HBO Canada Spotlights a Homegrown Comedic Legend with the Original Documentary Quality Balls – The David Steinberg Story

• Documentary premieres Saturday, May 25 on HBO Canada

(April 22, 2013 – Toronto, Canada) – HBO Canada presents the broadcast premiere of Quality Balls – The David Steinberg Story, an original documentary from Astral’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada). Directed by Barry Avrich, the documentary premieres Saturday, May 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET/MT on HBO Canada, following its World Premiere at the 2013 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on May 2, and a limited theatrical run at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto that begins on May 24.

About Quality Balls – The David Steinberg Story
The feature documentary highlights Canadian comic David Steinberg’s incredible career, from Winnipeg to attending Yeshiva in Chicago, abandoning his studies to join the legendary Second City. The film includes priceless archival footage of Steinberg’s performances, including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where he was second only to Bob Hope in the number of appearances and the stand-up shows that put him in the ranks of George Carlin and Richard Pryor. At times too controversial for U.S. networks, his religious sermonettes generated more hate mail for CBS than any network had ever received, resulting in the cancellation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. His directing credits are no less outstanding, including Seinfeld, Mad About You, Golden Girls and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Steinberg’s comedy influenced a generation and now, after 25 years, he returns to stand-up in this exceptional biography.

Quality Balls – The David Steinberg Story is a production of The Nightingale Company in partnership with Astral’s The Movie Network and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central, and is directed by Barry Avrich. Avrich has produced and directed 20 documentary films including the critically acclaimed The Last Mogul and Showstopper. He has also produced feature films including The Tempest and Caesar and Cleopatra both starring Academy Award®-winning actor Christopher Plummer.

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HBO Canada is a multiplex channel offered by Astral’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada). HBO Canada brings Canadians the current slate of signature dramatic programs for which HBO is known, together with new and never-before-seen programming including comedy series, live specials, sporting events, behind-the-scenes content and titles from HBO’s extensive library – all in an uncut and commercial-free environment. HBO Canada is offered in high definition on HBO Canada HD and programming is accessible on demand and online where available by service provider. For more information, please visit www.hbocanada.com.

The Movie Network is a member of the Astral family. Astral Media Inc. (TSX : ACM.A/ACM.B) is one of Canada’s largest media companies. It operates several of the country’s most popular pay and specialty television, radio, out-of-home advertising and interactive media properties. Astral plays a central role in community life across the country by offering diverse, rich and vibrant programming that meets the tastes and needs of consumers and advertisers. To learn more about Astral, visit astral.com.

Movie Central is owned by Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR.B), a Canadian-based media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in specialty television and radio with additional assets in pay television, television broadcasting, children’s book publishing, children’s animation and animation software. Experience Corus on the web at www.corusent.com.
 
About The Nightingale Company:
The Nightingale Company is an award-winning television production company based in Toronto. Specializing in scripted drama, longform, children’s, and mini-series, the company continues to develop exceptional properties for the North American and International marketplaces. In addition to Quality Balls, projects in the works include Mirror Mirror, Dick & Jane and Halfway.

For access to The Movie Network’s media room or Movie Central’s press site, please visit http://press.astral.com or http://mediacentre.corusent.com. 
 

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For more information
The Movie Network (Eastern Canada)                       
Nicolle Balen                                                                          
(416) 956-8638                                                              
nbalen@astral.com   

Movie Central (Western Canada)
Owen McCorquodale   
(416) 479-6068
Owen.McCorquodale@corusent.com