Anyone remember the early days of Comedy Central?

[wildojinx]

My cable company happened to be one of the few that got Comedy Central somewhat early on (1993 to be precise), so I got to see Comedy Central when it was VERY different. Of course, they did show lots of legendary comedy stuff (Monty Python, SCTV, and SNL, even the 1980-81 episodes) as well as weird experimental sketch comedy shows like Limboland, The Vacant Lot, and Exit 57, reruns of short-lived shows like The Ben Stiller show, and a bunch of obscure 80s comedies (ie, Stewardess School, Pizza Man, Glitch, Alien From LA, etc), LOTS of stand-up (i remember seeing Jim Bruer stuff long before he was on SNL) and of course, MST3K.

[WoodStoner1]

Dude, I had Ha! before the merger between it and The Comedy Channel to form CTV, aka Comedy Central. Always wanted TCC, only because of a TV Guide article praising it for carrying Clutch Cargo reruns.

Ha! by its end was pretty much the Candid Camera Channel. Think CN now, only replace Teen Titans Go with Candid Camera.

[Paul]

Some early Comedy Channel stuff here on this MST3k history site

www.mst3ktemple.com/season1.html

[SkullTrauma]

I remember Soap being on constantly.

[Juice]

Not nearly that early but a few years later when I was a shut in from a divided family with no friends. Comedy Central and I believe TBS were my only friends.

I watched snl religiously, Kids in the Hall, comedy central presents. I want to say Duckman at like midnight but that may have been the wrong channel.

On the TBS side, saved by the bell and California Dreams syndication.

[Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley]

Aug 23, 2018 20:59:33 GMT -5 Juice said:

Not nearly that early but a few years later when I was a shut in from a divided family with no friends. Comedy Central and I believe TBS were my only friends.

I watched snl religiously, Kids in the Hall, comedy central presents. I want to say Duckman at like midnight but that may have been the wrong channel.

On the TBS side, saved by the bell and California Dreams syndication.

Same here for me. If I got off the bus early enough, it was the end of Kids in the Hall, followed by Comedy Central Presents, then I think 2 hours of SNL.

[Chainsaw]

I didn't get to watch Comedy Central regularly until college, but I ate up MST3K (naturally) and loved Exit 57. Man, that show had some brilliance behind it.

[Bob Schlapowitz]

I remember them showing Gallagher all the time.

[BrodietheSlayer]

I loved the fact that HA!, and later Comedy Central, showed the SNL episodes that we really don't see at all any more (at least not in full), and that's the Jean Doumanian/Dick Ebersol era (1980-1985). In particular, the former was fascinating to see, as you NEVER see those episodes in full, as that's usually regarded as being one of SNL's worst seasons ever (80-81, or Season 6).

[Ultimo Gallos]

I didn't get Comedy Central until South Park was in the middle of season 3. So I missed lots of great stuff. Still wish I had grabbed the Exit 57 dvd set SumGuy was selling at a con.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

The first time I saw The Young Ones was on Comedy Central.

[DZ: WF Legacy]

This wasn't the early-early days, but I remember when nobody in my area had Comedy Central. My childhood friend had someone in his family in another state that had some expensive television package that included CC, so he'd get them to tape South Park episodes on VHS, send them to him, and we'd sneakily watch them together. We had like a bare bones tape trading thing going on for awhile; it was pretty crazy how far some 12-year-old boys would go to watch the still very taboo South Park at its cultural peak.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Young Ones, AbFab, Kids in the Hall, MST3K, and Whose Line were all glorious.

But the real life-changer for me was reruns of Soap, a very strange late 70s sit-com which is easily the funniest show I've ever seen on TV. Like, by a mile.

[Limity (BLM)]

Aug 23, 2018 22:46:42 GMT -5 Bob Schlapowitz said:

I remember them showing Gallagher all the time.

That takes me back to the first satellite dish we ever had, Primestar. I can't remember the year, but I remember many days of Gallagher's standup.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Aug 23, 2018 20:51:58 GMT -5 SkullTrauma said:

I remember Soap being on constantly.

It's how I got introduced to the show. Benson was the greatest television butler ever.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Aug 23, 2018 22:46:42 GMT -5 Bob Schlapowitz said:

I remember them showing Gallagher all the time.

Kaufman vs. Lawler was also a staple.

I do remember when they started running blocks of shows they had "Spotlight" which showed popular comics earlier work... they loved showing The Duck Factory with Jim Carrey on that Block

also I remember Penn Jillette was their voice over guy.

[jimpickens]

Yep back when it was good shit cable in general was still good.

[The Barber]

Aug 23, 2018 20:59:33 GMT -5 Juice said:

Not nearly that early but a few years later when I was a shut in from a divided family with no friends. Comedy Central and I believe TBS were my only friends.

I watched snl religiously, Kids in the Hall, comedy central presents. I want to say Duckman at like midnight but that may have been the wrong channel.

On the TBS side, saved by the bell and California Dreams syndication.

Duckman was on USA.

The Dr. Katz cartoon was good.

[The Tim Duncan Experience]

There's this movie they used to show on comedy Central in the early 90s. My brother and I for the life of us cant remember the title. I only remember some of the story of the movie:

A soul detective has been chasing a succubus who steals the souls of men she has sex with. Every certain number of years she jumps bodies so the guy has to chase her (he had also had sex with the succubus, so she wants revenge for him leaving her).

Surprisingly enough that movie is an 80s sex comedy. Lol

[sfvega]

I remember Win Ben Stein's Money and early SP, does that count?