Constant Comedy

This insider’s memoir about the origins of Comedy Central is “a very, very funny book about an amazing piece of comedy history” (Jerry Zucker, cowriter and director of Airplane!).

Finalist, 2020 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest

In 1988, a young, mid-level employee named Art Bell pitched a novel concept—a television channel focused 100% on just one thing: comedy—to the chairman of HBO. The station that would soon become Comedy Central, with celebrated programs like South Park, Chapelle’s Show, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report, was born.

Constant Comedy takes you behind the scenes into the comedy startup on its way to becoming one of the most successful and creative purveyors of popular culture in the United States. From disastrous pitch meetings with comedians to the discovery of talents like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart, this intimate biography peers behind the curtain and reveals what it’s really like to work, struggle, and ultimately succeed at the cutting edge of show business.

“The funniest behind-the-scenes memoir I’ve ever read, full of crazy characters, plot twists, and suspense.” —Dan Lyons, New York Times-bestselling author of Disrupted