Comedy Central is at it again

[Tartarga]

Well Comedy Central has once again decided to possibly ruin one of my favorite comedians Nick Swardson by giving him his own show to be called Nick Swardson's Pretend Time.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/nick-swardson-talks-about-his-new-comedy-central-series/

The reason I am so upset about this is because after Jeff Dunham's show sucked more than a vaccum I could no longer watch him without being reminded of how terrible it was and I fear the same may happen with Nick's show. Of course there is always the possibility of it being a giant ball of awesome like Demitri Martin's show.

Nick Swardson's Pretend Time will be a sketch show including animated shorts inspired by the online character "Gay Robot".

What are your views on this my fellow escapians? Do you think it will be awesome or do you think it will ruin Nick Swardson forever? DISCUSS!

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I absolutely hated Hot Box (which has animated shorts) and although I don't think I've seen Nick Swardson, it does piss me off

 

[Sneaky-Pie]

The only thing on Comedy Central I pay attention to is South Park and Futurama.

You know you could just not watch the show.

 

[Tartarga]

You know you could just not watch the show.

I know, but that doesn't mean I can't still be angry about it.

 

[LeeJ2512]

something thats annoying me is that scrubs NEVER seems to be on the air anymore, not even repeats. that and the fact that the same episode of two and a half men can be repeated 4 times in one day is a joke...

 

[Phoenix09215]

Not sure if Comedy Central is only an English thing (but I presume its an American channel as well), but, if it is an enlgish thing then just watch Dave for the laughs? I know its onyl re-runs but they're re-run of the funniest shows EVER!?

 

[the Dept of Science]

Jeff Dunham was never funny. Achmed the Dead Terrorist in no way deserves to be one of the most viewed YouTube videos.

He is a hack, he spouts off 3 catchphrases, some really lame jokes "... a terrifying terrorist", some jokes that have been done tonnes of times before (eg. jokes about the 40 virgins) and unfunny stereotypes.

 

[Player 2]

Not sure if Comedy Central is only an English thing (but I presume its an American channel as well), but, if it is an enlgish thing then just watch Dave for the laughs? I know its onyl re-runs but they're re-run of the funniest shows EVER!?

Its an American channel. English comedy central is crap, it just shows reruns of old sitcoms and south park. The American one actually has decent programming.

 

[Timotei]

So, another comedian's life whom they are going to ruin. Has anyone every noticed that stand-up comedians who get their own show on Comedy Central hardly ever make it to the third season intact?

It happened to Chapelle, it happened to Mencia, it happened to Jimmy Carr, and Jaff Dunham, Edgar Allen Greer supposedly walked out on them, Lewis Black (Lewis FUCKING Black) Demitri Martin, etc...

All of the above's shows never had a third season and their careers practically went down the toilet as a result of the show. And now it seems they have a new victim.

 

[McNinja]

So, another comedian's life whom they are going to ruin. Has anyone every noticed that stand-up comedians who get their own show on Comedy Central hardly ever make it to the third season intact?

It happened to Chapelle, it happened to Mencia, it happened to Jimmy Carr, and Jaff Dunham, Edgar Allen Greer supposedly walked out on them, Lewis Black (Lewis FUCKING Black) Demitri Martin, etc...

All of the above's shows never had a third season and their careers practically went down the toilet as a result of the show. And now it seems they have a new victim.

Its because they all have a shtick that gets old after a while. I never watched Jeff Dunhams show, mainly because it was Achmed the Dead terrorist for 17 of the 18 minutes of the show, and the last one minute was peanut being retarded.

Chapelle's Show was the only one that was ended because he wanted it to end, not because of a lack of ratings. I thought Mind of Mencia made it to a third season, but I may be wrong.

 

[Julianking93]

Good point snip

While that is very true and a good point, I'm gonna agree with the OP in saying that the shows typically ruin a comedian's credibility or even likability in favor of the show in one way or another.

Dave Chappelle just kinda went nuts, Mencia was just a bullshit comic who stole all his material but I really couldn't forgive them for canceling Lewis Black's show. Why the fuck did they do that???

