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| The Comedy Channel | |
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| Launched | November 15, 1989 |
| Closed | April 1, 1991 |
| Owned by | Home Box Office (Time Warner) |
| Replaced by | Comedy Central |
The Comedy Channel was an all-comedy cable television network owned by Home Box Office, a division of Time Warner. It premiered on November 15, 1989 and merged on April 1, 1991 with Viacom's HA! to become Comedy Central. Most of the programs were produced in the HBO Downtown Studios on East 23rd Street in Manhattan.
Programming
The format prior to the merger included several original and unconventional programs such as Onion World with Rich Hall and Mystery Science Theater 3000, as well as laid-back variety/talk shows hosted by stand-up comedians, including The Sweet Life with Rachel Sweet, Tommy Sledge, Private Eye, Night After Night with Allan Havey, Sports Monster and The Higgins Boys and Gruber, the latter of whom performed sketches in between showings of vintage television serials like Supercar, Clutch Cargo, and Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.
Standard format
The standard format for these shows usually involved the various hosts introducing clips culled from the acts of stand-up comedians as well as classic comedies of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Young Frankenstein and Kentucky Fried Movie, presented in a style similar to music videos. In the early days, certain hours of the day when clips were shown without "host segments" were dubbed Short Attention Span Theater. In 1990, hosts under this title, Jon Stewart and Patty Rosborough, were introduced. Comedian Marc Maron also hosted the series.
In the final months before the merger, the channel developed an eight-hour programming block that was shown three times during a 24-hour period, including such things as reruns of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
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