Move over Tupac, Dead Comedians to Perform Classic Standup as Holograms
Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur and most recently Selena are among the artists who have been brought back to life onstage thanks to the use of holograms. The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York now hopes to apply that groundbreaking technology to dead comedians, the New York Times reports. The virtual comedy club is scheduled to open next year, National Comedy Center chairman Tom Benson said.
The comedy club hopes to produce 10 to 12 routines of approximately four minutes apiece from legendary comics. While Benson tossed out George Carlin, Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Rodney Dangerfield as some of the comedians they hope to recreate, the center has yet to agree to terms with any comics’ estates yet. Hologram USA, who have created hologram versions of Buddy Holly, Liberace and Jimmy Kimmel, will create the holograms.
Benson described the endeavor as “a comedy club where folks can go back in time and witness a classic routine in a setting – God knows where it might have been – and experience that as if they were really there.” Lucille Ball is also a strong candidate to be hologrammed since the National Comedy Center also operates Jamestown’s Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Museum. The National Comedy Center will break ground this August.
In April, the family of Tejano pop star Selena announced they would launch an Indiegogo to resurrect the late singer as a hologram. The family also promised their “walking, talking, singing, and dancing, digital embodiment” of Selena would tour as well as (somehow) create new music. News of the digital Selena came just months after a holographic Liberace announced a world tour. Michael Jackson (at the Billboard Music Awards) and Tupac (at Coachella) have also been turned into holograms.
