Latest in Comedy

The Second City, the famed Chicago improv comedy outfit, has been acquired by private equity firm ZMC, whose founder and managing partner is longtime media figure Strauss Zelnick. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed. Houlihan-Lokey served as a financial advisor to Second City on the transaction. The M&A…

CBS announced Monday the 20 performers selected to participate in its 2020 Comedy Showcase. Their performances will take place during six shows from January 14-17 at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles. Since its inception 15 years ago, the Showcase has turned into a hybrid comedy show with Broadway-style live…

EXCLUSIVE: Truly Tasteless Jokes, a series of slim paperbacks that became a publishing juggernaut in the 1980s, is the subject of a new documentary feature just acquired by Virgil Films. Tasteless, directed by Jeff Cerulli and Matt Ritter, traces the history of not only the books themselves but the way the material…

Netflix is launching the first audio venture for its comedy content, Netflix Is A Joke Radio, in partnership with SiriusXM. The venture is the first collaboration for Netflix with another subscription service on a new offering. The full-time comedy channel launches April 15 on Channel 93 on the satellite radio…

The up-and-coming young comics vehicle Coming To The Stage has been picked up for seasons 8-10 and will appear on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Dish, DirecTV, Comcast, and other locations, Comedy Dynamics said today. The next episodes of the series will start production this spring, and Jamie Kennedy will host all…

UPDATED with reactions from Parkland students, parent: In a stand-up set that leaked online, disgraced comedian Louie C.K. delivered an extended riff about 20-somethings that included jabs at the survivors of the Parkland High School shooting and those who identify as gender non-binary. The comedian, who left the…

Bob Smith, the first openly gay comedian to score an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, has died at age 59 after a long struggle with ALS. His partner, Michael Zam, confirmed the death via a Facebook post. Smith also was the first openly gay man to star in his own HBO Comedy half-hour, which bowed in 1994…

As you might expect, Aziz Ansari was grateful for his victory in the Best Actor In A TV Series, Comedy category at the Golden Globes. “I genuinely didn’t think I would win, because all of the web sites said I was going to lose,” he joked on stage. “Losing two of these in a row – it would have been a moment for…

Here's a sobering thought (as if we needed one): Fox's action-comedy sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle, opening Friday, could do as well as its 2015 predecessor and this still would be the worst year for live-action screen comedy since, possibly, ever. As of this week, only one live-action comedy has cracked the…

Funny is money: NBC plans to launch a Web-based subscription comedy service this year, the network confirms. But much else about the initiative, disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, remains unclear — in part because it’s still in the early planning stage. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and SNL likely would…

EXCLUSIVE: The Gersh Agency has hired four new agents as it grows its bi-coastal comedy department in New York and Los Angeles. Moving over to Gersh after eight years at ICM Partners is William Rodriguez, who reps comedians DL Hughley, Charlie Murphy, Earthquake, Aries Spears, and Gary Owen and recently added Sinbad…

One of the last substantial interviews of Joan Rivers before her death today will be part of a documentary called Women in Comedy set to air Sept. 30 on PBS. The material, culled from interviews done for AOL’s MAKERS site, is also included in a terrific 5-minute video where Rivers reviews her career. That video…