Crossballs: The Debate Show

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Crossballs was a Comedy Central television show poking fun at cable news networks' political debate shows, especially CNN's Crossfire and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. In each episode, a comedian posing as an expert on a particular subject would debate a real commentator, who is unaware that the show is a sham. Past topics have included whether Jesus was gay and whether vegetarianism is smart or ethical.

It debuted on July 6, 2004 and ran for eight weeks. It aired Tuesday-Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The last show, number 23, aired on August 24, 2004. Show number 24 ("Pistol Whipped America") was taped but never aired, after one of the unsuspecting guests, James March, threatened to sue Comedy Central.

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[edit] Controversy

The concept for Crossballs was conceived and proposed to Comedy Central in 1997 by Radio Talk Show Host Phil Hendrie, as a small-screen adaptation of his radio show. The network passed on the idea at the time, but later used the idea without credit to Hendrie, or formal permission. Hendrie addressed this and formally made his accusation public on the Phil Hendrie Show on 08/23/2004 (Hour 1 Segment 5). He considered filing suit, and noted his complaints on his web site, but never followed through with any legal action as Crossballs was canceled soon after (the last episode airing the next night).

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