Comedy Central Creates New Live Entertainment Division

Comedy Central has created Comedy Central Live Entertainment, a new business division that will focus on building upon its leadership position in the live comedy industry through stand-up tours, comedy festivals, performance DVDs and CDs.

In addition to increasing the network’s presence on the stand-up circuit and, through strategic partnerships, its visibility on the comedy festival circuit, the network will also seek to maximize live performance exposure and revenue across already established business lines.

Serving as a liaison among talent, their management and other Comedy Central divisions including the Grammy Award-winning Comedy Central Records label, Comedy Central Home Entertainment DVDs and on-air Comedy Central Original Stand-up Specials, Mitch Fried, senior vp of the new division, will seek to expand the business partnerships between the network and the talent community through overall package deals with top comedians that could encompass any combination of a nationwide tour, a one-hour, on-air special, a DVD release and a CD release.