www.comedychannel.com.au OCTOBER 2009 HIGHLIGHTS 1. The Gong Show With Dave Attell 2. The Jay Leno Show 3. Sunday Headliners The Gong Show With Dave Attell AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Thursdays at 9.30pm from October 8 The maddest comedy variety series is returning but it’s been remixed for the noughties! THE GONG SHOW with Dave Attell is the new version of the ground-breaking 1970’s Chuck Barris original where a panel of celebrity judges witness a revolving door of outrageous variety acts before delivering their verdict, one that often sees the losers rapidly sent back to obscurity with a giant gong hammer. THE GONG SHOW is brimming with the most preposterous, nonsensical and off-the-wall performances courtesy of everyday people with a dream of performing. Acts include a man who plays the bagpipes while on a unicycle, the human helicopter, a plus-size male stripper and a group that uses ladders and recyclables as musical instruments. If the act survives without being gonged, he/she/they/it are given a score and the contestant who achieves the highest combined score wins the grand prize. The rotating roster of guest judges that rag on the ‘talent’ includes Dave Navarro, Andy Dick, J.B. Smoove, Steve Schirripa, Brian Posehn, Adam Carolla, Dana Goodman, Julia Wolov, Greg Giraldo and Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog. If you thought RED FACES was the pinnacle of talent show weirdness, you haven’t seen anything yet - there’s a reason some talent remains undiscovered! The Jay Leno Show EXCLUSIVE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Weeknights at 7.30pm One 2009's most hotly anticipated television shows will screen exclusively on THE COMEDY CHANNEL! Marking a new era in television, Jay Leno, recently named America's Favourite TV Personality by the 2009 Harris Poll and previous host of THE TONIGHT SHOW, moves from late night to primetime on September 15 when THE JAY LENO SHOW comes to THE COMEDY CHANNEL. In America THE JAY LENO SHOW will be the first-ever entertainment program to be stripped across primetime on broadcast network television. Screening 5 nights a week at 7.30pm THE JAY LENO SHOW promises great comedy, top guests and will showcase many of the features that have made Leno America's late-night leader for more than a dozen years. Sunday Headliners INCLUDES AUSTRALIAN PREMIERES Sundays at 6.30pm from October 4 Join us at 6.30pm each Sunday night for some of the world’s top stand up comedians. Includes Australian PREMIERES. October 4 – Ron White, You Can’t Fix Stupid – PREMIERE Irreverent bad-boy comic Ron White (one of the stars of the wildly successful Blue Collar Comedy Tour) will crack you up with a non-stop stream of hilarious jokes in his dry signature style. October 11 – Jeff Foxworthy – Totally Committed – PREMIERE Filmed live on stage at The Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, Jeff Foxworthy takes aim at every target in his sights - from the perils and pitfalls of marriage, through to what it takes to make a redneck. October 18 – Just For Laughs – Jim Gaffigan Comedian, sitcom star, and feature film actor Jim Gaffigan (Three Kings, Welcome to New York, Super Troopers) performs his stand-up routine before a live audience. October 25 – HBO One Night Stand - Command Performance: Bill Maher (6.30pm) / Ellen Degeneres (7pm) One Night Stand spotlights some of America's prime stand up comics, live and uncontrolled! :30 Seconds WORLD PREMIERE EPISODES – EXCLUSIVE TO THE COMEDY CHANNEL Mondays at 8.30pm :30 SECONDS lifts the lid on the advertising industry and characters within it. Advertising shapes the way we feel about ourselves and the world around us. :30 Seconds provides an hilarious, yet poignant, insight into this industry and the cunning spin doctors who inhabit it. They have redefined our meaning of happiness and sense of fulfillment, and have a hell of a lot to answer for. Set in the fictional advertising agency BND Worldwide it follows BND’s brilliant but troubled, Creative Director, Martin Manning (Joel Tobeck, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 30 Days of Night, Tangle) and his staff as they go about their working lives underneath the banner: ‘BND. Truth Well Sold’. Featuring some of Australia’s finest talent, the multiple award winning ensemble cast also includes, Peter O’Brien, Gyton Grantley, Stephen Curry, Jenna Lind, Emily Brennan and Kat Stewart. :30 SECONDS is co-executive produced by Andrew Denton (Enough Rope) and Kim Vecera (Tangle, Satisfaction, Love My Way) and is directed by Shawn Seet (Two Fists One Heart, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities) with acclaimed story editor Andrew Knight (Sea Change, Tripping Over, After the Deluge). Quirky, colourful with a strong, talented cast, this satirical look at the advertising industry has no better home than THE COMEDY CHANNEL. Series concludes October 12. Better Off Ted AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Mondays at 9pm (moves to 8.30pm