CBS has announced the executive producing team, showrunners and head writer for After Midnight, which will take the place of The Late Late Show with James Corden. After Midnight premieres early in 2024. Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show, is an executive producer. 

Comedian Taylor Tomlinson will host After Midnight, an announcement made by Colbert on the November 1 episode of The Late Show. The standup comic is known for her Netflix specials Look at You and Quarter Life Crisis, CBS said in a statement. 

CBS Studios, Colbert’s Spartina Industries and Funny or Die are partners on the show, which will air weeknights at 12:37 a.m. Executive producers are Colbert; Carrie Byalick, president of Spartina Industries; Tom Purcell, executive producer of The Late Show; Evelyn McGee Colbert; and James Dixon of Dixon Talent. Executive producers from Funny Or Die are Joe Farrell, Mike Farah, Whitney Hodack and Henry R. Muñoz III. Jason U. Nadler of Serious Business, who co-created Comedy Central late-night show @midnight, which inspired After Midnight, is also an executive producer. 

Co-showrunners are Jack Martin, showrunner on all four seasons of @midnight and showrunner for CBS game show Raid the Cage, and Eric Pierce, whose credits include The Challenge: USA and Hollywood Game Night. They executive produce as well. Jo Firestone will be co-executive producer and head writer. Firestone’s credits include Ziwe and The Tonight Show. 

“We are thrilled to be reunited with our friends at Funny Or Die,” Stephen Colbert said. “My hope is that, every night, After Midnight will be just as ridiculous as the internet is every day. Plus, the original @midnight aired after The Colbert Report, so welcoming this new show to 12:30 feels like coming home.”

Corden signed off from The Late Late Show earlier this year. 

“Funny or Die is proud to partner once again with CBS Studios, Spartina Industries and our longtime friend and collaborator Stephen Colbert,” said Funny or Die Owner Henry R. Muñoz III. “Now that we are all old enough to stay up until after midnight, I’m excited for this show to harness the power of comedy and laughter to bring us all together.”

Sixteen celebs will take part in a pickleball tournament on the special Pickled, which airs on CBS November 17. Stephen Colbert's Spartina produces with Funny or Die and CBS Studios. Colbert will sing the national anthem with Kenny Loggins, and the tournament winners get the Colbert Cup.

The celebs are Jimmie Allen, Murray Bartlett, Dierks Bentley, Jaime Camil, Will Ferrell, Max Greenfield, Luis Guzman, Phil Keoghan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tig Notaro, June Diane Raphael, Kelly Rowland, Paul Scheer, Aisha Tyler and Emma Watson.

The special will raise funds for Comic Relief US.

"If you love pickleball and you love celebrities and you love helping people, you’re going to love watching these celebrities help people by playing pickleball," said Colbert, host of The Late Show on CBS.

"Funny or Die is so proud to produce Pickled. Along with Stephen Colbert, CBS and our celebrity players, we all came together for two great causes: to support Comic Relief US and to add more articles about Pickleball to everyone's newsfeed," said Mike Farah, CEO of Funny Or Die.

Announcers Cari Champion, John Michael Higgins and Bill Raftery will add color and commentary.

Calls to action during the broadcast will raise funds to support Comic Relief's safety programs, which address the life-altering impact of homelessness, rootlessness and lack of safety often experienced by children and families living in poverty.

Claussen Pickles and Oofos Active Recovery are sponsors of the event.

Executive producers are Funny or Die's Mike Farah, Joe Farrell and Henry R. Muñoz III, and Spartina’s Stephen Colbert, Carrie Byalick, Evelyn McGee Colbert and Tom Purcell.

Tennis Channel holds its own celebrity pickleball event October 13. ■

Roku said it has ordered additional episodes of Roku Recommends, its 15-minute weekly entertainment show that presents streaming options based on the platform’s viewing data.

The show was launched in June and is produced by Funny or Die working with Roku’s branded content team — some of whom were previously with the comedy-centered platform.

