The Stand-up Special

[touchingcloth]

What makes these different from any other filmed stand-up show? I used to think that maybe they were "special" cos they were performed a single time with the performance being filmed, but a lot of things billed as a "special" are filmed during a tour. 

What gives, CaB? What am I missing?

[cliggg]

It's probably for financial reasons more than anything else. Of course doing a 4 month tour in sold out 5,000 seater venues will bring a comedian a lot of money but then selling any one of them to HBO and then releasing the dvd is just extra money and especially now with Netflix paying huge amounts of money to some comedians. When Louis CK started self releasing his material but was still doing one special a year on HBO he would record all of his shows and if he was really happy with one afterwards he would sell it on his website even though it would basically just be a mixture of his material making up his last special and his next one.
If Netflix buy a special form Bill Burr off his next tour then usually they will have final say on when and where it's filmed as they will be the ones paying for it.
It's just like bands and comedians have been doing for decades now, I just checked and Coldplay have released 9 live album cd's and 4 live DVD's. Pure money spinner really innit?

[godber]

I'd always assumed it was called a special because it isn't a series and the networks wanted to differentiate it as such. It feels as though the naming convention has stuck, hence Netflix etc call them specials too.

It also feels like an Americanism as we'd never have called all of Roy Chubby Browns videos specials, but that's what Americans would have called them?

[up_the_hampipe]

Yeah it's just an American term that networks use for a one-off show. With Netflix bridging that gap between UK and American stand-up and physical media dying out, the term "specials" is probably being used a lot more, as it just seems like the only appropriate description for what they are, even if they're not particularly special.