COMEDY CENTRAL(R) Announces Multi-Year National Partnership With New York Comedy Festival: Festival Celebrates Fifth Anniversary With an All-Star Line-Up of Top Comedic Talent

COMEDY CENTRAL(R) Announces Multi-Year National Partnership With New York Comedy Festival: Festival Celebrates Fifth Anniversary With an All-Star Line-Up of Top Comedic Talent

Frank Caliendo, Louis C.K., Craig Ferguson, Carlos Mencia, Joel McHale, Tracy Morgan, B.J. Novak, Brian Regan, Sarah Silverman, Katt Williams and More To Headline November 5-9, 2008

Tickets Available to the General Public on August 7

NEW YORK, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- COMEDY CENTRAL and The New York Comedy Festival announced today that they have signed a multi-year partnership. This new deal provides the Festival for the first-time, a national television partner to showcase its prestigious comedy line-up. The Festival, celebrating its Fifth Anniversary, will feature some of today's biggest names in comedy for its 2008 roster including Frank Caliendo, Louis C.K., Craig Ferguson, Carlos Mencia, Joel McHale, B.J. Novak, Tracy Morgan, Brian Regan, Sarah Silverman, and Katt Williams.

In addition, the multi-year national partnership will include producing an on-air special shot at the Festival which will premiere in early 2009, as well as digital media support and other content opportunities.

The 2008 line-up builds on the overwhelming success of previous years to reach an even higher plateau of laughs. Presented in a record number of prestigious New York City venues -- including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Harlem's World Famous Apollo Theater, Town Hall, Hammerstein Ballroom, Carolines on Broadway, the Paley Center for Media, and the 92nd Street Y -- this year's Festival boasts stand-out stand-up performances and panel discussions with writers from the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and the Emmy Award-winning writers from "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show," who will moderate a panel featuring the most insightful and hilarious political minds working today.

"We're thrilled to celebrate the fifth year of the New York Comedy Festival with such a talented and hilarious group of performers who are on the leading edge of the comedy business," said Caroline Hirsch, co-founder of the Festival and owner of Carolines on Broadway. "We are also very excited to launch a multi-year partnership with COMEDY CENTRAL, and look forward to working with them to extend the Festival's audience even further and to provide even more content and programming through COMEDY CENTRAL's various media platforms."

"COMEDY CENTRAL applauds the New York Comedy Festival for its ongoing efforts in showcasing and celebrating stand-up comedy," said Mitch Fried, senior vice president, promotion marketing, COMEDY CENTRAL. "We are thrilled to partner with the Festival and Caroline's, the preeminent comedy club and look forward to providing a national platform for this illustrious event."

The 2008 New York Comedy Festival is produced by Carolines on Broadway and United Entertainment Group. The Festival is presented by myspace.com, New York Post, Time Out New York, WWNY/Fox 5 and WWOR/My9.

The New York Comedy Festival has presented top tier acts in the past such as Rosie O'Donnell, Denis Leary, Dane Cook, Artie Lange, Howie Mandel, Damon Wayans, Roseanne Barr, DL Hughley, Mario Cantone, Steven Wright, Mo'Nique and Bill Maher.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.nycomedyfestival.com/.

Tickets for the Festival will be on sale starting Thursday, August 7 at 11 a.m.

   Tickets for performances may also be purchased through:   -- Town Hall, Hammerstein Ballroom and Apollo Theater: Ticketmaster at      212-307-7171 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/   -- Carnegie Hall: via Carnegie Charge at 212-247-7800 or      http://www.carnegiehall.org/   -- Lincoln Center (Avery Fisher Hall): via Centercharge at 212-721-6500 or      http://www.lincolncenter.org/   -- Paley Center for Media: http://www.paleycenter.org/ (On Sale 9/23/2008)   -- 92nd Street Y: http://www.92y.org/                       THE 2008 NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL    (Schedule below represents events confirmed to date and is subject to                                 additions)    11/5/2008        Frank Caliendo Live                  Carnegie Hall   11/6/2008        Louis C.K. They're With Me           Town Hall   11/5/2008        "We Have a Winner" moderated                     by Lizz Winstead                    92nd Street Y   11/6/2008        Katt Williams Live In Concert        Carnegie Hall   11/7/2008        Carlos Mencia: At Close Range        Avery Fisher Hall   11/7/2008        An Evening with Craig Ferguson       Town Hall   11/7/2008        Writers Speak! A Potentially                     Regrettable Evening with                     the Writers of The Daily Show       Paley Center   11/8/2008        Tracy Morgan: Coming Back Home       Apollo Theater   11/8/2008        Sarah Silverman and Friends          Hammerstein Ballroom   11/8/2008        Joel McHale Live at Town Hall        Town Hall   11/8/2008        Late Night with Conan O'Brien                     Writers' Panel Discussion           Paley Center   11/9/2008        Brian Regan Live in Concert          Avery Fisher Hall   11/9/2008        B.J. Novak and Friends               Town Hall    

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 95 million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE:VIA) (NYSE:and) (NYSE:VIA.B) MTV Networks. COMEDY CENTRAL's Internet address is http://www.comedycentral.com/. For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs visit Press Central, COMEDY CENTRAL's press Web site at http://www.comedycentral.com/press.

Source: COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications

CONTACT: Kerri Chyka, kerri.chyka@freud.com, or Anne Finn,
anne.finn@freud.com, both of Freud Communications, Inc., +1-212-582-9795; or
Aileen Budow of COMEDY CENTRAL, +1-212-767-3952,
aileen.budow@comedycentral.com

Web site: http://www.comedycentral.com/
http://www.nycomedyfestival.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment