Comedy Central

Comedy Central is a cable television network. Its parent, Paramount Skydance Corporation, describes it as “a comedy brand with a focus on adult animation and late-night programming,” and reports it within Paramount Media Networks alongside CMT, Logo, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, Pop TV, the Smithsonian Channel and TV Land.

The network’s two programmes most relevant to this knowledge base — The Daily Show and South Park — have their own pages.

Sourcing Note

The previous version of this page asserted, without a source for any of it, that Comedy Central “transformed political discourse in America,” that The Daily Show “becam[e] [a] trusted news source for younger generations,” that “surveys showed many young adults got political news primarily from Daily Show and Colbert Report,” that “comedic segments often held politicians accountable more effectively than traditional journalism,” that the network “made political participation cool,” and that it faced “bias accusations” and “cynicism concerns” from unnamed critics. All of that is removed.

The survey claim is the most serious of these. It is a specific empirical assertion — the sort of thing Pew or Annenberg data could support or refute — and it was published with no citation at all. It should be restored only alongside the study it summarizes.

Also removed as unsourceable: the founded: 1991 value; the reach line “80+ million U.S. households”; the host tenures (Stewart 1999–2015, Colbert 2005–2014, Noah 2015–2022); the 2004 Crossfire appearance and the claim that it led to that show’s cancellation; the 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity and its attendance; the Emmy record; and the jon-stewart and stephen-colbert connections, which named programme tenures no fetched source establishes.