Desi content soon on Comedy Central

Funny channel Comedy Central also plans to show new episodes of Saturday Night Live.

Comedy Central arrived in India last week. The American channel through its seven-day lifespan in the country has been airing classics like Seinfeld and Goodness Gracious Me. But executives from the channel insist Indian content is underway too. Buzz is that writers have been assigned to pen local content.

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Ferzad Palia, Senior Vice President and General Manager, English Entertainment, Comedy Central confirms: “We’ll make some Indian content for sure but only once we get it right. We don’t want to take chances. English comedy is difficult to pull off. But we’re already working on a few concepts and testing them.”

He insists the channel is in no hurry to take the plunge with Indian content: “There is no fixed time for this. It could happen in two months or even in six months. The channel is the first in its genre in this country. We want to own the skills of certain talent in the country and give them a platform to present their form of humour.”

Till then, fans of Saturday Night Live can rejoice since the channel plans to air the show’s new episodes as they are being shot. “There’s also Southpark, The Office and Happily Divorced in our line-up,” informs Ferzad, adding that the episodes of Southpark will be censored. “Also, we’ll premiere shows on weekends. The content spans an array of genres like sketch, animation, stand-up, gags and sitcoms.”

Apart from the new shows, there’s also a list of iconic old ones that will make a comeback of sorts on the tube. The list includes That 70s Show, Wonder Years and 30 Rock. Ferzad justifies: “There’s a large section of people who have not seen any of these shows. So, we’ve brought them back.”