Last Comic Standing

Get to know six comedians who are staging a stand-up laugh riot. Killjoy Comedy puts the mic in front of comics who are re-writing the old insult comedy playbook.

Gotham Comedy Club, a popular comedy venue in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, is the setting of an hourlong series that is shot in front of an audience at the club. Each episode features routines by several comics -- a list that has included such names as David Alan Grier, Gilbert Gottfried and Artie Lange -- in what the network says is an unedited and uncensored format. In addition to the big names of the field who take the Gotham stage, the show also features up-and-comers who want to make a name for themselves in the stand-up comedy business.

David Letterman invites some of the hottest up-and-coming stand-up stars to perform a set and sit down for a chat.

The world’s best comedic acts perform in one competition, including stand-ups, sketch troupes, and comedic variety acts. Anyone who can make audiences laugh will have the chance to receive a career-changing $250,000 prize package and see their name in lights in the “Bring the Funny” showcase.

The Burn with Jeff Ross is a comedy panel show hosted by comedian Jeff Ross on Comedy Central. The show debuted on August 14, 2012, and is executive produced by Ross himself. The program features Ross roasting a wide variety of targets, along with guest appearances by fellow comedians who make up a panel of roasters. The show was renewed for a second season by Comedy Central, which premiered January 8, 2013.

Kings of Comedy was a reality television series broadcast made by Endemol for Channel 4. The show was presented by Russell Brand and narrated by Matthew Rudge. The premise was that eight comics lived in a Big Brother-style house to try to determine whether old-school comics or the newer generation are best. The winner got the chance to make his own pilot show.

Amateur comedians strut their stand-up stuff before celebrity judges in this competition.

Fist of Fun was a British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World. Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches and situations. Fist of Fun began as a BBC Radio 1 series in 1993, before becoming commissioned as a television series on BBC Two in early 1995. It was broadcast at 9pm on Tuesday nights, and was successful, but not a major ratings-winner. The second series was aired on Friday nights, and although its ratings were relatively good, the show suffered from a lack of preparation and poor promotion. The show was not given a third series, and Lee and Herring went on to write This Morning with Richard Not Judy, for BBC Two. Many other comedians who appeared in the series went on to fame themselves, including Kevin Eldon, Peter Baynham, Ronni Ancona, Alistair McGowan, Al Murray, John Thomson, Rebecca Front, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, Ben Moor and Sally Phillips.

Comic Garry Shandling draws upon his own talk show experiences to create the character of Larry Sanders, a paranoid, insecure host of a late night talk show. Larry, along with his obsequious TV sidekick Hank Kingsley and his fiercely protective producer Artie, allows Garry Shandling and his talented writers to look behind the scenes and to show us a convincing slice of behind the camera life.

Def Comedy Jam is a HBO television series produced by Russell Simmons. The series had its original run from July 1, 1992 to January 1, 1997. The show returned on HBO's fall lineup in 2006. Def Comedy Jam helped to launch the careers of several African-American stand-up comedians.

Russell Simmons' name is in the title -- he's an executive producer -- but it's JB Smoove who is front and center as host of this stand-up showcase, which features a roster of rising comics and veteran stars doing their thing. Smoove gets into the act as well with new material, and JB also gives viewers an added bonus by performing in pre-taped sketches woven into each episode.