Roku Recommends has been a top 10 video-on-demand TV series in unique views on the Roku Channel based on internal data, the company said. Roku said that 71% of households that watched Roku Recommends streamed a new channel on the Roku platform after watching an episode of the show.

Also Read: Roku Channel Grabs Original Comedy ‘Children Ruin Everything’

“Roku has endless shows and movies to choose from as America’s No. 1 TV Streaming Platform,” said Maria Menounos, who co-hosts Roku Recommends with Andrew “Hawk” Hawkins. “If you’re like me, it’s hard to pick what to stream next. That’s why I’m so thrilled we get to bring you more episodes of our weekly program that was designed to help viewers rediscover classics or discover their next favorite show.”

Roku said that sponsors of Roku Recommends can use the Roku Measurement Partner Program to see if their integrations into the show reach SVOD-only steamers, adds incremental reach to their video campaign, shifts perceptions of their brands, drives consumers to stores or websites or makes cash registered ring.

Walmart is among the national advertisers that have sponsored the program.

“Today, advertisers need a new way to reach their customers, especially as more streamers spend time in ad-free, subscription-only environments,” Roku Brand Studio head Chris Bruss said. “We’re thrilled that major brands are finding Roku Recommends helps their customers discover movies and shows and go beyond the traditional 30-second ad to entertain and engage.”

IFC Thursday announced the fourth and final season of its baseball-themed comedy series Brockmire will debut in first quarter 2020.

The series, which stars Hank Azaria as a famed major league baseball announcer who looks to rebound after suffering a public breakdown due to his wife’s infidelity, will launch its final eight episodes in March, according to the network. Series co-stars Amanda Peet, Tyler Jackson Williams and Katie Finneran will return for the final season.

“From the beginning, Brockmire was conceived as a four-season story, and we are so proud to see it written and produced to its creative conclusion,” said IFC executive director Blake Callaway in a statement. “Blazers off to the amazing crew, our fantastic partners at Funny Or Die, and the incredible cast, especially the incomparable Hank Azaria, who lives, sleeps and breaths Jim Brockmire, as well as Amanda Peet who makes an indelible contribution to the show as Jules, and Tyrel Jackson-Williams who completely shines as Charles. Fans and critics alike will love watching how the story ends.”

AMC Networks said it has taken a majority stake in Levity Live, the owner of several live comedy venues across the country, operating under brands like Copper Blues, Levity Live and the recently acquired The Improv.

Levity Live also operates a talent management arm and has a proven track record in television production, including prime-time specials with big-name comics like Trevor Noah, Tracy Morgan, Margaret Cho, Sebastian Maniscalco and Gad Elmaleh.

In a statement, AMC said it sees the partnership as an opportunity to bring together its IFC alternative comedy brand – home to quirky hits like Documentary Now! and Brockmire – with Levity’s venues to "create a multi-dimensional and fan-focused experiential comedy platform that can encompass live and televised comedy, digital extensions, and the development of new content formats, talent and IP." The move follows AMC's November 2016 minority investment in Funny or Die, the digital comedy hub and production studio created by comedians and film producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay that reaches more than 60 million people globally. 

“In an era of continuing disruption to old models, IFC now has format, IP ownership and talent opportunities that are best-in-class across live, digital and linear TV,” said IFC president Jennifer Caserta in a statement. “Just as our recent investment in Funny or Die allowed IFC to expand in the digital comedy space and explore new forms of content creation, this partnership with Levity Live connects our leading comedy brand with live venues across the country, opening up a world of new fan-focused and experiential opportunities as well as enhancing our ability to identify and cultivate emerging talent. Through this strategic partnership, we can further bring the IFC brand to life by forging direct, real-world connections with fans across TV, digital and now, live events.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“IFC’s strong comedy brand is a great partner for us,” said Levity Live CEO Alireza Ghaemian in a statement. “Levity’s growing universe of live entertainment venues, and our ability to identify the next generation of emerging comics and develop original content for multiple platforms complements IFC perfectly and we’re excited to explore new opportunities and continue to deliver a premium comedy experience.” 

