Sam Jay will eschew a monologue when she launches Pause with Sam Jay on HBO

Variety

The half-hour variety show from the comedian and SNL writer and showrunner Prentice Penny, premiering May 21, will feature various segments, from an apartment-set party hosted by Jay, to more structured sit-down interviews, sketches and animation. Jay tells Variety she hopes to "listen, learn and ask questions to those with different perspectives." What she won't do, however, is an opening monologue. “I didn’t want to do an opening monologue because for me it feels like a thing you do to prove to America that you can make light of something and I just didn’t want to do that,” Jay tells Variety. “I didn’t want to be doing this thing where every night I had to prove I’m funny. I feel like there’s funny moments all throughout the show: sometimes they come from me, sometimes they don’t; sometimes the funny is in the setup or the nuance. The type of comedian I am and the type of person I am, I find funny in the world — in how we think, approach things — and I really thought that this was a space to play with that.” ALSO: Watch Pause with Sam Jay's teaser.