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According to Pajiba.com Tom Hanks production company Playtone is developing a movie based on the ‘golden era’ of comedy in the late 70s. The film will show the ruckus caused when Mitzi Shore, owner of The Comedy Store and mother of Pauly Shore, decided not to pay comedians to play there, seeing the opportunity to grow as a performer as payment enough. This led to top comedians of the time going on strike and to the eventual suicide of Steve Lubetkin.

It’s the top comedians themselves who could prove to be the attraction for this film, as the list of comedians who frequented the top L.A. spot was numerable – Eddie Murphy, Tim Allen, Bob Saget, Chevy Chase, Jim’s Carrey and Belushi – not to mention current late night war-er’s David Letterman and Jay Leno. With talent like that involved I’d imagine the whole debacle was humorous at the very least.

The film is to be based on William Knoedelseder’s book “I’m Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-up Comedy’s Golden Era” and certainly seems like a rip-roaring yarn that would make a perfect HBO film. That is to say I am a huge fan of HBO’s faux-ality films such as The Late Shift or Tyson which give us a fly-on-the-wall view of celebrity brou-ha-has.

If this film is handled in a similar way, with solid actors playing the ‘celebrity’ roles, I will eagerly await it.

Who would you like to see play the iconic roles? Are you excited?