COMEDY CENTRAL® #1 Among Young Men During Fall Premiere Week as the Most-Watched Channel in All of Television Among Men 18-24 Fall Season Launches With the Most-Watched Week in Channel History Among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

NEW YORK, Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --  COMEDY CENTRAL set Premiere Week on fire, recording the all-comedy channel's most-watched week in its 20-year history among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.  The network also finished as the #1 network in all of television in Prime among Men 18-24 during the inaugural week of the 2011 Fall Season, which was also COMEDY CENTRAL's most-watched and highest-rated Prime in history among Adults 18-34, Adults 18-24 and Men 18-34. (source: Nielsen Media Research, 9/19/11-9/25/11, Live + Same Day)

COMEDY CENTRAL's record-setting week was kicked-off on Monday with "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Charlie Sheen," which now stands as the most-watched telecast in COMEDY CENTRAL history with a delivery of 7.4 million total viewers (most current data).  Then "Tosh.0" invaded Arizona State University the following day, drawing over 3 million total viewers to its "College Campus Invasion" to begin the show's Fall Season.  Newly paired with "Tosh.0" to form a potent one-two punch, "Workaholics" scored a series-high 2.1 million total viewers for its Second Season Premiere and led all of television for Tuesday Prime among Men 18-24.  COMEDY CENTRAL's historic week was capped off on Sunday with the World Premiere of "Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos," which drew 5.5 million total viewers to provide an emphatic exclamation point to the week.

COMEDY CENTRAL is poised to ride the momentum of its record-breaking week with new seasons of "South Park" and "Nick Swardson's Pretend Time" (premiering October 5), the series premiere of "Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-Up Revolution" (October 6), "6 Days to Air: The Making of 'South Park,'" a documentary by Arthur Bradford (October 9), and stand-up specials from "Weird Al" Yankovic (October 1), Craig Ferguson (October 15), Pablo Francisco (November 5), T.J. Miller (November 12), Donald Glover (November 20) and Carlos Mencia (December 4).

Highlights from COMEDY CENTRAL's historic week include:

COMEDY CENTRAL Prime (8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.) – week of September 19-25

(source: Nielsen Media Research, 9/19/11-9/25/11, Live + Same Day)

1.9 million Total Viewers (P2+)

1.04 Adult 18-49 rating / 1.1 million Adult 18-49 viewers

1.26 Adult 18-34 rating / 709,000 Adult 18-34 viewers

1.49 Adult 18-24 rating / 359,000 Adult 18-24 viewers

1.52 Men 18-34 rating / 431,000 Men 18-34 viewers

1.82 Men 18-24 rating / 222,000 Men 18-24 viewers

• most-watched week in COMEDY CENTRAL's 20-year history among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
• #1 network in all of television among Men 18-24 during the inaugural week of the 2011 Fall Season
• most-watched and highest-rated in history among Adults 18-34, Adults 18-24 and Men 18-34

"Tosh.0"

• the Fall Season Premiere of "Tosh.0," drew 3.0 million Total Viewers, along with a 2.2 Adult 18-49 rating and a 4.4 Men 18-34 and a 4.4 Men 18-24
• in its time slot (10:00-10:30 p.m.), "Tosh.0" was #1 in all of television with Men 18-34 and Men 18-24 and was #1 for Tuesday Prime in cable among Men 18-34

"Workaholics"

• now paired with "Tosh.0" to form a dominating Tuesday night comedy block among young men, "Workaholics" had its highest-rated and most-watched episode with its Second Season Premiere, drawing an audience of 2.1 million Total Viewers, +126% more than the Series Premiere in April
• the season premiere notched triple-digit increases and series-high marks across all key demos, highlighted by a 1.6 Adult 18-49 rating (up +160% vs. Series Premiere), a 3.6 Men 18-34 rating (up +171%) and a 5.0 Men 18-24 rating (up an astounding +282%)
• like its lead-in, "Workaholics" was #1 in all of television in its time slot (10:30-11:00 p.m.) with Men 18-34 and Men 18-24 and was the #1 show among Men 18-24 in all of television for Tuesday Prime

"COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Charlie Sheen"

• the latest installment of the Emmy^®-nominated franchise delivered 6.4 million Total Viewers, along with a 4.5 Adult 18-49 rating, 8.7 Men 18-24 rating, 7.0 Men 18-34 rating and a 6.2 Adult 18-34 rating
• across all plays on Monday night, the Roast delivered over 10 million Total Viewers
• with all available playback included, the "Roast Of Charlie Sheen" now stands as the most-watched telecast in COMEDY CENTRAL history with a delivery of 7.4 million Total Viewers (most current data)
• #1 ranking on Trendrr.tv's Social Television Charts with over 450K mentions – more than two times the nearest shows ("Dancing With The Stars" and "Two And Half Men")
• 249K tweets around the "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Charlie Sheen" on Monday – more than six times the prior "Roast of Donald Trump"
• #SheenRoast generated more than 178K mentions – seven times more than #TrumpRoast

"Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos"

• the World Premiere of Jeff Dunham's newest stand-up special delivered 5.5 million Total Viewers and a 2.6 Adult 18-49 rating, making it the highest-rated and most-watched stand-up special of the year among total viewers and Adults 18-49
• "Controlled Chaos" was #1 in cable during Sunday Prime among Adults 18-49, Men 18-34 and Men 18-24
• across all plays on Sunday night, "Controlled Chaos" delivered 8.2 million Total Viewers
• the special led COMEDY CENTRAL to its best Sunday Prime since November 2008

Available in 99 million homes nationwide, COMEDY CENTRAL (www.comedycentral.com), the only all-comedy network, is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks.  For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs visit Press Central, COMEDY CENTRAL's press web site at www.comedycentral.com/press and follow us on Twitter @ComedyCentralPR for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products.  The company's portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Harmonix, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, AddictingGames, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, SPIKE, TV Land, Atom, GameTrailers and Xfire.

SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications