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| COMEDY CENTRAL Records® was launched by COMEDY CENTRAL in 2002 with the goal of reviving the comedy album, a genre that had seen a severe decline in sales and production over the prior two decades. The label was also one of the first to include a DVD component as part of the record. Within five years, COMEDY CENTRAL Records has become the nation’s premiere comedy label and the most successful record label start-up during this time. To date, no other comedy label has had the wealth of talent, number of releases, or consistently strong sales that COMEDY CENTRAL Records has enjoyed. In 2007, Dane Cook’s "Retaliation" reached Double Platinum sales levels and "Harmful If Swallowed" hit Platinum. In addition to being financially successful, COMEDY CENTRAL Records releases have received an enormous amount of critical acclaim including Lewis Black’s "Lewis Black: Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blue" CD being nominated for a Grammy® Award in 2006 and Black's 2007 release "Lewis Black: The Carnegie Hall Performance" receiving the label’s first Grammy® Award for Best Comedy Album. The label also received two additional "Best Comedy Album" nominations for 2007 releases Steven Wright's "I Still Have a Pony" and George Lopez' "America's Mexican." COMEDY CENTRAL Records releases from "Crank Yankers," Dane Cook, Jim Gaffigan, Lewis Black, Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin have all held positions on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart for multiple weeks. COMEDY CENTRAL Records has had spectacular growth during its first five years, which coincided with the depths of the worst-ever record industry downturn, and saw its 2006 revenue more than double -- a remarkable achievement that flies in the face of the overall music industry's trend of double-digit annual decreases. COMEDY CENTRAL Records has single-handedly brought back the comedy album and embraced the digital platforms as a means of reaching its demo. As a testament to the label's success, record stores have started comedy sections and given existing comedy sections more exposure and better placement within their establishments (Virgin Times Square moved the comedy section from the basement to the high-profile DVD section). Digital download-to-own distributors like iTunes and eMusic have made their comedy sections higher-profile thanks to COMEDY CENTRAL Records releases and continue to be some of the most profitable categories. COMEDY CENTRAL launched and dominates almost all of the digital download-to-own comedy categories and at one point the label had all of iTunes top four audio books. COMEDY CENTRAL Records is distributed by ADA (Warner) in the US, UK and Europe by Fusion III in Canada, and by Shock in Australia. Upcoming Releases: "Hard ‘n Phirm: Horses and Grasses” (December 18) Recent Releases: "Dane Cook: Rough Around The Edges - Live From Madison Square Garden" (November 13) "Nick Swardson: Party" (October 23) "George Lopez: America’s Mexican" (October 9) - 2007 Grammy® Award nominee for "Best Comedy Album" "Mike Birbiglia: My Secret Public Journal Live" (September 25) "Michael Ian Black: I Am A Wonderful Man" (September 25) "Steven Wright: I Still Have A Pony" (September 25) - 2007 Grammy® Award nominee for "Best Comedy Album" |
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