Russian entertainment channel TNT will broadcast the final episode of its long-running show Comedy Club this Friday, ending a nearly 20-year run amid rumors of a major revamp.
“Comedy Club is closing,” Gazprom Media Holding, TNT’s parent company, announced Thursday. “With 20 seasons on air, more than 800 original episodes, two TEFI awards, 1,500 stand-up performances, 4,000 sketches and 10,000 live shows in hundreds of cities worldwide, Comedy Club is concluding its iconic run.”
Launched in 2005, Comedy Club featured an ensemble cast of young comedians, many of whom have since launched their own projects. The show blended stand-up routines, sketches and musical performances, often with celebrity guests in attendance.
TNT’s press office confirmed that a new program has already been selected to replace Comedy Club in its prime Friday night slot but did not reveal further details.
The Vedomosti business daily, which first broke the news, speculated that the closure might be a “PR stunt” aimed at achieving the “challenging and complex” goal of attracting younger audiences.
While some media experts noted that Comedy Club’s humor no longer resonates with younger audiences, TV ratings for the first half of 2024 showed the show outperforming TNT’s average viewership, with 9.6% compared to the network’s overall 7.6%.
Earlier this month, TNT’s director, Tina Kandelaki, hinted at a possible revival of the show under the direction of veteran cast member Garik Kharlamov, who recently became the program’s creative director.
Kandelaki mentioned that Kharlamov “proposed a wealth of new ideas about the stage, music, content and a mix of old and new cast members, as well as updates to the humor itself.”
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