Hulu has picked up a new politically-themed series starring comedian Sarah Silverman, the OTT service announced Monday.

The Funny Or Die-produced series, I Love You, America, stars Silverman discussing the current political/emotional landscape of the country. According to Hulu, Silverman will look to “connect with people who may not agree with her personal opinions through honesty, humor, genuine interest in others, and not taking herself too seriously.”

Silverman will serve as executive producer of the series along with Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Amy Zvi.

In the race to appeal to younger viewers, traditional content companies are increasingly turning toward short-form video and digital content providers, with several deals on the books over the past 12 months and more likely to come.

The latest to go short is Time Warner Inc.’s CNN, which paid about $25 million for online video company Beme, home of YouTube star Casey Neistat. As part of the deal, Beme’s 11-member staff, including Neistat — who has some 5.8 million YouTube followers — will join the news network and start a new media brand focused on millennial viewers.

Other companies have dipped their toes in the digital waters to varying degrees, ranging from NBCUniversal, which has spent about $600 million in online media sites BuzzFeed and Vox Media over the past 18 months, to 21st Century Fox, which in September paid about $6.5 million for a stake in DriveTribe, a new online motoring venture from former Top Gear stars Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.

Earlier last month, Discovery Communications said it would invest about $100 million for a 35% stake in a new digital venture called Group Nine Media that would combine its science site, Seeker.com, and Sourcefed Studios production arm with pop culture site Thrillist, news site Now This and animal advocacy site The Dodo.

EXPERIMENT TIME

“Everyone is trying to figure out what the right format is,” Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan said in an interview. “There is going to be a lot of experimentation.”

Programmers have been trying to attract young viewers since the beginning of television. But as more and more content is available on more and more devices, snagging the coveted millennial audience means the delivery mechanism is almost as important as what is being delivered.

“What has been tried is to take a regular cable or broadcast linear service and try to make it fit,” Eagan said. “That doesn’t always work, whether it’s on a mobile device or some other device. I think they realize they not only have to change the content, but the format.”

In a recent interview, Discovery chief commercial officer Paul Guyardo called the Group Nine investment part of the programmer’s three-pronged strategy, consisting of its full product bundle, its participation in skinny bundles for more price-sensitive consumers and the creation of short-form video and content partnership Group Nine, which is aimed squarely at younger viewers.

“That’s an ad-supported model that does rely primarily on short-form [video], because that’s how millennials want to consume their content — it’s all about highlights and sound bites and snippets,” Guyardo told Multichannel News. “If you look at the way we’re building it, we’re building it in a very Discovery-esque way.”

Like Discovery, each programmer seems to be forging its own path with digital investments. At NBCUniversal, the BuzzFeed and Vox Media deals seemed to be more geared to enhancing its social media and digital advertising strengths. BuzzFeed reaches more than 500 million people per day on its various platforms, more than any other pure digital media company, and has a strong presence on social media sites like Facebook. Vox Media, which has eight separate brands including news site Recode, sports site SB Nation and the food-centric Eater, has about 170 million unique monthly visitors and 800 million total monthly content views (on- and off-platform), and two of every three of its users are on mobile devices, according to the company.

Pivotal Research Group senior research analyst Brian Wieser said practically every programmer is looking to secure a digital business, and buying established providers is frequently the quickest path to success. There are many reasons to take the digital plunge, he said.

HEDGING BETS

“Some of it is hedge,” Wieser said. “In the event alternate forms of content packaging become more common, someone knows what they’re doing. Some of it is for show to Wall Street and other constituents, just to say that ‘we’re doing this too.’ And there also can be the belief that combining small entities into larger ones, and you can build an even bigger business.”

