Premium Blend
1997 American TV series or program
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Premium Blend was a stand-up comedy series created and directed by Paul Miller[1] that aired on the American cable television channel Comedy Central from 1997 to 2005. In 2005, the show was changed and now known as "Live at Gotham".[2]
GenreStand-up comedy
Created byPaul Miller
Presented byKathy Griffin (1997)
Jim Breuer (1998)
Tommy Davidson (1999)
Harland Williams (2000)
David Alan Grier (2001)
Wanda Sykes (2002)
D. L. Hughley (2003)
Jamie Kennedy (2004)
Damon Wayans (2005)
Jim Breuer (1998)
Tommy Davidson (1999)
Harland Williams (2000)
David Alan Grier (2001)
Wanda Sykes (2002)
D. L. Hughley (2003)
Jamie Kennedy (2004)
Damon Wayans (2005)
Country of originUnited States
| Premium Blend | |
|---|---|
| |
| Genre | Stand-up comedy |
| Created by | Paul Miller |
| Presented by | Kathy Griffin (1997) Jim Breuer (1998) Tommy Davidson (1999) Harland Williams (2000) David Alan Grier (2001) Wanda Sykes (2002) D. L. Hughley (2003) Jamie Kennedy (2004) Damon Wayans (2005) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 85 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Kimber Rickabaugh Paul Miller |
| Running time | approx. 23 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Comedy Central |
| Release | November 29, 1997 – April 8, 2005 |
The show was born out of Comedy Central's attempts to find new comedy stars. These "attempts" were $1,000 to $10,000 productions that allowed unnoticed comedians to share their material. Premium Blend acted as a showcase where most of the material and bits were shown.[2]
Overview
Every year since its premiere in 1997, the program featured a well-known stand up comedian as an emcee who introduced four or five lesser-known comedians looking for a big break on television. The host and guests would change every year.[3] Each comedian presented a short set of jokes, which was edited to last about five minutes on the airing of the show.
Many alumni have gone on to have their own Comedy Central Presents specials or further acclaim, including Mitch Hedberg, Stephen Lynch, Demetri Martin, Dane Cook, B. J. Novak, Anthony Jeselnik, Paul F. Tompkins, Darrell Hammond, Mike Birbiglia, Greer Barnes, Wayne Federman, Daniel Tosh, Chelsea Handler, Jamie Kennedy, Gabriel Iglesias, Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Dean Edwards, Finesse Mitchell, and Ron White.
Hosts
Each year the show would get a new comedian to serve as host for each of the season's ten episodes. The hosts were:
- Kathy Griffin (1997)
- Jim Breuer (1998)
- Tommy Davidson (1999)
- Harland Williams (2000)
- David Alan Grier (2001)
- Wanda Sykes (2002)
- D. L. Hughley (2003)
- Jamie Kennedy (2004)
- Damon Wayans (2005)
Series overview
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 5 | 29 November 1997 | 27 December 1997 | |
| 2 | 8 | 23 May 1998 | 5 September 1998 | |
| 3 | 12 | 7 December 1999 | 22 February 2000 | |
| 4 | 12 | 4 December 2000 | 9 February 2001 | |
| 5 | 12 | 5 October 2001 | 28 December 2001 | |
| 6 | 12 | 26 October 2002 | 24 January 2003 | |
| 7 | 12 | 28 November 2003 | 23 January 2004 | |
| 8 | 12 | 19 November 2004 | 8 April 2005 | |
Episodes
Season 1 (1997)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Greg Fitzsimmons/Sue Murphy/Pablo Francisco/Dueling Bankheads | 29 November 1997 |
| 2 | 2 | Mario Cantone/Karen Kilgariff/Christopher Titus/Slovin & Allen | 6 December 1997 |
| 3 | 3 | Adam Ferrara/Sunda Croonquist/Arj Barker/Stephen Lynch | 13 December 1997 |
| 4 | 4 | Craig Anton/Cory Miller/Blaine Capatch/Lust Pollution | 20 December 1997 |
