"Comedy is really hard," says Herzog

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on January 19th, 2005

Comedy Central President Doug Herzog says that “The process (of creating a comedy series) is broken at the networks a little bit.” He also hinted that he might bring back Tough Crowd.

Herzog — who’s responsible for such Comedy Central hits as South Park and The Daily Show — also said that the cable network’s late-night series Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn isn’t necessarily off the air permanently, admitting that it was pulled for poor ratings and high production costs.

“It’s resting,” he quipped. “We’re contemplating bringing it back. There’s a lot of value in what Colin built.””

Herzog and all the others are in Hollywood (Pasadena?) at the annual… What is it they do in January? Is it the television critics that gather out there this time of year? Anyway, the network heads puff out their chests, say ludicrous things using the cutest Network TV Speak and then throw it open to a Q & A. Such was the setting for Herzog’s latest bombshell. Read the rest.

Excuse me, did he say, “high production costs?”… Is that real caviar? I can’t believe how small my hotel room is! Hey, is that Phil Rosenthal? Are you going to the Fox party? We actually have a rental car this year. (This was not real overheard conversation… it is merely a re-enactment of a conversation which may have taken place at the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour.)