Another reason could be a desire to align with a particularly strong management team. That’s what Wieser believes was a big driver for Disney’s 2014 investment in Vice Media, then a fledgling Canadian publisher and multimedia company with a brash CEO in Shane Smith who wanted an inroad into more traditional media. With Disney’s initial $200 million investment (it invested another $200 million later that same year), Vice announced it would take over A+E Networks’ H2 channel, rebranded as Viceland. A+E Networks, which itself owns about 15% of Vice Media, is jointly controlled by Disney and Hearst.

While sluggish early ratings put a bit of a damper on the initial enthusiasm for the channel, it has been attracting young men with shows like the self-explanatory Weediquette and skateboarding reality-competition series King of the Road. In November the channel said it would launch four new shows aimed at that demographic in the next two months — Payday, which follows the lives of four 20-somethings over the course of a single pay period; Big Night Out, which showcases how millennials party around the world, and Bong Appétit, which follows cooks who create high-end, cannabis-infused foods.

“Everyone wants a piece of Shane Smith’s pixie dust,” Wieser said.

MORE MOVES SEEN

The analyst added that he expects more deals to be done, but to what extent will depend on each individual company. At Fox, which in the past has leaned more toward developing new properties internally, Wieser believes that practice will continue.

Time Warner and NBCU are expected to continue on their previous path of making small venture investments in digital companies, he added.

“Do we expect to see more [deals]? Sure. I don’t see why not,” Wieser said. “You can argue that most companies don’t need to hurry because it just doesn’t change that quickly. But the perceptions of change are often greater than the reality.”

SIDEBAR: All About the Digits

Major programmers are increasingly investing in much smaller digital companies to attract younger audiences and tap into online ad streams.

InvestorInvesteeInvestmentDate

NBCUniversal . . . . . . . . . . . BuzzFeed . . . . . . . . . . . . $400 million . . . . . . Aug. 2015/Nov. 2016

NBCUniversal . . . . . . . . . . . Vox Media . . . . . . . . . . . .$200 million . . . . . . . August 2015

Verizon . . . . . . . . . . . .. . AwesomenessTV .  . . . . . . . $159 million . . . . . . . . April 2016

Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . Group Nine Media . . .. . . . . . $100 million . . . .  . . .  November 2016

Time Warner . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beme . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 million* . . . . .  . . . .  November 2016

21st Century Fox . . . . .  . . .DriveTribe . . . . . .  . . . . . $6.5 million . . . . .  . . .September 2016

AMC Networks . . . . . .  . . Funny or Die . . . . .  . . . . . . . N/A . . . . . . . . . . .  November 2016

* Estimate

SOURCE : Individual companies and published reports

AMC Networks Inc. said it has acquired a minority stake in digital comedy service Funny Or Die.

The agreement, terms of which were not disclosed, will help AMC’s IFC network and Funny Or Die collaborate on future projects. The two companies are currently working on IFC’s upcoming series Brockmire (with Hank Azaria and Amanda Peet and derived from a Funny or Die short) and previously worked on IFC series The Spoils Of Babylon and The Spoils Before Dying.

Following the investment, Funny Or Die will continue to operate independently, allowing it to work with other distributors, networks and studios. IFC president Jennifer Caserta will join the Funny Or Die board.

“IFC has established itself as a television network and influential comedy brand able to leverage cultural relevance and both critical and popular acclaim to attract top talent and creators,” Caserta said in a release. “Both IFC and Funny Or Die have a proven track record of producing breakout content. The ability to work together more closely and increase our commitment to delivering more content on all platforms makes for an extremely significant partnership for both companies, and for the millions of fans of our comedy.”

IFC shared its new programming slate at an upfront event in New York April 21, sneak-peeking eight comedies from the likes of Bryan Cranston, Hank Azaria and Sharon Horgan.

Cranston is executive producer on Todd Barth Can Help You, about a nerd who transforms himself into a self-help guru. Azaria stars in Brockmire, a Funny or Die production about a beloved baseball announcer who suffers a very public meltdown. Horgan, costar on Amazon’s Catastrophe, is starring in This Land Is Ours, about anarchist squatters in present day New York (produced by her production company Merman).

