MTV launches Comedy Awards

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At the end of a series of awards shows, including the Golden Globes, Grammys and Oscars, will be a first ceremony "dedicated to honoring and celebrating the world of comedy," televised on April 10 from New York City.

MTV Networks and Comedy Central will launch a multi-network event paying tribute to the best - or funniest - comedy actors in the past year's films, television series, digital content and standup performances, it was announced on January 10 in a press release.

A star-studded board of directors for The Comedy Awards includes comedians Billy Crystal, Will Ferrell, Whoopi Goldberg, and Ray Romano, as well as television producers Brad Grey, James Burrows and more, who will select the nominees.

Winners will then be selected by a voting body of 500-1,000 invited members of the comedy scene, including as writers, producers and performers.

The inaugural two-hour awards presentation will be held March 26 at the Hammerstein Ballroom, to be televised the following week simultaneously on MTV-owned cable/satellite channels Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land, Nick-at-Nite and VH1.

Comedy Central had announced in the fall of 2009 plans to revive the American Comedy Awards, which ran from 1987 to 2001, with ABC airing it before Comedy Central took the show over in its final year.

"We wanted to do something that would represent all of comedy," Doug Herzog, president of MTV Networks Entertainment Group, told The Hollywood Reporter. "We feel comedy is now bigger than ever," he added, in reference to the effect of the internet.

MTV Networks already televises MTV's Video Music Awards and Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, as well as Comedy Central's The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which are eligible for nomination in The Comedy Awards.

The awards show will also feature awards determined by fans through online voting.

http://www.thecomedyawards.com/

RC