| 5 | 5 | Rob Paravonian/Sabrina Matthews/Greg Behrendt | 27 December 1997 |
Season 2 (1998)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1 | Tom Kenny/Johnny Sanchez/Wanda Sykes-Hall/Mitch Hedberg/Victoria Jackson | 23 May 1998 |
| 7 | 2 | Darrell Hammond/Laura House/Pinataland | 30 May 1998 |
| 8 | 3 | Mitch Fatel/Peter Correale/Vernon Chatman/Sam and Emmy Laybourne | 6 June 1998 |
| 9 | 4 | Leanne Ford/Nick Swardson/Y'all | 13 June 1998 |
| 10 | 5 | Billy Burr/Ed Crasnick/Suli McCullough/Jen's Revenge | 20 June 1998 |
| 11 | 6 | Vanessa Hollingshead/Tom Papa/John Bush/Randy and Jason Sklar | 27 June 1998 |
| 12 | 7 | Steve Marmel/Jackie Kashian/Wali Collins/Muckafurgason | 4 July 1998 |
| 13 | 8 | Mark Pitta/John Henton/Paul F. Tompkins/Jason Kuller/Doug Stanhope/Betty | 5 September 1998 |
Season 3 (1999-2000)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | Gary Valentine/Maria Bamford/Daniel Tosh/Craig Robinson | {7 December 1999 |
| 15 | 2 | Michael Loftus/Juston McKinney/John Rogers/Lust Pollution | 14 December 1999 |
| 16 | 3 | Renee Hicks/Tim Young/Peter Johansson/Scott Bloom | 21 December 1999 |
| 17 | 4 | Jeff Allen/Scott Henry/Frank Caliendo/The Chalks | 28 December 1999 |
| 18 | 5 | Gregg Rogell/Louis Ramey/Eric Drysdale/Sherry Davey | 4 January 2000 |
| 19 | 6 | Eric Kornfeld/Nick Griffin/Merrin Dungey/Jeff Dunham | 11 January 2000 |
| 20 | 7 | Tom Cotter/Andy Blitz/Penelope Lombard/Mario Cantone | 18 January 2000 |
| 21 | 8 | Phil Palisoul/Gabriel Iglesias/Dana Eagle/Tom Shillue | 25 January 2000 |
| 22 | 9 | Greg Hahn/Gary Gulman/Cory Kahaney/Regular Joe's | 1 February 2000 |
| 23 | 10 | Mike Ricca/Godfrey/Chris Rich/Paul Greenberg | 8 February 2000 |
| 24 | 11 | Jimmy Pardo/Dwayne Perkins/Leo Allen/Emmy Laybourne | 15 February 2000 |
| 25 | 12 | Matt Weinhold/Michael Estime/Retta | 22 February 2000 |
Season 4 (2000–01)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 1 | Ian Bagg/Lynne Koplitz/Jordan Rubin/Bobby Lee | 4 December 2000 |
| 27 | 2 | Vince Morris/Darren Carter/DeRay/Bill Larkin | 11 December 2000 |
| 28 | 3 | Candy Ford/Doug Benson/Chuck Roy/Jimmy Shubert | 18 December 2000 |
| 29 | 4 | David J. Nash/Mike B./Dina Pearlman/Anthony Szpak | 25 December 2000 |
| 30 | 5 | Demetri Martin/Corey Holcomb/Karen Bergreen/The Amazing Jonathan | 1 January 2001 |
| 31 | 6 | Happy Cole/Jamie Kennedy/Elizabeth Beckwith/Allan Wells | 8 January 2001 |
| 32 | 7 | Robert Hawkins/Russ Meneve/Marta Ravin/Dwayne Kennedy | 12 January 2001 |
| 33 | 8 | D.C. Benny/Eddie Ifft/Jen Kirkman/Mike Lukas | 15 January 2001 |
| 34 | 9 | Mark Gross/Wendy Spero/Dan Cronin/Tony Rock | 19 January 2001 |
| 35 | 10 | Dean Edwards/Andrew Kennedy/Kevin Bozeman/Jolly & Susan Messing | 26 January 2001 |
| 36 | 11 | Bert Kreischer/Tig/Tom Ryan/Earthquake | 2 February 2001 |
| 37 | 12 | Freddy Soto/Sarah Colonna/John Heffron/Rick Harris | 9 February 2001 |
Season 5 (2001)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | 1 | Greer Barnes/Eddie Gossling/Sue Costello/Joey Kola | 5 October 2001 |
| 39 | 2 | Bryan Tucker/Sharon Houston/Billy Gardell/Fred Armisen | 12 October 2001 |
| 40 | 3 | Mike Birbiglia/Brody Stevens/Janine DiTullio/Billy D. Washington | 19 October 2001 |
| 41 | 4 | Jimmy Dore/Andrew Donnelly/Tess Drake/Rich Vos | 26 October 2001 |
| 42 | 5 | J. Scott Holman/Robert Kelly/Tracy Smith/Rudy Rush | 2 November 2001 |
| 43 | 6 | Scott Kennedy/Dan Naturman/Arnez J./Rob Paravonian | 9 November 2001 |
| 44 | 7 | Craig Baldo/Charlie Virracola/Chris Regan/Jim Norton | 16 November 2001 |
| 45 | 8 | Judah Friedlander/Laurie Kilmartin/Eugene Mirman/Patrice O'Neal | 23 November 2001 |
