Home Base For Laughs? Comedy Central Thinks So

Nobody in broadcast television has been laughing much lately at the state of comedy. This season exactly one situation comedy, Two and a Half Men on CBS, is among the 20 most-watched shows on television.

“South Park” game on cellphone, likely to be announced today.

That does not mean people have stopped looking for laughs, of course. In the midst of mostly grim days for comedy, the cable channel that is self-proclaimedly in the comedy business, Comedy Central, has never been merrier.

Ratings for the channels prime-time shows have increased 12 months in a row, and its all-day schedule is on pace to score its best season ever.

Some of that is explainable by the continuing strength of the channels signature shows, like South Park and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Both of these shows continue to generate audiences and attention for the network. Today the channels parent company, Viacom, is scheduled to announce plans for a cellphone game based on South Park, the first time that franchise has jumped into the gaming world.

The move is designed to play to Comedy Centrals core audience of young men and boys. Few channels other than ESPN have such a heavy concentration of male viewers; audiences for some Comedy Central shows are more than 70 percent male.

One reason for some of the increased ratings is an adjustment by Nielsen Media Research, which for the first time is including a calculation that adds some viewing by college students. In that sample Comedy Central is the No. 2 cable network among male viewers, trailing only ESPN.

Beyond South Park and The Daily Show, new additions have pushed the networks ratings: The Colbert Report has proved to be an ideal late-night match with The Daily Show, and a new sitcom, The Sarah Silverman Program, has scored some of the best first-season ratings in the channels history.

What seems to be happening, at least according to the channels chief executive, Doug Herzog, is that Comedy Central is stepping into the void that years of lackluster broadcast comedy have created.

A decade ago I used to say we really werent the comedy network. NBC was, Mr. Herzog said. They had all those great must-see comedies. But now I think we have the heavyweight crown in comedy. Its ours to defend.

That boast gets some backing from Doug Mitchelson, who analyzes Viacom for Deutsche Bank. Comedy Central is doing a fantastic job with its programming, he said, noting that the channels audience size has grown for four straight years. He also said the channel is especially well positioned to take advantage of the migration of the audience to the Internet and mobile devices.

What seems to be making it all work is the fit of the channels sensibility with what the comedy audience now expects. Mr. Stewart defined it as shows that reference a point of view. He jokingly called the channel the Sams Club of comedy — a central warehouse of comedy where our comedy comes in giant boxes.

The boxes are actually still rather small, at least when they begin. Ms. Silvermans show was considered a hit out of the gate; after only two episodes had played, the channel ordered a new season of 14 more episodes. The series averaged about 1.7 million viewers, not big by network standards. Still, that represented a 150 percent improvement in the channels ratings in the 10:30 p.m. Thursday time period. (The show has since moved to Wednesday.) The Sarah Silverman Program was also the most-watched show in all of television at that hour among men ages 18 to 24.

Ms. Silverman, along with many other of the channels stars, said that the environment at Comedy Central was most hospitable to her brand of often outrageous humor. Where else could I do it? she said.

Not that the channel leaves its stars completely to their own devices. Ms. Silverman said she has had battles over subject matter. I dont know anyone who doesnt get frustrated when someone who isnt funny for a living tells someone is who is funny for a living what is and isnt funny, Ms. Silverman said.

The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have had occasional conflicts with the channel as well, but Mr. Stone said that a decade ago he and his partner had watched early Comedy Central programming like Mystery Science Theater 3000 and decided, This is where we belong. He added, You can see a show now and say, That feels like Comedy Central. That smells like Comedy Central.

The channel now has a distinct whiff of political satire, thanks largely to Mr. Stewart, Mr. Colbert and the South Park guys. In tonights South Park episode, for example, an animated version of Hillary Clinton visits town. Mr. Stone said of the satirical shows, That stuff gets a lot of press and attention, but I still think our biggest shows are just about the kids being weird.

The Bill OReilly-like character that Mr. Colbert plays is both political and weird, which is exactly his intention. No one ever calls and says, Dont do this, Mr. Colbert said.

Certainly no one at the channel minded when Mr. Colbert stirred a media firestorm with his satirical-guns-blazing performance at last years White House Correspondents Association dinner, where he stayed fearlessly in character despite the discomfort his routine was apparently causing in his dais partner, the president of the United States.

That day I got off the train in character, Mr. Colbert said. I dont want to be in that town and not be in character. The character is my magic carpet.

So is Comedy Central the only place to be for contemporary television comedy? Not really, according to the people who work there. The premise that the network sitcom might not make a comeback found no takers at the channel.

Mr. Stewart, Mr. Herzog, Ms. Silverman and Mr. Colbert all spontaneously endorsed comedy being made elsewhere, namely at NBC, with its comedies The Office and 30 Rock.

Are there any better characters on TV than Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock and Steve Carell in The Office? Mr. Stewart said of the actors on two Thursday night NBC comedies. (Mr. Carell was formerly a correspondent on Mr. Stewarts show.)

Why do those shows work? Mr. Herzog suggested they come from a comic sensibility familiar at his channel. He said that one of NBCs Thursday night comedies, Scrubs, is now playing extremely well in reruns on Comedy Central.

That show fits because it is true to our core, Mr. Herzog said. And that is point-of-view comedy, cutting-edge comedy, subversive comedy.

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