COMEDY CENTRAL And Sony Pictures Television Reach Agreement On Two Projects

Happy Madison To Produce "Gay Robot" Starring Nick Swardson Academy Award Nominee Morgan Spurlock To Star In "Public Nuisance"

NEW YORK, July 28, 2005 -- COMEDY CENTRAL and Sony Pictures Television have reached a two-project deal to produce two separate pilots. The first will feature COMEDY CENTRAL veteran Nick Swardson in "Gay Robot" and be produced by Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo's production company Happy Madison. In the second pilot, "Public Nuisance," viewers will be taken on a tour of American society as viewed through the prism of documentarian Morgan Spurlock, it was announced today by Lauren Corrao, executive vice president, original programming and development, COMEDY CENTRAL.

"Deals like these that put us in business with extraordinarily funny and talented people like Morgan, Nick and the team at Happy Madison are exactly what we're looking for as the profile of COMEDY CENTRAL continues to grow and we cement the status of the network as the home of cutting-edge comedy," said Corrao. "We're pleased to be working with Sony Pictures Television, a studio that understands our brand, shares our comedic sensibility and, like us, feels that the gay robot population has been shamefully underrepresented on television."

"Gay Robot" is a fully scripted, live-action adaptation of a character featured on Sandler's comedy album "Shhh... Don't Tell." Swardson, who first brought the character to life on "Shhh? Don't Tell," reprises his role as the voice of Gay Robot, a robot created by a university professor that, after an unfortunate incident involving a wine cooler and his circuit boards, discovers he is gay. The pilot focuses on his fraternity brothers learning that robots do, in fact, have emotions which leads to a failed attempt to build Gay Robot a "date" for the homecoming dance and his subsequent turn to online dating to fill the void.

"I'm very excited about this project since I love COMEDY CENTRAL," said Swardson. "They always push the envelope with their programming."

"Gay Robot" is produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with Happy Madison. The show will be written by Nick Swardson and Tom Gianas and will star Swardson as the voice of Gay Robot. Executive producers for the pilot are Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Doug Robinson, Swardson and Gianas. Jim Sharp will serve as executive in charge of production for COMEDY CENTRAL.

"Public Nuisance" is the newest project from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, the director and star of the hit film "Super Size Me" and the TV series "30 Days" (FX). In each episode of this seriously satirical program set for COMEDY CENTRAL, Spurlock and his team of irreverent social critics tackle a different issue currently affecting American society including religion, sex and the media. Spurlock has proven himself to be a populist voice who can entertain while being informative and "Public Nuisance" is representative of that.

"As the saying goes, If you're going to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you. That's our ultimate goal with 'Public Nuisance,'" Spurlock said.

Spurlock will serve as executive producer under his new production banner, Warrior Poets, and will also star. Lou Wallach will be the executive in charge of production for COMEDY CENTRAL.

Nick Swardson first began his relationship with COMEDY CENTRAL at the age of 22 when he worked with the network on "Premium Blend," which led to his own half-hour comedy special "COMEDY CENTRAL Presents: Nick Swardson." Swardson is currently working with Happy Madison on two films, "Nana's Boy" and "Benchwarmers," in both of which he co-starred, co-wrote and co-produced.

Academy Award Nominee, Morgan Spurlock, is the producer/director/guinea pig of "Super Size Me" which was his first feature film. A native of West Virginia and a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he created the hit Web show "I Bet You Will" in 2000, which jumped from the Internet to MTV in 2002, becoming the first show ever to do so. This summer, FX TV's "30 Days" was met with critical acclaim and great ratings.