The Comedy Network (often referred to as simply "Comedy") is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that is owned by Bell Media. The channel specializes in comedy programming, including original and acquired series, films and stand-up comedy specials. The Comedy Network operates two time-shifted feeds, running on Eastern and Pacific Time Zone schedules.

History

In September 1996, 1155636 Ontario Inc. (a company majority controlled by Baton Broadcasting, with the remaining interests held by Shaw Cable, Astral Broadcasting and Les Films Rozon inc.) was granted a television broadcasting licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for The Comedy Network. The channel launched on October 17, 1997 with the slogan Time Well Wasted, a variation of the U.S.-based channel A&E's slogan at the time, "Time Well Spent".

Through various acquisitions over the years, Shaw, Astral and Les Films Rozon sold their interest in the service to Baton, which became Bell Globemedia in 2001, renamed CTVglobemedia in 2007, and renamed again as Bell Media in 2011, following its acquisition by Bell Canada. Until then, and since its incarnation in 1997, The Comedy Network maintained a consistent look; The 'yellow oval' logo (which has undergone slight modifications throughout its use). On November 1, 2011, The Comedy Network was relaunched with a new look, consisting a new simplified logo and revamped on-air presentation. Their longtime slogan was also retired on this date.

The Comedy may refer to:

The Comedy is a 2012 drama film directed and co-written by Rick Alverson, and starring Tim Heidecker. Supporting actors include Eric Wareheim (Tim and Eric), James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), and Gregg Turkington (better known as Neil Hamburger). The film was premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and screened within such festivals as Maryland Film Festival 2012. The film was distributed by Tribeca Film and was slated for theatrical release on November 9, 2012 and nationwide On Demand starting October 24, 2012.

Despite the title and use of comedians as actors, Sundance festival chief programmer Trevor Groth says that the film is not a comedy, but instead "a provocation, a critique of a culture based at its core around irony and sarcasm and about ultimately how hollow that is."

The first ten minutes of the film was purposely leaked onto various torrent websites with an anti-piracy statement at the end of the video. The resulting publicity made the actual film the most pirated independent film of the year.

The Comedy is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in 1960 and 1962 and released on the Atlantic label.

Reception

The Allmusic review stated "This is the type of album that led many bop purists to criticize the Modern Jazz Quartet (and John Lewis in particular) for being overly influenced by Western classical music".

Track listing

All compositions by John Lewis

Personnel

References