COMEDY CENTRAL New shows scheduled featuring cable regulars

If you watch the channel, you know the faces. Now, you can know their shows.
By TERRY MORROW
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Comedy Central is getting serious about its late-night lineup.
Starting later this year, the cable channel will launch three new late-night shows, one of which will be a spinoff of "The Daily Show" and starring correspondent Stephen Colbert.
The other two new series will star former "Man Show" co-host Adam Carolla and DL Hughley.
Vehicles for Colbert and Carolla are being designed as companion pieces for "The Daily Show." In recent years, the channel has tried to develop a signature series to follow "The Daily Show," but nothing has caught fire.
"Daily Show" remains one of the channel's highest-rated shows, especially among the highly coveted but hard-to-get young-male demographic.
"All three shows are very, very different from the other," says Lauren Corrao, senior vice president of original programming and head of development for Comedy Central.
"When you're looking to do a late-night show, first and foremost, you're looking for personalities that the audience will connect with. They need a specific point of view and can carry a show. It really is all about the talent.
"The single theme through the show is that it will be an extension of their personalities and their talents."
Corrao says Comedy Central has strong audience numbers during late-night, a time proven to attract college-age viewers.
On the slate
"The Colbert Report" will come from the writers of "The Daily Show" and premiere in late summer or early fall.
The channel describes "Report" as Colbert's take on issues of the day, and "more importantly, to tell you why everyone else's take is just plain wrong.
"What 'The Daily Show' is to evening news, 'The Colbert Report' is to O'Reilly/Scarborough/Hannity/Anderson Cooper, except Colbert's show will be intentionally funny."
This is the first project developed under the network's first-look agreement with Jon Stewart's Busboy Productions, Inc., and will be produced by Busboy in association with Spartina Productions, Inc. Stewart, Ben Karlin and Colbert will serve as executive producers.
Colbert intends to stay with "The Daily Show" while working on "Report."
"Weekends at the DL" will premiere on Friday, July 29. It will be a roundtable discussion of topical events with Hughley and his friends.
The untitled Carolla program could be a live talk show, with a single celebrity guest, phone-in questions and music.