Then you have others like Jeff Dunham who I hate personally, but from what I hear, even the fans hated his show so I can't really comment. Sarah Silverman who I love had that horrid show of her's on for a while and it kinda made me not really like her too much.

And now we have Tosh.0. I love Daniel Tosh. I think he's a fantastic comedian and I love the show, but (and this is really just my pride and wanting to be unique coming out here) it's gotten so popular with people that it's kinda become annoying. I still watch his show all the time, but hearing everyone talk about it the next day just takes the fun out of it.

It seems there are one of 3 roads shows like this can take. Hopefully Nick Swardson's show will be good and successful as he's a funny comic, but really, you can only hope for the best :/

 

[Shilkanni]

Almost any comedian who gets their own Standup/Skit show should only do two seasons ever. Maybe they should be forced to take a 5-10 year break after two seasons or something. Exceptions are rare and need a good concept and a great writing staff.

I'm greatful to Comedy Central for South Park, Daily Show, and Colbert Report though, so they have karma to burn.

 

[TheSentinel]

...it happened to Jimmy Carr...

I'm going to assume you are referring to Distraction, in which case I have some news [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distraction_%28game_show%29] for you...

 

[AMMO Kid]

Futurama rocks. This will probably suck.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

So, another comedian's life whom they are going to ruin. Has anyone every noticed that stand-up comedians who get their own show on Comedy Central hardly ever make it to the third season intact?

It happened to Chapelle, it happened to Mencia, it happened to Jimmy Carr, and Jaff Dunham, Edgar Allen Greer supposedly walked out on them, Lewis Black (Lewis FUCKING Black) Demitri Martin, etc...

All of the above's shows never had a third season and their careers practically went down the toilet as a result of the show. And now it seems they have a new victim.

To be fair Mencia deserved to have his career go down the toilet for being a Joke stealing racist hack and Jeff Dunham just isn't that funny, he's not terrible just not particularly deserving of the attention he got.
Lewis Black is still touring and selling out shows and Dimitri Marten is, I believe currently working on a series of film projects so I don't know that I'd call either of their careers over.

 

[Monshroud]

I think it has to do with the fact that stand-up comedy doesn't always translate into the 30 - 60 minute sitcom format.

Ask any standup comedian if they could easily come up with 30 minutes of new material every week for 14 weeks straight that was all top-notch stuff. They would tell you you're crazy, yet that is what happens.

Most comedians spend months, if not years perfecting a routine. So they bring in new writers for these shows, which don't always have the same mindset as the comic, hence the quaility starts to go down.

 

[johnsom]

writing a skit show has got to be soul crushing work for a comedian. You lose creative control and forced to do jokes you think are crap to fill time.

 

[Snarky Username]

So, another comedian's life whom they are going to ruin. Has anyone every noticed that stand-up comedians who get their own show on Comedy Central hardly ever make it to the third season intact?

It happened to Chapelle, it happened to Mencia, it happened to Jimmy Carr, and Jaff Dunham, Edgar Allen Greer supposedly walked out on them, Lewis Black (Lewis FUCKING Black) Demitri Martin, etc...

All of the above's shows never had a third season and their careers practically went down the toilet as a result of the show. And now it seems they have a new victim.

Actually, The Chapelle Show went out because Dave didn't want a third season, that show was really popular.

Every other show that exists on Comedy Central except Futurama, South Park, and The Daily Report however, still are soul/career sucking monsters.

 

[Sleekgiant]

It happened to Chapelle, it happened to Mencia, it happened to Jimmy Carr, and Jaff Dunham, Edgar Allen Greer supposedly walked out on them, Lewis Black (Lewis FUCKING Black) Demitri Martin, etc...

Chapelle went crazy and went to Africa, he had the best show of all.
Mencia- show about beaner jokes, cancellation inevitable
Lewis Black used to be funny, these days he is just an angry old fart, his career is dying on his own accord.
Dunham, shit writers and bad skits meant low ratings but his stand up bits are still good, he might be on hiatus for a bit since I haven't seen any new material yet.

Carr, Greer, Martin; never heard of them so they must not have been that famous to begin with.

Really though CC is just a terrible station with its only good merits being some stand up specials and Futurama.

 

[child of lileth]

I doubt I'll watch it. Just like every other comedian based show they've had.