Comedy Central Unveils Talent, Development Slate

NEW YORK, March 12: Coming
off its second consecutive record-breaking year, Comedy Central has lined up a
star-studded 2008-2009 development slate, which includes everything from
short-form and sketch/variety offerings to scripted narratives and animation.

Krod Mandoon and The
Flaming Sword of Fire is the
channel’s first fantasy-comedy to receive a series order, and will premiere
during the first quarter of 2009. The live-action character-driven series takes
place in the “long ago past” and features a reluctant hero, Krod Mandoon, as
the last great hope in a medieval struggle.

Other projects given the
go-ahead for pilot/presentation production are Untitled
Snoop Dogg Animated Project and Untitled
Andy Richter Sketch Show, as well as the
competition series America's Biggest Idiot, fake magazine show David Alan Grier's Chocolate News, animated series Gay Robot, anthology offering The Scariest Show on Television, the Opie & Anthony-hosted Search and Destroy and Speed Freaks, a
scripted series starring Zach Galifianakis and A.D. Miles.

The network
also has three series in the script/paper-development stage, which are Untitled Bobby Lee Project, a narrative comedy starring Bobby Lee; Gypsy
Cab, an animated series
revolving around the driver of a Gypsy Cab and its passengers; and Michael
and Michael Have Issues,
a sketch comedy from comedians Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter.

Comedy Central
will also continue to feature original
stand-up comedy and will premiere three one-hour, original stand-up specials in
2008 starring Carlos Mencia, John Oliver and Brian Regan.

"This
year's development slate features an incredibly diverse and versatile array of
talent and concepts," said Lauren Corrao, the president of original
programming and development at Comedy Central. "Our core viewers expect
nothing short of the best comedy options and continue to connect with the brand
we've built. We're confident that these ideas will resonate with them and will
continue to grow the network's success into the coming year."

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski