MTV and Comedy Central Launch The Comedy Awards'; '30 Rock' Leads Nominees
by Scott Nye
In the time leading up to the Golden Globes, one story quietly snuck under the radar - Comedy Central and MTV are teaming up to present The Comedy Awards. And now they've released their list of nominees!
The aim of the show is to honor achievements in comedy. While the Golden Globes and Emmys have special awards for comedies, the Oscars have none, an aspect that is often cited as one of the show's shortcomings.
Even at the Globes, however, the comedy category is not treated with the same reverence as the dramas, though it is not as though the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Globes, is a terribly respected institution to be begin with.
And the Comedy Awards are already way ahead of any of these organizations by honoring such neglected shows as "Eastbound and Down," "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job," and "Archer."
On the film side, comic book fans will be happy that "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" finally saw some love in the Comedy Directing category, and "The Other Guys" received some deserved nominations as well.
"30 Rock" leads the pack with seven nominations.
While the winners will be chosen by an invitation-only voting body of nearly 1,000 people within the comedy community, the nominees were selected the Comedy Awards board, which boasts such members as James Burrows, Stephen Colbert, Billy Crystal, James Dixon, Whoopi Goldberg, Brad Grey, Caroline Hirsch, Martin Lesak, Seth MacFarlane, Adam McKay, Jimmy Miller, Conan O'Brien, Peter Principato, Don Rickles, Joan Rivers, Jay Roach, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Rory Rosegarten, Phil Rosenthal, Michael Rotenberg, George Schlatter, Sharon Sheinwold Jackson, Mitzi Shore, Jon Stewart, Lily Tomlin and Sandy Wernick. Yes, Virginia, Ray Romano was determined to have some special insight into comedy.
The full list of nominees can be found at www.thecomedyawards.com, where users can vote on Best Viral Original. The Comedy Awards Air April 10th.