Comedy Central Records

Comedy Central Records
Founded	2002
Founder	Jack Vaughn
Distributor(s)	Alternative Distribution Alliance
Genre	Comedy
Country of origin	USA
Location	New York City, NY
Official Website	Comedy Central Records

Comedy Central Records is a record label founded by Jack Vaughn and Comedy Central (part of Viacom's MTV Networks) that puts out comedy albums by comedians that have appeared on their network.

The Label is distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance / Warner Music.

History

Comedy Central Records was founded in 2002 by producer Jack Vaughn whom along with Comedy Central had hopes to revive the comedy album. ^[1]

Attitudes to stand-up began to change in 2002 when the channel released an uncensored CD of the network's program "Crank Yankers," which features various human-like puppets making off-color crank calls to one another. The CD ended up selling more than 80,000 copies, turning a nice profit for the network -- and started network management thinking about signing their talent to record deals. Since 2002, Comedy Central Records has gradually increased the number of releases to about 10 a year. The low number limits risk. "We make money on 80% to 90% of our releases," Mr. Vaughn says, noting that most new releases in the music industry lose money. The label's biggest hit so far is Dane Cook's "Retaliation," which opened at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200, the best comedy debut since Steve Martin's "A Wild and Crazy Guy" in 1978. The album has since gone platinum with total sales of nearly 650,000, according to SoundScan. ^[2]

Since its debut the label has seen sides of both financial and critical acclaim, with releases from Dane Cook, Mitch Hedberg, Jim Gaffigan, Bo Burnham, Lewis Black, Nick Swardson, and Louis C.K. holding spots on the Billboard 200. Along with Grammy wins from Lewis Black and Stephen Colbert

Starting in 2007, the label has been releasing albums exclusively through digital music vendors such as iTunes, and Rhapsody as a way to give lesser known comedians exposure with little risk to the label. Comedians whose albums have been released this way are Josh Sneed, Anthony Jeselnik, Greg Warren, Todd Glass, and Matt Braunger.

RIAA Certifications

Artist	Album	Award	Format
Dane Cook	Harmful If Swallowed	Gold	Album
		Platinum	Album
	Retaliation	Gold	Album
		Platinum	Album
		2x Platinum	Album
	Rough Around The Edges	Gold	Album
Nick Swardson	Party	Gold	Video Longform
		Platinum	Video Longform
Bo Burnham	Bo Burnham	Gold	Video Longform
Demetri Martin	These Are Jokes	Gold	Video Longform
Jim Gaffigan	Doing My Time	Gold	Video Longform

Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album

Year	Artist	Album	Result	Ref
2006	Lewis Black	Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues	Nominated
2007	Lewis Black	The Carnegie Hall Performance	Won
2008	Steven Wright	I Still Have a Pony	Nominated	[3]
	George Lopez	America's Mexican	Nominated	[3]
2009	Lewis Black	Anticipation	Nominated	[4]
2010	Stephen Colbert	A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!	Won	[5]
	George Lopez	Tall, Dark & Chicano	Nominated
2011	Lewis Black	Stark Raving Black	Won	[6]

Discography

• Comedy Central Records discography

See also

• List of record labels
• List of stand-up comedians
• Stand Up! Records

References

1. ^ Arizona Daily Wildcat. "UA alumnus' record label negotiation deal with Comedy Central"
2. ^ Comedy Central Corners The Laughs Business, The Wall Street Journal.
3. ^ ^{a b} COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS® RECEIVES GRAMMY® AWARD NOMINATIONS FOR STEVEN WRIGHT'S "I STILL HAVE A PONY" AND GEORGE LOPEZ' "AMERICA'S MEXICAN"
4. ^ COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS® RELEASE LEWIS BLACK’S “ANTICIPATION” NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY® AWARD
5. ^ COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS® WINS GRAMMY® AWARD FOR COMEDY ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR STEPHEN COLBERT’S “A COLBERT CHRISTMAS – THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL!”
6. ^ COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS® WINS COMEDY ALBUM OF THE YEAR GRAMMY® AWARD FOR LEWIS BLACK'S "STARK RAVING BLACK"