Comedy Central & Bonnaroo Festival to Produce Stand-Up Comedy Special This Summer

Comedy Central and the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival are working together for the first time ever to program comedy performances as well as to produce an original one-hour compilation stand-up special at the festival, it was announced today by Jonas Larsen, Senior Vice President, Talent & Specials, Comedy Central.

Select performances from Bonnaroo's Comedy Theatre will be filmed and edited into an original one-hour compilation stand-up special to debut on Comedy Central in summer 2012. Since its inauguration in 2004, the Comedy Theatre at Bonnaroo has become a favorite stop at the festival and has hosted some of the biggest comics touring today. The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is scheduled to take place June 7 - 10 in Manchester, TN. The full 2012 Comedy Theatre line-up was just announced last week and available at www.bonnaroo.com.

"Our relationship with Bonnaroo started with last year's digital multi-platform experience and has now expanded into producing an on-air comedy special as well as partnering on programming for the Comedy Theatre," said Larsen. "Needless to say, we are thrilled to take part in this event and to take all the credit for its success."

"Evolving the Bonnaroo media property onto a major broadcast platform is an important step for us," said Chad Issaq, EVP of Business Development for Superfly Marketing Group, who oversees partnerships for Bonnaroo. "We look forward to providing plenty of laughs with our friends at Comedy Central. I just hope they've got a sense of humor, because spending a week down on The Farm is no joke."

In the 11th year of the festival, organizers have just announced one of the most eclectic and striking lineups to date, drawing from an astounding range of music scenes to create what is sure to be another incomparable weekend for the ages. The breadth of the programming is consistently innovative each year and has become one of the key signature aspects of this legendary festival, whose uniquely open minded yet discerning and passionate community thrives on its intelligent diversity.

As the only round-the-clock major U.S. music festival, Bonnaroo packs an unparalleled amount of entertainment options into its four days. The event has offered its attendees the amenities and community spirit of a small city, with 24 hours of activities including a comedy theater, cinema festival, broo'ers festival, silent disco, salon, sustainable gardening lessons, arcade, Internet cafes, restaurants, yoga classes and hundreds of high quality food and craft vendors. Rolling Stone magazine called the 2011 event "epic," saying the weekend was full of "surprise and wonder." Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield intoned, "If Woodstock were like this, we never would have left."

Available in 99 million homes nationwide, Comedy Central (www.comedycentral.com), the only all-comedy network, is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA and VIAB).

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