Part of me is surprised that this deal took this long to happen. But when you watch the recent crop of new shows on the Chortle Network (with the exception of Tosh.0), it really shouldn't surprise anyone.
Comedy Central has ordered a half-hour scripted pilot based on the Onion's Sports Network. The OSN is part of the popular satirical magazine's online TV news network that launched a little under a year ago.
This isn't the first time the network has tried to do a satirical sports show. Comedy Central also shot a pilot for a Daily Show-esque sports show called Sports Central that died in the pilot stage. This incarnation sounds much more promising since it will spoof not only sports figures and stories, but also the tone and style of sports media. Sweet sassy molassey, this is gonna rock!
Even though the show has been on forever, I still enjoy my weekly dose of the new South Parks. But lately, they seem to be running out of targets or have narrowed their focus too much on one particular evil: reality television.
The season opener featured a rather nasty swipe at Disney's Jonas Brothers. The recent "Dead Celebrities" chortle-fest took a much needed pot shot at Ghost Hunters, aka, "the gayest f#*$ing show on television." And last week launched an all out attack on Discovery's Whale Wars and Deadliest Catch, particularly against Whale Wars star Paul Watson.
The show has always been a bitch to write and making every episode a satirical masterpiece is impossible without suffering a full-on breakdown. But should the show lay off reality TV and take some bolder shots at reality, which as we all know are two completely different things?
You don't usually see Stephen Colbert talking about sports. He even addresses that a little bit in this clip from last night's show, where he talks about the winner of the New York City marathon and Olympic speedskating.
Whatever your political opinions are and however your cable news tastes run, you have to admit that this Daily Show examination of how Fox News works is pretty smart. Not just as an explanation at how the news side works with the non-news side of the network, but as an explanation of how any organization can spin things their way.
Comedian Nick Swardson has scored his own sketch comedy series on Comedy Central. The show will hit the air next year and feature a lot of digital shorts and animation, some of which will be based on almost Python-esque "Gay Robot" character. Swardson and Adam Sandler actually shot a pilot for his "Gay Robot" character years ago and thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can also enjoy it. Warning: if you're easily offended by jokes of a sexual nature, please get over yourself and grow a sense of humor before watching it.
At the time, the show was embraced by fans of Beavis & Butthead and King of the Hill as a worthy sardonic successor to Judge's animated quiver. But, critics often attacked its mockery of political correctness and progressive politics. Some pundits went so far as claiming such a show was inappropriate in the era of Obama.
In other words, it's only censorship when your side is the one being silenced.
Here comes one of the most brilliant casting moves in television history since Saturday Night Live hired a 12-year-old boy to play Dan Quayle.
Ron White, one-fourth of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, has been cast as the lead voice in a new animated sitcom called "Hounds" for Comedy Central.
The show will be set in a small Southern town where White will play Chicken, "a countrified Yoda with a bottle of Jack and a bag of weed, an opinionated Southern philosopher who considers himself the center of the universe." No offense intended to "Tater Salad," but I can't think of a better person to play that part...until someone resurrects the remains of Sorrell Booke in some kind of horrible government experiment to turn flesh eating zombies into a military weapon.
In the original version of this post, I wrote about the big success of Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central -- last Thursday night, his new show The Jeff Dunham Show drew 5.3 million viewers, the highest ever premiere for a show on that network. However, I mistakenly thought the show aired Friday and compared the ratings to shows on other networks that night. I sincerely apologize if that confused readers. Here's the story as it should have been written in the first place.
Jeff Dunham's success was surprising and quite a feat. As my mother might say, "Go figure." The Jeff Dunham Show.
And the number of viewers got even better later that night when a repeat of the show aired -- 7.9 million viewers.
The Colbert Report's The Word is one of those iPhone applications that takes advantage of that sort of portable player. The Word is one of those segments that doesn't translate well to a book, unlike Letterman's Top Ten Lists. Video clips better convey the emotion of the segment.
Basically, the application is all the clips of Colbert's most famous segment, and I mean all of them. The app requires a WiFi or data connection to work (because you don't want all those clips taking up memory) but they're constantly updated. I'm not sure if this will be forever or until they get bored with it and figure out another way to make money.
Right now, Comedy Central's new Jeff Dunham Show is buzzing in the background and I can't get the voices out of my head. Now I know what it's like to be a ventriloquist and a meth addict.
No disrespect to Dunham and company, but there was a time when throwing your voice was impressive enough to get on television. Check out the late Señor Wences chatting it up with his friends Johnny and Pedro on the original Muppet Show. It's alright.
According to the press release, the gang from Paddy's Pub will make an appearance for the first time on Comedy Central for a limited run next summer with the long-term license window starting after the first of the year in 2011.
I was going to start this letter by telling you how much of a fan I am of you and your show. But I'm sure you already know that, right? You probably cannot conceive of a TV viewer who doesn't like your show, so my love of everything you do probably comes as no surprise to you. But last night you did something that hurt me and several of my friends deeply.
You made a joke about the Gorton's fisherman being kidnapped and said that he was in Maine. He's not, he's in Massachusetts. I should know because I grew up a mile from Gorton's and devoured their fish sticks every week (now with crispier breading!).
The Word is one of the best segments of The Colbert Report, and last night Colbert ranted about a large cross in the Mojave Desert that is causing some controversy.
I've never noticed how often the hosts at CNN - almost all of them - say the phrase "we'll have to leave it there" when they run out of time when interviewing a guest. But The Daily Show noticed it, and last night they were all over CNN about it.
Comedian man-child Nick Swardson has a new comedy special premiering this week called Seriously, Who Farted? I smell a Kennedy Center Honor (sniff, or is that a People's Choice Award?).
Now normally, I do like to literally judge something by its cover, but it's hard not to with a title like Seriously, Who Farted?. A title like that could be either the greatest or absolutely worst of anything of all time, whether it's a comedy special, video game, or brand of cereal. If it's a brand of cereal, then it would most likely be the worst.
Part of me is surprised that this deal took this long to happen. But when you watch the recent crop of new shows on the Chortle Network (with the exception of Tosh.0), it really shouldn't surprise anyone. 
The Goode Family -- the Mike Judge show ABC did everything it could to kill -- has a new home at Comedy Central.
Here comes one of the most brilliant casting moves in television history since 
In the original version of this post, I wrote about the big success of Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central -- last Thursday night, his new show 
The Colbert Report's The Word is one of those iPhone applications that takes advantage of that sort of portable player. The Word is one of those segments that doesn't translate well to a book, unlike Letterman's Top Ten Lists. Video clips better convey the emotion of the segment.
This was bound to happen, wasn't it?
Dear Stephen,
Comedian man-child Nick Swardson has a new comedy special premiering this week called Seriously, Who Farted? I smell a Kennedy Center Honor (sniff, or is that a People's Choice Award?). 
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