from October 19) Need cow-less meat grown in a test tube? Done. Need pumpkins that also double as weapons of mass destruction? No problem. BETTER OFF TED is a satirical office comedy about Ted, a successful good guy, who runs research and development at the morally questionable Veridian Dynamics. No achievement is too far-fetched and no invention too unorthodox. Ted loves his job, but he's starting to question the company's morally dubious practices. Do you manufacture the world’s best teeth whitener if it could also kill off all of the planet's fish? Probably not, but... Ted’s a single dad to a 7-year-old girl and is also fighting an attraction to co-worker Linda. He's already had his self imposed "one office affair" with überboss Veronica who is beautiful and possibly devoid of conscience and emotions. Veronica lets nothing get in her way when it comes to serving Veridian's needs, even if it means cryogenically freezing an employee for testing purposes. After all, research scientist Phil, survived (after he thawed out). BETTER OFF TED stars Jay Harrington as Ted, Portia de Rossi as Veronica, Andrea Anders as Linda, Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett as Research Assistants Phil and Lem. SITCOMBO INCLUDES SUBSCRIPTION TV PREMIERES Tuesdays - 8.30pm-10.30pm It’s THE COMEDY CHANNEL’s weekly Sitcom meal deal with some of our most popular shows. Tuck in from 8.30pm with a double helping of karma junkie Earl Hickey in MY NAME IS EARL. Then it’s SUBSCRIPTION TV PREMIERE episodes of Series 2 of IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (9.30pm), in the series which see the Danny DeVito joining the cast as Frank Reynolds, Dennis and Dee’s estranged father. At 10.00pm it’s time for the Series 2 SUBSCRIPTION TV PREMIERE of THE LOOP. Too much funny is never enough with SITCOMBO every Tuesday from 8.30pm. Super Sitcoms Weekdays from 3.30pm Weekday afternoons from 3.30pm get ready for THE COMEDY CHANNEL’s SUPER SITCOMS! We’ve picked the absolute cream of our sitcom crop to bring you a selection of fantastic entertainment. There’s no need to look elsewhere with this great line up - SCRUBS, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, GROUNDED FOR LIFE, MY NAME IS EARL, SOUTH PARK and the new kid on the COMEDY block, Chris Rock’s EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS. The Best of Super Sitcoms Fridays from 8.30pm But there’s more! We know too much fun is never enough, so to maximise your enjoyment our huge menu of sitcom favourites also starts your weekend off in the best possible way. Fridays from 8.30pm it’s THE BEST OF SUPER SITCOMS as the hits keep coming with SCRUBS, MY NAME IS EARL, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, GROUNDED FOR LIFE and EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS. And even better, SUPER SITCOMS extend to the weekend with SUPER SITCOMS SATURDAY (10am- 12pm) and SUPER SITCOMS SUNDAY (2pm-4pm). Our sitcoms are super, thanks for asking! Just For Variety AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Sundays at 1pm The funny, the magical, the acrobatic, the theatrical and the simply amazing - it's the best in variety performances from the Montreal Comedy festival. Includes amazing entertainment from Sideswipe, Imago Theatre, The Hollow Men, Arturo Brachetti, Men In Coats, Dita Von Teese and many more. Expect anything! The Best Of British INCLUDES CHANNEL PREMIERES Sundays 7.30pm to 11pm Each Sunday night THE COMEDY CHANNEL is proud to showcase 3 and a half hours of classic British comedy. What’s more, our weekly cavalcade of UK hilarity is exclusively hosted by Gareth Hale and Norman Pace , better known as the British comedy duo Hale & Pace . In October look out for our BEST OF BRITISH favourites such as ARE YOU BEING SERVED?, ‘ALLO ‘ALLO!, ON THE BUSES, YES MINISTER, THE GOODIES, MIND YOUR LANGUAGE as well as our latest programmes - BLACK ADDER, MEN BEHAVING BADLY (CHANNEL PREMIERE EPISODES, SERIES 2 PREMIERES October 11) and HALE & PACE. They’re the shows that made Britain great and you can catch them all on THE COMEDY CHANNEL. Halloween on THE COMEDY CHANNEL Saturday October 31 Super Sitcoms Halloween 10am – 12pm Special Halloween episodes of EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE and MY NAME IS EARL. And followed at 12 noon by a Halloween episode of WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? South Park Halloween - 2pm-4pm Get ready for South Park’s legendary Halloween episodes in a back-to-back attack! Aussie Gold Saturdays from 7.30pm Each Saturday it’s 3 Oz-tastic hours of 24 carat AUSSIE GOLD, a television BBQ of the greatest and timeless Australian comedy favourites! W want you to have the best, so we’ve rounded up a selection of the finest including the landmark comedy BLANKETY BLANKS, JIMEOIN, BIG GIRLS BLOUSE (which includes the early years of Kath & Kim), FAST FORWARD’S FUNNIEST TV SEND UPS, THE COMEDY COMPANY, KINGSWOOD COUNTRY, THE ADVENTURES OF LANO & WOODLEY and the timeless comedy MOTHER & SON.