Comedy Central

Last night, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. There, Jon Stewart admitted that on the heels of President-elect Barack Obama's victory, he was worried for Mr. O'Reilly.

"I'm an anarchist," said Mr. O'Reilly.

To soothe him, Mr. Stewart gave the anchor a teddy bear and some hot cocoa.

On Thursday, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow appeared on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, where she discussed such things as the new king of Bhutan and her lack of Peabody Awards.

"Just for the record, how many Peabody's do you have?" Mr. Colbert asked her at the outset. "I don't have any Peabodys," Ms. Maddow answered.

"I've got a couple," Mr. Colbert boasted before suggesting that she, like Bill O'Reilly, just claim she has some. "Nobody checks," he assured her.

Tonight, Comedy Central will premiere its latest fake news show, a faux black news magazine series, called Chocolate News, starring David Alan Grier.

"This is the perfect chance," Mr. Grier told The New York Times' Felicia R. Lee today. "I wanted something where I could have the clearest and most unfiltered artistic and creative voice. I had done the sitcom thing to lesser and lesser degrees of success."

Back in August, we wrote about Jeremy Bronson, a writer for Chocolate News, who moved over to Comedy Central after a six-year stint working for NBC News in Washington, most recently as a producer for MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews.  read more »

Last week, Media Mob offered a flashback of the late Stephanie Tubbs Jones appearance on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. In presenting that clip, we praised Congresswoman Tubbs Jones for her good comedic timing in her interview with Mr. Colbert.

Last night, Mr. Colbert paid tribute to the late Congresswoman by showing some great footage of her improvising an imaginary courtroom show called Judge Tubbs with him. In the bit, a defendant named Bramlet Abercrombie (played by Mr. Colbert) sued his girlfriend, Sharon Applebaum (Mr. Colbert again) for setting his couch "afire."

Playing herself, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones nailed it.

Have faith, New York City comics. Your performance in some dive bar might not be a lost cause this November: Comedy Central has just announced a new partnership with The New York Comedy Festival. The multi-year collaboration will include producing an on-air special of the festival (set to premiere in early 2009). They'll also provide digital media support (online videos!) and other "content opportunities," according to a press statement. The fest runs from Nov. 5 to 9, but tickets go on sale this week, on Aug. 7 at 11 a.m. (Check out www.ticketmaster.com or carnegiehall.org).

This year's performers include lots of Daily Show and Late Night writers. Frank Caliendo, Louis C.K., Craig Ferguson, Carlos Mencia, Joel McHale, B.J. Novak, Tracy Morgan, Brian Regan, Sarah Silverman, and Katt Williams will all be there. A full-line up is available at The New York Comedy Festival Web site.

Ouch!

TV Decoder reports that the writers' strike has already delivered a nasty lashing to Comedy Central’s smirk-some duo, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

   read more »