Comedy Central
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| Comedy Central | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | April 1, 1991 |
| Owned by | Comedy Partners LLC (MTV Networks/Viacom) |
| Formerly called | The Comedy Channel, Ha! |
| Website | Official Site |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | Channel 249 |
| Dish Network | Channel 107 |
| Cable | |
| Available on most cable systems | Check Local Listings for channels |
Comedy Central is a cable television and satellite television channel in the United States and, as of October 19, 2006, in Poland[1] and of January 15, 2007 in Germany[2]. Two more countries are following, from April 30 in the Netherlands and from May in Italy. As its name implies, the channel carries predominantly comedy programming, both original and syndicated. While once a small cable network that few watched, in recent years it has grown to be one of the most popular cable channels, earning the praise of many entertainment-based media along the way[citation needed].
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] The Comedy Channel and Ha!
In November 1989, Time Warner, owners of HBO, launched The Comedy Channel as the first cable channel devoted exclusively to comedy-based programming. Five months later, Viacom (who owned MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon) launched an edgier rival channel called HA!
[edit] CTV: The Comedy Network
After two years of limited distribution, the two channels merged into one, relaunching, fittingly, on April Fool's Day 1991 as CTV: The Comedy Network. However, trademark issues with the Canadian network CTV forced the merged channel to rebrand itself Comedy Central on June 1, 1991 (coincidentally, the Canadian channel The Comedy Network is owned by CTVglobemedia, which also owns the Canadian CTV, of which both names were used on the American merged network). Viacom bought out Time Warner's half in April 2003 for $1.225 billion.
[edit] 1991-1996
From the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, much of the programming on Comedy Central, and its predecessors, consisted of comedy movies and half-hour specials and clip-shows featuring stand up comedians. With the exception of the cult favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000, the channel had a relatively small viewership. A notable early success was Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, which after showing promise on Comedy Central was quickly snapped up by the ABC network.
[edit] South Park
The channel made a breakthrough when South Park premiered in 1997. The first major cable show to carry the TV-MA rating for mature audiences, the show was too controversial to get picked up by a mainstream network. As word-of-mouth spread, the number of people who requested that Comedy Central be added to their cable systems increased, and the channel became available in over 50% of American homes by 1998.
[edit] The Secret Stash
The success of South Park with its mature content encouraged the network to continue to push the limits on adult language. Every "Saturday at 1 a.m.," a movie or comedy special is shown unedited. This is called the Secret Stash. It premiered on July 4th, 2003 (with the unedited cable television debut of the "South Park" movie).
The movies and comedy specials shown on the Secret Stash are typically those with a large amount of adult language, especially four-letter words not typically allowed on television, that would be heavily edited otherwise. Movies shown on the Secret Stash to date include South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, The Big Lebowski, Bad Santa, Eddie Murphy Raw, Jackass: The Movie, Clerks, Scary Movie 2, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Not Another Teen Movie, The Breakfast Club, Van Wilder, Major League, S.F.W. and also its Friars Club roasts, although on November 26, 2006 the channel aired Fast Times At Ridgemont High with the profanity intact but all of the nudity excised from the film. Nudity is also censored during presentations of The Big Lebowski, Jackass the Movie, Clerks and Not Another Teen Movie.
[edit] 2002-2006
In 2002, Comedy Central Records was formed as a means of releasing albums by comedians that have appeared on the network.
Since 2003, Comedy Central has created a tradition of "roasting" comedians in tradition of the New York Friars Club roasts. During these roasts friends of the roastee, along with comedians, take turns making fun of the roastee, the other roasters and occasionally audience members. So far, the roastees have included Hugh Hefner, Drew Carey, Denis Leary, Jeff Foxworthy, Pamela Anderson, William Shatner and Rob Reiner.
In late 2004, it was reported that the top four rated shows on Comedy Central, in order, were South Park, Chappelle's Show, The Daily Show, and Reno 911!. Shortly thereafter, Dave Chappelle infamously backed out of the anticipated third season of Chappelle's Show; meanwhile, The Daily Show continued to climb in ratings. In October 2005, on the occasion of a new three-year contract for South Park and the launch of The Colbert Report, it was reported that South Park and The Daily Show were the two highest rated shows on Comedy Central. Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog was reported as saying that he hoped to continue to air new seasons of South Park forever, and that The Colbert Report fulfilled a long-held plan to extend the Daily Show brand.
On April 5, 2006, in a controversial two part episode arc titled Cartoon Wars Part I and Cartoon Wars Part II, South Park touched the issue of the recent Muslim protest over the Danish comic strips depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad. The image of Muhammad did not appear in the episode. On April 13, 2006, Comedy Central issued a statement[1] which appears to confirm that the network prohibited the show's creators from airing an image of Muhammad. The statement reads, "In light of recent world events, we feel we made the right decision." An anonymous source close to the show indicated that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were informed of the policy several weeks earlier, and wrote this story arc in protest. On October 19, 2006, MTV Networks International launched Comedy Central in Poland. The channel contains 19 series from USA, 3 shows from America (for example Saturday Night Live) and 2 programms from Poland (Koookły, Hu jak humor).
[edit] 2007-
On Monday January 15, 2007, MTV Networks International launched Comedy Central in Germany. It is the first 24 hour German-speaking comedy channel in Germany and is available for free throughout Europe. The channel airs 33 shows either dubbed in German or subtitled while also airing locally produced shows - http://www.comedycentral.de In the course of 2007, Dutch channel The Box will be transformed into the Dutch version of Comedy Central. And on May 1, 2007 the channel is starting in Italy.