| 46 | 9 | Chris Hardwick/Sean Conroy/Leslie Charles/VanDeventer | 30 November 2001 |
| 47 | 10 | Mike MacRae/Jodie Wasserman/Christian Finnegan/Derrick Cameron | 14 December 2001 |
| 48 | 11 | Eric Kirschberger/Brian Keith Etheridge/Jason Andors/J.B. Smoove | 21 December 2001 |
| 49 | 12 | Jim Short/Liam McEneaney/Michael, Jr./Amy Barnes | 28 December 2001 |
Season 6 (2002-03)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 1 | Erin Foley/Jesse Popp/Sherrod Small/Hal Sparks | 26 October 2002 |
| 51 | 2 | Becky Donohue/Dan Gabriel/Ed Helms/Guy Torry | 2 November 2002 |
| 52 | 3 | Ben Bailey/Alonzo Bodden/Jonathan Corbett/Charlie Grandy | 9 November 2002 |
| 53 | 4 | Kyle Dunnigan/Aron Kader/Todd Lynn/Becky Pedigo | 16 November 2002 |
| 54 | 5 | Patrick Borelli/Reno Collier/Kareem Matthews/Tami Vernikoff | 23 November 2002 |
| 55 | 6 | Andre Kelley/Al Madrigal/Henry Phillips/Melanie Reno | 7 December 2002 |
| 56 | 7 | Winners from Laugh Riots: DeRay Davis/Martha Kelly/Robert Mac/Retta | 14 December 2002 |
| 57 | 8 | Steve Byrne/Jessica Kirson/Shawn Majumder/Alex Thomas | 21 December 2002 |
| 58 | 9 | Tony Camin/Bob Oschack/Stephanie Howard/Ron White | 28 December 2002 |
| 59 | 10 | Dwight Slade/Laura Swisher/Drew Hastings/Bob Marley | 3 January 2003 |
| 60 | 11 | Kyle Grooms/Danny Cohen/Robin Montague/Jeff Burghart | 17 January 2003 |
| 61 | 12 | Owen Smith/Greg Warren/Bridget Smith/Greg Morton | 24 January 2003 |
Season 7 (2003-04)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 1 | Darrell Joyce/Chris McGuire/Rylee Newton/Victor Varnado | 28 November 2003 |
| 63 | 2 | Amy Anderson/Anthony Griffith/Joe Matarese/Sean Rouse | 5 December 2003 |
| 64 | 3 | Lisa Gopman/James Patterson/Chris Fairbanks/Tom McCaffrey | 12 December 2003 |
| 65 | 4 | Roz G/Bill Santiago/John Mooney/KP Anderson | 19 December 2003 |
| 66 | 5 | Loni Love/Julius Sharpe/Kristeen von Hagen/Tom Clark | 2 January 2004 |
| 67 | 6 | BJ Novak/Avi Liberman/Heather Lawless/Donnell Rawlings | 2 January 2004 |
| 68 | 7 | J. Chris Newberg/Ty Barnett/Jessi Klein/Chip Pope | 9 January 2004 |
| 69 | 8 | Alexandra McHale/Eric Blake/Brian Kiley/Kevin Kataoka | 9 January 2004 |
| 70 | 9 | Sean Corvelle/Eddie Sarfaty/Jane Edith Wilson/Eliot Chang | 16 January 2004 |
| 71 | 10 | Marc Theobald/Pat Dixon/Howard Kremer/Danielle Koenig | 16 January 2004 |
| 72 | 11 | Megan Mooney/Cash Levy/Karith Foster/Sam Tripoli | 23 January 2004 |
| 73 | 12 | Finesse Mitchell/Rusty Ward/Bonnie McFarlane/Ant | 23 January 2004 |
Season 8 (2004-05)
| No. overall | No. in season | Performer | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 74 | 1 | Dov Davidoff/Kristian Vallee/Allison Castillo/Rodman | 19 November 2004 |
| 75 | 2 | Maz Jobrani/Matt Bearden/Rachel Feinstein/Jon Fisch | 3 December 2004 |
| 76 | 3 | Josh Sneed/Carmen Lynch/Peter Spruyt/Rodney Laney | 10 December 2004 |
| 77 | 4 | James Johann/Lavell Crawford/Debbie Shea/Andy Samberg | 7 January 2005 |
| 78 | 5 | Lowell Sanders/Nathan Trebholm/Lisa Landry/Jay Oakerson | 14 January 2005 |
| 79 | 6 | Butch Bradley/Adam Growe/Jasper Redd/Michele Biloon | 21 January 2005 |
| 80 | 7 | Dan Allen/Morgan Murphy/Kevin Seccia/Jimmie Roulette | 28 January 2005 |
| 81 | 8 | Alex Ortiz/Ophira Eisenberg/Matt Iseman/John Caparulo | 4 February 2005 |
| 82 | 9 | Jon Reep/Dan Mintz/Dennis Fowler/Lisa Lampanelli | 4 March 2005 |
| 83 | 10 | Isaac Witty/Marina Franklin/Boris Hamilton/Vickie Shaw | 25 March 2005 |
| 84 | 11 | Danny Bevins/Chelsea Handler/Hayes MacArthur/Doug Williams | 1 April 2005 |
| 85 | 12 | Mike Bentancourt/Rob Pue/Carmen Stockton/Joe Starr | 8 April 2005 |