Tim Allen’s “Home Improvement,” is based on one of Jeni’s routines-something he calls “Bill the Belching Gourmet, a cooking show for people who don’t know how to cook.”
Jeni, who has been in the standup business for 13 years, is well-known for his hip, trenchant and observational humor. He’s an award-winner-Best Male Standup in the 1993 American Comedy Awards, a CableACE for his HBO “Platypus Man” special-who’s now trying to become a master of all media. In this respect, the current sitcom represents an interesting learning process.
“Now I’m trying to be an actor, to work with other people, and see what comedy works in another form,” says Jeni. “I never thought of it as trying to get my standup act intact on TV. It’s more like you’re exploring another medium.”
The demands of “Platypus Man” have forced Jeni to put a temporary hold on his pursuit of a film career. He has appeared in the Jim Carrey hit “The Mask,” and notes that “in Hollywood, movies are god. TV is sort of scum, and standup is somewhere between porno and dwarf-tossing. So once you’re in a movie, people take you a little more seriously.”
This response is typical of Jeni’s interview style, which alternates between real thoughtfulness-he’s as intelligent in real-life as he appears onstage-and wild forays into shtick. Ask him, for example, what he doesn’t miss about New York (L.A. has been home for eight years), and his comic motor switches into overdrive.
“Buying genuine Rolex watches for six dollars,” he quips. “Being in a taxicab with a radio station playing that is only available in that cab. . . . I don’t miss Al Sharpton. I don’t miss the winter wonderland, the cold air, the crispy breeze, the urine puddles that are just perfect for skating. And I definitely don’t miss being asked for spare change every two steps.”
