1989: The Comedy Channel Goes Live
On this day in 1989, Time Warner introduced cable's first all-comedy channel, simply called The Comedy Channel. Its programming ranged from episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 to its original program, Short Attention Span Theater, a mash-up of clips from comedy films and stand-up performances along with entertainment news and commentary from the show's hosts, which included Jon Stewart (left, in his first TV hosting gig), Marc Maron, Laura Kightlinger and Brian and Dennis Regan.
Nearly five months later, Viacom launched the competing Ha! network, which filled its hours primarly with sitcoms and sketch comedy shows.
On April Fool's Day, 1991, the competing channels merged to create CTV: The Comedy Network. Two months later, it was re-named Comedy Central.