"These projects reflect our mission to make great content with cool people," said IFC president Jennifer Caserta. “At IFC, we are driven by developing smart comedy that is 'Slightly Off' and working with the very best creative forces, both in front of and behind the camera."

Seth Meyers was on hand to talk about season two of Documentary Now! Executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video, Documentary Now! returns this fall with seven new docu-spoofs showcasing the comedic talents of Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and others.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Pop's first and most-watched original series, the sitcom Schitt's Creek, has been renewed for a third, 13-episode series, ahead of the 8 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday, March 16, beginning of its second season. SCTV alums Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy star as the luckless Roses, who lose a fortune except for a dumpy town and motel where they re-settle.

The show was co-created and is written by Eugene Levy and his son, Daniel, who also stars, along with Annie Murphy. (Here's our review from when it launched in 2015.) The third season will air in 2017.

Pop said Schitt's Creek was its most-watched original series in total viewers and was the biggest draw on the network overall among viewers ages 18-34.

The ensemble cast also includes Chris Elliott and Jennifer Robertson as Roland and Jocelyn Schitt -- and they also star in a faux talk show companion digital series, Wake Up With The Schitt's, now available on Funny or Die.

TBS has slated new comedy series Funny or Die Presents America’s Next Weatherman for Saturday, Aug. 8, at 11 p.m. with host Matt Osberg (The Comedians). Twelve contestants will compete for $100,000 and the chance to appear on CNN’s morning show, New Day. The judges are longtime weather personalities Johnny Mountain (KABC, KCBS) and Jillian Barberie (Good Day LA). It should be entertaining from the physical challenges to the “dramatic vote offs,” TBS said in a release.

“Funny or Die Presents America’s Next Weatherman takes everything we know -- or think we know -- about weathercasters and then uses it to put 12 competitors through the wringer for a chance at the big time,” David Eilenberg, senior vice president of unscripted development, late night specials for TBS and TNT, said in the release. “The results are really something. This series is a fresh and extremely funny addition to TBS’s late-night lineup. We’re especially excited that it extends our relationship with both Funny or Die and Mark Burnett.” Funny Or Die’s Mike Farah and Joe Farrell serve as executive producers, along with Mark Burnett and Dean Houser.

“It’s been such a good time working with Funny or Die,” Burnett said in the release. “This will be the first time I’ve poked a little fun-actually a lot of fun-at what I am known best for. It’s a real wink to our audience as we look for the next great meteorologist. The funniest part is that it turns out that these are actually terrific weathercasters.”

The first 12 competitors are: Jennifer “Jazzy T” Williams of Buffalo, N.Y., Frank Margani of Old Tappan, N.J.; Jeff Forgeron from San Diego, Calif.; Miller Robson from Columbus, Ga.; Jenn Barlow, also from San Diego; Mackenzie Bart from Columbus, Ohio; Ron Hilliard from Detroit, Mich.; Michelle Rotella from Germantown, Md.; Aubrey Evans from Las Vegas, Nev.; Christina Faraone from Walden, N.Y.; David Collins from Deland, Fla.,, and Drew Logan from Westlake Village, Calif.

TBS has ordered eight one-hour episodes. 

Comedy Central is set to air its first one-hour holiday event, the All-Star Non-Denominational Christmas Special, the network announced today. 

The special will debut Nov. 27 at 10 p.m. and will continue throughout the Thanksgiving weekend. Produced by Funny or Die, the shows executive producers include, Mike Farah, Anna Wenger and Joe Farrell. Jonas Larsen and Christian McLaughlin also serve as executive producers for Comedy Central.

On the special, @midnight stars host Chris Hardwick in Holiday Hashtag Wars with panelists Steve Agee, Brian Posehn and Aisha Tyler.

Other appearances and highlights include:

Broad City 

Drunk History 

Key & Peele

Kroll Show

Nathan For You

RENO 911!

Review

The Colbert Report

TripTank

Workaholics

Larry Wilmore