[edit] Previous logos
 The Comedy Channel Logo. |
 A Promo For Mystery Science Theater 3000 On CTV: The Comedy Network. |
 Original Comedy Central Logo From 1991 to 1993. |
 Comedy Central Logo From 1993 to 1999. |
 Current Comedy Central Logo since 2000. |
The current Comedy Central Network ID, created in 2000, was underscored with an audio signature and accompanying music campaign composed and produced by Musikvergnuegen -- a Hollywood-based music and sound company specializing in audio branding founded by Austrian-born composer Walter Werzowa.
[edit] Notable original programming
[edit] Current
[edit] Animated
- South Park (1997-present)
- Drawn Together (2004-present)
- Freak Show (2006-present)
[edit] Sitcoms
- Reno 911! (2003-present)
- The Sarah Silverman Program (2007-present)
- Halfway Home (2007-present) Premiered at 10:30 on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
[edit] Talk Shows/Variety
- The Daily Show (1996-present)
- The Colbert Report (2005-present)
- The Showbiz Show with David Spade (2005-present)
- Mind of Mencia (2005-present)
- The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show (2007)
[edit] Standup Comedy
- Premium Blend (1997-present)
- Comedy Central Presents (1998-present)
- Friday Night Stand Up With Greg Giraldo (2006-present), replaces Weekends at the D.L.
- Live at Gotham (2006-present)
- The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour (2007-present)
[edit] Past (on reruns)
[edit] Animated
- Bob and Margaret (1998-2001) (co-produced with Nelvana)
- Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995-1999)
- Kid Notorious (2003)
[edit] Clip Shows
- The Higgins Boys and Gruber (1999)
- Short Attention Span Theater (1989-1994)
- Shorties Watchin' Shorties (2004)
- Stand-Up Sitdown with Paul Provenza
[edit] Game Shows
- Battlebots (2000-2002)
- Beat the Geeks (2001-2002)
- Clash (hosted by Billy Kimball) (1990)
- Distraction (U.S. version; 2005-2006)
- Don't Forget Your Toothbrush (2000)
- Let's Bowl (season 2) (2001-2002)
- Win Ben Stein's Money (1997-2003)
- VS. (game show) (hosted by Greg Proops, 1999)
[edit] Reality Shows
- Comedians of Comedy (2005)
- Con (2005)
- Crossballs (2004)
- I'm with Busey (2003)
- Straight Plan for the Gay Man (2004)
- Wanda Does It (2004)
[edit] Sitcoms
- Frank Leaves For The Orient (1999)
- Strangers With Candy (1999-2000)
- Strip Mall (2000-2001)
- That's My Bush! (2001)
- Stella (2005)
- Dog Bites Man (2006)
[edit] Sketch Comedy
- Chappelle's Show (2003-2006)
- Crank Yankers (2002-2005) – now on MTV2
- Exit 57 (1995-1996)
- The Hollow Men (2005)
- Trigger Happy TV (US version) (2003)
- TV Funhouse (2000-2001)
- Upright Citizens Brigade (1998-2000)
- The Vacant Lot (1994)
- Limboland (1994)
[edit] Stage performances
[edit] Standup Comedy
- The A List (1992-93)
- Comic Justice (1993)
- Comic Remix
- Stand-Up Stand-Up (1992-1995)
- Premium Blend [?]
[edit] Talk Shows/Variety
- Alan King: Inside the Comedy Mind (1991)
- The Chris Wylde Show (2001)
- Comics Only hosted by Paul Provenza and featuring Fred Wolf
- The Graham Norton Effect (2004)
- Insomniac with Dave Attell (2001-2003)
- The Man Show (1999-2004)
- Night After Night with Allan Havey (1989-1992)
- Politically Incorrect (1993-2002) (later on ABC)
- Too Late with Adam Carolla (2005)
- Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (2003-2004)
- Win Ben Stein's Money (1997-2003)
- Viva Variety (1996-1998)
- Weekends at the D.L. (Hosted by D.L. Hughley) (2005)
[edit] Other
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 (seasons 1—7) (1988-1996)
- Sports Monster (1990-1991)
- Jump Cuts (2004)
- The Sweet Spot
[edit] Original movies
- Porn 'n Chicken (2002)
- Windy City Heat (2003)
- The Hebrew Hammer
- Knee High P.I. (2003)
[edit] Motherload Videos
- Odd Todd (2005)
- Golden Age (2006)
- The Watch List
- Shadow Rock
- Jump Cuts
[edit] Notable non-original programming
- Absolutely Fabulous
- Banzai (now on G4)
- Beavis and Butt-head (briefly around the release of the Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 1 DVD collection)
- The Benny Hill Show (now on BBC America)
- Blue Collar TV
- Bob & Margaret (British version)
- Clerks: The Animated Series (no longer syndicated)
- The Critic
- Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
- Dilbert
- Duckman
- Futurama (reruns currently air on Adult Swim; reruns and 13 new episodes will air in 2008)
- Kids in the Hall
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (no longer syndicated)
- MADtv
- Monty Python's Flying Circus (now on BBC America and PBS)
- Mr. Show with Bob and David (no longer syndicated)
- Saturday Night Live (now on E!)
- Scrubs
- Seinfeld (no longer syndicated)
- Soap
- Sports Night
- The Tick (animated series) (Now On Jetix on Toon Disney)
- The Tracey Ullman Show
- Travel Sick
- Trigger Happy TV (British version)
- Whose Line Is It Anyway? (British version; now on BBC America)
- Wonder Showzen Briefly when season 1 came out
- The Young Ones
