NBC has announced that it has licensed a "second-window" (ie. repeat airing) of NBC’s upcoming summer series The Last Comic Standing: The Search For The Funniest Person in America to cable’s Comedy Central network. The Last Comic Standing will debut this summer on NBC and each episode will be re-broadcast on Comedy Central within a week of its NBC premiere. In addition to receiving a talent contract with NBC, the winner will also now receive his/her own stand-up comedy special on Comedy Central.
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Last Comic Standing is hosted and executive produced by actor/comedian Jay Mohr. The new series has an eight-episode commitment and will provide a new spin on reality television as it features a nationwide talent search for professional and non-professional comedians (both male and female). Once the selection process is narrowed to 10 finalists, after the semi-finals in New York and Los Angeles, the program will then follow the comedians as they live together in a house and compete for the ultimate prize -- an exclusive talent contract with NBC.
"The Last Comic Standing collaboration is an example of effective program repurposing, it serves both NBC’s and Comedy Central’s objectives with respect to innovative programming and branding,” said Frances Manfredi, Senior Vice President, Cable Sales, NBC Enterprises. “It is a perfect model of the potential synergy between broadcast and cable.” "This is a show all about stand-up comedians, we love stand-up and so do our viewers," said Kathryn Mitchell, senior vice president, programming, Comedy Central. "We are thrilled to be working with NBC and The Last Comic Standing team on this exciting project."
The Last Comic Standing: The Search For The Funniest Person in America is from Peter Engel Productions in association with NBC Enterprises and Giraffe Productions. Peter Engel, Jay Mohr and Barry Katz are executive producers and Rob Fox (The Real World, The Osbournes) is co-executive producer.