In the early 1990s, Jeni developed a comedy routine where he watched a
National Geographic special on the
platypus. In the routine, Jeni went on to describe how he found himself relating to the TV show, and the concept of a "platypus man" was expanded to become the theme behind Jeni's 1992 HBO comedy special. The HBO special was taped in 1992 at the Park West Theater in
Chicago,
Illinois and covered topics such as news ("the bad news"), sports (including Jeni's "
NFL Football Referee" routine), politics, music and sex. Executive producers on the project were Richard Jeni and Michael Rotenberg, it was produced by Tom Bull and Sandy Chandley, and
post-production was handled by Steve Sharp and Juniper Recording Studios. The set design for the special was created by Norm Dodge and included a checkered tile floor, a backdrop with painted-on palm trees, a
refrigerator and
microwave at one end of the stage (provided by Aronson Furniture, for a comedic bit entitled "Bill the Belching Gourmet"), and a black sofa at the other end of the stage. This design was reproduced in clay for the opening sequence of
Platypus Man, in which art director Rick Toone of D&K Group/Claymagic used the process of
claymation to introduce the show with the help of a duck-billed clay version of Richard Jeni and footage from the platypus exhibit at
Taronga Zoo in
Sydney. The live-action portions of the opening sequence were shot inside and outside of Jeni's house in the
Hollywood Hills (in the bedroom, bathroom, hallway, driveway, balcony and pool area) and on the streets of
West Hollywood,
California. The song "Platypus Man" that opened and closed the special was created with the combined efforts of
Scott May, Richard Jeni, and fellow
comedian Rondell Sheridan and sung in a
blues-like voice by Jeni. ==Synopsis==