Comedy Central/Logos

**Comedy Central** is an American television network owned by Paramount through the MTV Entertainment Group subsidiary of its Media Networks division. Originally launched on April 1, 1991 as a merger between Time Warner's The Comedy Channel and Viacom's Ha! TV Comedy Network, the channel broadcasts comedic programming including original, licensed and syndicated series, stand-up comedy specials and feature films.

## The Comedy Channel

### 1989–1991

On November 15, 1989 (less than 2 months before it joined forces with Warner Communications, creating Time Warner), Time-Life launched a specialized television network called **The Comedy Channel**.

## Ha! TV Comedy Network

### 1990–1991

On April 1, 1990, Viacom launched **Ha! TV Comedy Network** in order to compete with The Comedy Channel, with a logo designed by Noel Frankel and illustrated by Lou Brooks for Fred/Alan, Inc. Similarly to its sister networks MTV, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite (which Fred/Alan also had a hand in developing their brandings), the logo utilized various different backgrounds centered on the same design, usually various live-action people or animated characters. Despite only lasting for a year, many different IDs were produced (see them here).

## CTV: The Comedy Network

### April–June 1991

On April 1, 1991, after two years of limited distribution, both The Comedy Channel and Ha! merged into a single channel known as **CTV: The Comedy Network**, a result of a partnership between Time Warner's Home Box Office, Inc. and Viacom's Hearty Ha! Ha!, LLC.

## Comedy Central

### June–October 1991

On June 1, 1991, the network changed its name to **Comedy Central** in order to prevent confusion with the Canadian television network CTV (who would incidentally become its Canadian content partner with its launch of The Comedy Network in 1997).

### 1991–1992

In October 1991, Comedy Central introduced a new logo, which is a globe with three city buildings on top; this motif would be used for all of the channel's logos for the next 19 years.

### 1992–1997

On May 1, 1992, Comedy Central began utilizing print logos on their products. The redesigned logo, still rendered in 2D, was shown in different color patterns. This logo became the network's new on-air look in 1995, which was produced by PMcD Design.

### 1997–2000

In 1997, the logo was redrawn to give it a smoother look, with the small hyphen removed from the marquee. This logo was designed by H-Gun Labs and was initially used on promos for *South Park* before taking effect with its series premiere on August 13, 1997.

### 2000–2010

On November 13, 2000, Comedy Central unveiled its first major redesign, incorporating a "fresher" version of its logo that removed the transmitter (which was said to "communicate the 1950s broadcast era" by network management). With this rebrand, a new on-air graphics package was developed by Imaginary Forces. This logo was strangely used again in 2020 on the tags of their *South Park* plushies of that year.

On April 22, 2003, Viacom bought out AOL Time Warner's half of the network for $1.23 billion, ending the joint venture between the two companies and making Comedy Central a wholly-owned entity of Viacom.

### 2011–present

#### 2011–2018

On December 9, 2010, Comedy Central unveiled a new logo, nicknamed the "Comedymark", in New York, before it made its official on-air debut on New Year's Day 2011. The logo, composed of two letter "C"s inside of each other, closely resembles a copyright symbol (©), with the network name displayed in mixed positions. New York company The Lab was the design agency who worked with Comedy Central to create the new look. A new style for graphics and promos had slowly been introduced a few months earlier, featuring straight typography on clean backgrounds. This logo came in fourth place in the 2010 Brand New Awards.

#### 2018–present

On July 29, 2018, the "Comedymark" logo was slightly modified, with the wordmark set in a new font and each word no longer being mirrored. The logo and its accompanying on-air graphics package were designed by Loyalkaspar.