Comedy Central

Comedy Central in the United Kingdom and Ireland is a localised version of Comedy Central which first began in the United States in the 1990s. The television channel is available through Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable and TalkTalk TV in the United Kingdom, and through Sky, UPC Ireland and Magnet Networks in Ireland. The channel's programming concentrates solely on comedy.

The channel was rebranded from Paramount Comedy 1 to Comedy Central at 9:00 pm on 6 April 2009.

History
The channel premier as The Paramount Channel on 1 November 1995 as a Comedy and Entertainment channel. The original schedule was a mixture of comedy and drama, as well as films from the Paramount Pictures film library, Beauty and the Beast 1987 TV series), several amine productions acquired from Manga Entertainment, and authentic Paramount archive programming like The Magician, along with a number of Channel 4 programming. It originally shared its slot with Nickelodeon who finished broadcasting at 7:00 pm, with Paramount taking over from that point every evening until around 4:00 am, with a testcard featuring a chicken crossing the road and holding up traffic airing during downtime until Nickelodeon started up at 6:00 am. On 1 September 1997, all non comedy programmes were dropped from the schedule and the channel became 100% comedy, hence the change of name to the Paramount Comedy Channel with the 'Channel' part of the name was dropped on 1 July 2002. The channel quickly established itself as a springboard for new talent, including Matt Lucas and David Walliams, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Leigh Francis and Sacha Baron Cohen; in 1999 Paramount Comedy joined forces with LWT and Channel 4 to produce the pioneering sitcom Spaced, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes.

The introduction of Sky Digital brought greater space for channels on the network and allowed it to become a channel independent of Nickelodeon. The channel continued broadcasting from 7:00 pm. until 4 February 2001 when it launched a daytime lineup and moved its startup time to 9:00 am.[1] ↑ "Paramount to expand from 4 Feb". The Airwaves. 17 December 2000. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110724100300/http://www.theairwaves.net/index.php/channelnews/392-paramount-to-expand-from-feb-4th. when teleshopping became legal in the UK, it changed to close at a fixed time of 6:00 am with teleshopping broadcasting in the 6:00 am - 9:00 am slot. In November 2011, broadcasting hours were modified again, this time to start at 8:00 am and finish at 5:00 am.

2009 rebrand
On 17 February 2009, it was announced that Paramount Comedy 1 would be rebranded as Comedy Central and Paramount Comedy 2 as Comedy Central Extra on 6 April 2009 at 9:00 pm. The name change coincided with the launch of a new programming lineup which included new episodes of Two and a Half Men, Scrubs, The Office, The Sarah Silverman Program and South Park, where they air new episodes about a week after their U.S. airing. Since season 13, Comedy Central has aired new episodes of South Park two days after they aired in the U.S.

Original programming push
In October 2011, Threesome, a narrative comedy series and Comedy Central's first original scripted comedy began. The series starred Emun Elliott, Amy Huberman and Stephen Wight, was written by Tom MacRae and produced by Big Talk Productions. In May 2012 it was announced that Comedy Central is to make a major push into original comedy content, with more than 20 new projects at various stages of development, and 10 scripts already ordered. Executive, Sarah Farrell, told trade magazine Broadcast, "This time next year, we will be doing as many of those projects as we possibly can. We are looking for things that are big, broad and accessible, with the laugh-out-loud factor that comes from big jokes and set pieces." She also noted that they are now "fully committed to the plans."

The process was being micro-managed by Paramount bosses in New York, but with the announcement of these projects and Threesome's success, UK executives have been given greater control. Farrell also indicated that if the already commissioned second series of Threesome is popular, then "a third run could be up to 22 episodes in length."

details about most of the new projects are unknown, but Broadcast has revealed that the most advanced are a single-camera sitcom about a graduate who moves back in with his parents. A pilot episode of Big Bad World, which is written by Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf and will be filmed in the near future. It is being produced by Objective Productions and has the team behind Peep Show on board. Tristram Shapeero, who had been working in the US and who's credits include Happy Endings, Green Wing, Community and I'm Alan Partridge, will direct, with Andrew Newman and Ben Farrell executive producing. Five further scripts are already complete, should the pilot be seen in a positive light by Comedy Central bosses. Comedy Central's move into original productions did not come without problems, as it was announced in April 2012 that Pete Thornton, the channel's comedy commissioner, had resigned to return to the BBC comedy department as its Creative Head of Comedy, and will oversee Comic Relief 2013. Comedy Central aren't the only digital channel working to increase its original comedy output. In 2012 BSkyB committed to investing £600 million in British programming by 2014, including creating new comedy formats and programmes and the UKTV channels, Dave and Gold, have also increased their comedy commissioning budgets, and have commissioned numerous programmes as well as new series of BBC classics Red Dwarf and Yes, Prime Minister.

Other channels
After no longer having to timeshare with Nickelodeon, the station increased its broadcasting hours, and was joined by Paramount Comedy 2 (later rebranded as Comedy Central Extra) on 1 September 2003. A one hour timeshift, Paramount Comedy 1 +1 (now Comedy Central +1) was launched on Sky channel 127 on 30 August 2005 and Virgin Media channel 133 shortly after.

A high-definition version, Comedy Central HD, launched on 9 August 2010 on Sky channel 222. On 1 September 2010 the channel also became available on Virgin Media channel 133. Comedy Central HD broadcasts high-definition programming including Two and a Half Men, 30 Rock and South Park, in addition to new UK commissions. Virgin Media will also make some popular Comedy Central HD programmes available on demand.

A second timeshift, Paramount Comedy 2 +1 (now Comedy Central Extra +1) was launched on Sky channel 159, on 5 November 2007. Nicktoons Replay currently timeshares with the channel between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm.

Comedy Central in Ireland
Comedy Central has an alternative Irish feed of the same channel available on Sky, UPC Ireland and Magnet Networks among other digital television providers. The feed launched in May 2006 and is identical to the UK channel, differing only in sponsorship and commercial breaks. The domain name comedycentral.ie also redirects to comedycentral.co.uk. An additional Irish commercial feed of the timeshift service, Comedy Central +1, was also launched shortly after the parent channel's rebranding on 6 April 2009.

Programming
Comedy Central is well known for bringing popular American shows to the UK, such as Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, South Park Friends, Scrubs, King of Queens, Two and a Half Men and Sex And The City Everybody Hates Chris. It also shows South Park and in the past aired others such as Trailer Park Boys, Happy Tree Friends, Drawn Together, Burberry  and Seinfeld.

The channel prides itself on its stand up content with 40% of all programming on Comedy Central being stand up with talent such as Lee Evans, Jack Dee and Al Murray. This wide array of programming (which is also reflected in live events supported by the channel: Edinburgh and Beyond, Comedy on Tap and Paramount Comedy Festival, Brighton) attracted Magners as a sponsor of all stand up content on Comedy Central and their live events.

The channel also prides itself on supporting new comedy talent. The channel was instrumental in the early careers of comedic talent such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Dom Joly, Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Most recently, the channel has been involved in commission a strand called Shortcuts, an on-air and online venture to promote new comedic talent.

In the past, it has frequently had a large back catalogue of Channel 4 comedies in its schedule, such as Father Ted, Spaced, Drop the Dead Donkey and Paul Merton: The Series, and some BBC classics such as The Young Ones, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Not the Nine O'Clock News. Some of these programmes continue to be aired today, and recent acquisitions include Not Going Out and The Kenny Everett Television Show.

Comedy Central has recently shown new episodes of Mike & Molly, Two and a Half Men, Scrubs, The Sarah Silverman Program, 30 Rock, The Office: An American Workplace, Everybody Hates Chris and South Park. Comedy Central recently acquired the rights to Friends, which previously aired on Channel 4 and E4, but marked the first time for Friends to be shown in HD in the UK. The series began airing on 1 October 2011.

Picture format
Until late 2011, Comedy Central and Comedy Central Extra continued to air in 4:3 in standard-definition, although many shows had already converted to 16:9 widescreen format, they were cropped to remain in a full-frame screen and later some were letterboxed. The shows on Comedy Central HD air in 16:9, though those in 4:3 are pillarboxed to fit the frame of widescreen. This practise was extended to the standard-definition channels when they began broadcasting in widescreen.