Comedy Central, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Team Up on Stand-Up Specials

Jake Kanter International TV EditorEXCLUSIVE: John Landgraf, the chairman of FX Networks and FX Productions, is to give a keynote address at the virtual Edinburgh TV Festival next month.Landgraf will sit down with the BBC’s director of creative diversity June Sarpong to detail how FX changed the demographics of its writing and directorial talent and scored success with shows, such as What We Do In The Shadows.Landgraf is no stranger to the UK television business having partnered with the BBC on

Dade Hayes Finance EditorViacomCBS has taken the wraps off an expanded version of CBS All Access, described as a “preview” of a rebranding of the streaming service in early 2021.The newly fortified offering adds about 3,500 episodes of programming.

Naman Ramachandran The Edinburgh TV festival has revealed the 30 successful candidates selected for its popular ‘Ones to Watch’ program.Reflecting the nature of the U.K. television industry, more than 70% of the candidates, including producers, directors, writers and journalists, are freelance, and the rest are from leading production companies and broadcasters, including the BBC, Lime Pictures, True North and RDF.

teenager was hospitalised after being jumped by four thugs in Edinburgh city centre. The horror attack happened at around 8.30pm last night at the Meadows Park.Police are now hunting the four male suspects who are aged between 15 to 17-years-old with brown and blonde short hair.

Ricky Gervais has backed a fundraiser for the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival as it was his first paid comedy gig.  Venue Just The Tonic has started a cash campaign to help them restart for the Fringe in 2021 as this year's was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentLeading television industry event the Edinburgh TV Festival has added two sessions to its lineup, with “Succession” writer Lucy Prebble and Russell T.

Jake Kanter International TV EditorChannel 4 orders Spice Girls doc Rob Coldstream and Clare Cameron, the directing team behind Channel 4’s hit documentary Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain, are turning their attentions to the Spice Girls for their next project.

Jake Kanter International TV EditorThe UK version of NBC show Game Night is moving from Channel 5 to Comedy Central as ViacomCBS UK’s director of programs Ben Frow begins to make his mark in his expanded role.NBCUniversal International Studios-backed Monkey Kingdom will make 10-part series Comedy Game Night for Comedy Central after Season 1 was previously titled Celebrity Game Night on Channel 5.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeIt seems like every few years, the Television Academy reinvents the variety specials Emmy competition — and now, with an explosion in stand-up comedy on streaming platforms, it may have to rethink things once again.This year’s field of contenders in the variety special (pre-recorded) category is a hodgepodge of music showcases like Amazon Prime Video’s “Happiness Continues: A Jonas Brothers Concert Film,” Netflix’s “Ben Platt: Live From Radio City Music

Dade Hayes Finance EditorViacomCBS next week will add a tranche of 40 shows from CBS and Comedy Central to its free, ad-supported Pluto TV streaming service.The slate of library titles, including mainstays like Survivor, CSI: Miami, Star Trek: The Next Generation and the first 10 seasons of South Park, will give Pluto more than 100,000 unique hours of programming.South Park‘s full vault went to HBO Max last fall in a subscription streaming deal worth north of $500 million.Other titles heading to

Peter White Television EditorComedy Central is preparing a new weekly talk-show fronted by The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne Tha God.The ViacomCBS cable network is set to launch the show later this year, hopefully ahead of the U.S.

Jill Goldsmith Comedy Central Tuesday announced a deal with two-time Emmy winning comedian John Mulaney to headline and executive produce two original Sack Lunch Bunch specials, including an upcoming holiday-themed installment that will reunite the cast from the original show.

Also Read: How John Mulaney Got Jake Gyllenhaal for 'The Sack Lunch Bunch' (Video)“We couldn’t be more excited about John’s return to Comedy Central and hope this is just the beginning of a long-standing partnership,” Chris McCarthy, president of ViacomCBS entertainment & youth brands, said in a statement Tuesday.Mulaney added: “I was an intern at Comedy Central when I was barely older than the kids in the ‘Sack Lunch Bunch.’ I wasn’t a very good intern, so I am psyched they hired me again.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJohn Mulaney is bringing the “Sack Lunch Bunch” to Comedy Central.Variety has confirmed that Mulaney has signed a deal with the cabler to host and executive produce two new “John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch” specials.

On paper, a film about a man being preserved in pickle brine for 100 years, to wake up in 2020 and discover that the world is very different than how he remembered, is ripe for comedy. It’s the basic fish out of water story.

As has been seen several times over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, studios have been trying to figure out how to release their films with no theaters and that has resulted in some features being sold off to streaming services. That is exactly what happened with Seth Rogen’s new film “An American Pickle,” which arrives on HBO Max after Sony decided to forgo a theatrical release.

Beavis and Butt-Head are back.