''Comics Unleashed'' is a half-hour comedic

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk S ...

produced by the

Entertainment Studios Entertainment Studios, Inc., also known as Allen Media Group, is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved in the production and ...

production company (formerly CF Entertainment) and hosted by Byron Allen, with John Cramer as announcer and DJ Cobra or sometimes DJ A1 providing music support.

Format

Each episode begins with Allen delivering a short, usually topical monologue, after which he introduces the night's DJ and the panel of four comedians. Allen sets each comedian up with a prescribed, usually generic premise, at which point the comedian delivers a

monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

from their stand-up routine. The monologues by different comedians seldom tie into each other, but the structure of the show puts the monologues in the loose framework of a

panel discussion A panel discussion, or simply a panel, involves a group of people gathered to discuss a topic in front of an audience, typically at scientific, business, or academic conferences, fan conventions, and on television shows. Panels usually include a ...

. Several episodes of the series featured an all-black cast, in which case the show was branded as ''Comics Unleashed: Hot Chocolate''. This branding was later edited out.

Broadcast history

First-run weekly episodes were originally produced from 2006–07, with repeats still airing in some markets, generally in the very late-night to overnight hours under bulk barter arrangements made for the various series of Entertainment Studios. Repeats of the series continue to air with the copyright notice for the series and the year of production being removed, meaning the only reference that the show was produced a decade earlier is referencing stories and

punch line A punch line (a. k. a. punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up ...

s made in each episode. For instance, a reference to a certain brand and model of dishwasher being recalled that year. Back-to-back episodes also aired in

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

before it became a programming service. New episodes were produced and added into the rotation in 2014. Reruns of the series can also be found on Byron's Comedy.TV channel, and its free counterpart on Local Now.

References

External links

Comics Unleashed official site
* 2000s American comedy television series 2006 American television series debuts 2000s American television talk shows English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by Entertainment Studios {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub