Stand Up Or Sit Down Comedy Challenge

Five Finalists Perform on TBS Special Hosted by Comedian George Lopez TBS teams with MySpace for Stand Up Or Sit Down Comedy Challenge
The online comedy competition invites amateur or rising comics to submit video samples of their work through the MySpace profile at http://myspace.com/StandUpOrSitDown.

Beginning this week, MySpace users have the opportunity to vote for the top finalists, five of whom will then be invited to perform in a one-hour special hosted by comedian George Lopez and filmed at The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. The special will premiere on TBS on Friday, November 17, 2006 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

Following the TV special, viewers can return to MySpace to vote for their favorite comedian, with the winner being announced live on TBS during a break in the network’s simulcast of the Comic Relief 2006 special Saturday, Nov. 18. The winning comedian will receive $50,000, a development deal and other prizes.

Stand Up Or Sit Down Comedy Challenge invited fresh comic talents to submit videos, up to five minutes in length, of their funniest material for the qualifying round, which ended October 11, 2006. Fifteen qualifying-round winners will be chosen by a panel of judges from MySpace and The Improv comedy clubs.

From October 23 through October 30, MySpace visitors can watch the 15 qualifying-round winners on the contest profile page on MySpace and choose 10 favorites to continue on to the semi-finals. Those 10 semi-finalists will perform live at The Improv comedy club in Los Angeles, with their performances featured on MySpace. From Nov. 7-12, MySpace visitors will be able to view their performances and vote to choose the five finalists.

Once selected, the five finalists will be flown to The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas, where they will perform Thursday, Nov. 16, in front of a live audience for a one-hour TBS special, hosted by comedian George Lopez, to air the next night. Following the telecast, viewers will be invited to go to MySpace to vote for their favorite.

The winner of the Stand Up Or Sit Down Comedy Challenge competition will be announced during a break in TBS’s telecast of Comic Relief 2006, which the network is simulcasting with HBO. The winner will take home $50,000, a development deal and other prizes.

To be presented from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas as part of the second annual edition of The Comedy Festival, Comic Relief 2006 will be hosted by Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams. In addition to announcing the winner of Stand Up Or Sit Down Comedy Challenge competition during Comic Relief 2006, TBS will also present a short video clip of the winner’s performance from the competition.

Stand Up Or Sit Down Comedy Challenge and Comic Relief 2006 are part of HBO and AEG LIVE’s The Comedy Festival, taking place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas Tuesday, Nov. 14-Saturday, Nov. 18. The mission of The Comedy Festival is to bring together the biggest stars and cutting-edge comedy talent in a broad range of programming, from star-level performances and special events to stand-up, sketch comedy and film.