Comedy Central

Comedy Central is a cable television channel in the United States. As its name implies, the channel carries predominantly comedy programming, both original and syndicated.

Related Topics:
Cable television - United States - Syndicated

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Comedy Central began on April Fool's Day 1991, after Home Box Office, owned by Time Warner, merged its Comedy Channel with MTV Networks' HA! comedy channel, owned by Viacom. Viacom bought Time Warner's half in April 2003 for $1.225 billion.

Related Topics:
April Fool's Day - 1991 - Home Box Office - Time Warner - Comedy Channel - MTV Networks - Viacom - 2003

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The channel had a relatively small viewership until South Park premiered on the then-fledgling channel in 1997. 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.

Related Topics:
South Park - 1997 - 1998

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Much of Comedy Central's programming consists of 1980s through mid-1990s comedy movies and stand up comedians. Once a week, they show an unedited movie or comedy special. They call this the "Secret Stash." They advertise that it comes on Saturdays at 1 AM, though technically it airs Sunday at 1 AM, not Saturday. Comedy Central also hosts original programming, including Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, a satirical half-hour "fake news" show poking fun at modern-day media and politics.

Related Topics:
1980s - 1990s - Comedy movie - Stand up comedian - Jon Stewart - The Daily Show - Fake news

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