Comedy Central
Compiled by James Fabiano, Eric Hartman and Matt Williams
What's Comedy Partners?
This channel is owned by an outfit called "Comedy Partners". Who are they? None other than Viacom and Time Warner. How did this take place? Time Warner's HBO unit had expanded into basic cable with a channel called "Comedy Channel". Similarly, Viacom was operating "HA! The Comedy Network". After both channels took a hit, the two compromised and created a jointly-owned company, Comedy Partners, and HA! And Comedy Channel were merged into Comedy Central. But in late 2003, Time Warner sold their half of Comedy Partners, resulting in Viacom owning 100% of Comedy Central.
1st Logo
(1992-1996?)
Nickname: "The Junkyard"
Logo: The Comedy Central globe of the era (which does not
tilt to a side, has yellow text, and a purplish top) is posed in
a background of spare tires, kind of like a junkyard. The
"Comedy Central" marquee spins around from time to
time.
FX/Cheesy Factor: The animated CC logo plastered in a
"real" background.
Music: None, just Penn Gilette saying, "This has been
a presentation from Comedy Central!"
Availability: Seen in the CC-era of "Mystery Science
Theater 3000" up to the sixth season.
Scare Factor: Penn's bombastic voice might startle some.
2nd Logo
(1996-97)
Nickname: "The ATM"
Logo: It begins with a shot of a credit card being inserted into what is presumably an ATM machine. It then switches to a shot of an "ATM Screen". In green, being "drawn" down from top to bottom and in a computer-type font, are the words "THIS HAS BEEN A PRESENTATION OF", followed by the Comedy Central logo (in green), and then "THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE". The last line "blinks" a few times, becoming highlighted in green with the text in black.
Variant: An interesting edit exists on one of the first South Park eps, where the "credit card" animation was kept in but then abruptly switching to Logo 3!
FX/Cheesy Factor: The "ATM Screen", but that was intentional.
Music: "Beeping" sounds, like a real atm.
Availability: Rare, was seen on Comedy Central shows of the period, also originally on the first episodes of "South Park" but this was covered up with Logo 3 (and soon after, logo 4). The credit card animation is still retained on some early episodes of Win Ben Stein's Money, but then shifts to the '00 logo. Video tapes of South Park can still contain this logo.
Scare Factor: Not scary at all and very creative.
3rd Logo
(1997-98)
Nickname: "The Transmitter"
Logo: On a blue background with "wavy lines", the Comedy Central logo appears at the bottom, at first distorted but soon becoming clear. The transmitter on the top of the logo "activates" and then many "This has been a presentation of" rings begin to come out of the transmitter.
FX: The "Transmitter"
Music: An "interference" sound followed by loud "bong" sounds as the "rings" come out from the transmitter.
Availability: Usually plastered by the current logo, but is still found on some of the early VHS tapes of South Park. Comedy Central's recent showing of the South Park episode "Cartman's Mom Is A Dirty Slut" kept this logo, suprisingly.
Scare Factor: Not scary at all.
4th Logo
(1998-2000)
Logo: On a red screen with what looks like bubbles crashing into each other (like a lava lamp), the comedy central logo, now in white, zooms in from the center of the screen, glowing. Above it is "THIS HAS BEEN A PRESENTATION OF", and below it is the copyright information for the show(usually ©(year) Comedy Partners, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Variants:
FX: Well, the zoom-in looks lame, as does the logo.
Music: A low "WHOOSH" as the logo zooms in.
Availability: Rare, the current logo is now plastering all past logos, but was spotted on "The Firar's Club Roast Of Jerry Stiller" in May 2002.
Scare Factor: Lame but harmless.
5th Logo
(2000-)
Logo: Over a shaded orange background, we see lots of yellow circles zooming toward the viewer. The circles have zoomed-up bits of the latest Comedy Central logo (much like the original, but with a different font) and other text to be seen at the end product. When the circles are done, we are treated with the end product, the updated Comedy Central logo in the center with "THIS HAS BEEN A PRESENTATION OF" above in black, and "comedycentral.com" below, in white. There is a backdrop of circles zooming behind the logo. There are also versions using blue and green backgrounds.
Variant: On later seasons of "South Park", this logo starts with the finished product on many episodes, bypassing the circles. A copyright notice for Comedy Partners is included. A few episodes keep the animation as usual, but still have the copyright notice, plastered over all animation.
FX: Pretty inspired animation, nothing cheesy, but can make the viewer a bit dizzy.
Music: A bass sounder that loops itself, not unlike music heard on Comedy Central's commercial tags.
Availability: Common, at least on Comedy Central. Is seen on all original Comedy Central programming, such as "The Daily Show", "South Park", and "The Man Show." This logo has also been plastered Columbia-Tristar style on nearly all pre-2000 original programming as well.
Scare Factor: None, it can get a bit tiresome, but the colors are too bright to scare anyone