Round-The-clock Yucks

By Richard Zoglin

Rachel Sweet is a baby-voiced comedian with jet-black hair piled high in a ponytail that makes her look like Pebbles Flintstone. She used to sing in a + new-wave rock band and now studies art history at Columbia University. But starting this week, she will be spending her evenings curled up on a sofa in a Manhattan TV studio, making wisecracks about the single life in New York City. Typical bit: Rachel charts the differences between a guy she dated named David Sims and former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. "Has fancy cigarette holder. F.D.R.: yes. Sims: no. Tried to pack the Supreme Court. F.D.R.: yes. Sims: no. Talks nonstop about himself. F.D.R.: no. Sims: yes."

Her ironic humor suggests a David Letterman filtered through the pages of Spy magazine. But Sweet represents something different for TV, a new breed of entertainer known as the comedy jockey. Viewers will learn what she does on Wednesday, when the Comedy Channel, a new 24-hour cable service from HBO, goes on the air. It is one of two all-comedy networks getting set to square off on a new battlefield of yucks.

Each is taking a different approach to the job of getting laughs and viewers. Modeled after MTV, the Comedy Channel will have a stable of veejay- like hosts who will provide comedy patter while introducing an array of clips: scenes from comedy movies, snippets of old TV series, excerpts from stand-up performances and other laughtoids. An occasional full-length movie will intervene, but mostly the comedy will come in quick bursts, aimed at a new generation of TV "grazers," viewers who flip around the dial with their remote control. Says HBO chief Michael Fuchs: "We're looking to make a very hot, today channel, and comedy is the place you can do it."

MTV Networks, the folks who created TV's original music-video channel, has announced plans for its own kind of comedy channel. Dubbed HA! The TV Comedy Network, it is scheduled to debut next April Fools' Day. MTV's entry, ironically, will steer away from the MTV approach of its rival. Instead of short clips, it will have a more traditional mix of sitcoms, specials and other long-form programming. About half will be reruns (old series like The Dick Van Dyke Show); the other half, new fare from such creators as MTM Enterprises, which has signed on to develop series, and Ron Howard's Imagine Films Entertainment, which is producing a show with the Second City Comedy Troupe.

Cable-industry observers are skeptical about whether two all-comedy networks can survive, given the limited channel capacity on most cable systems. As "basic cable" services, they will get their income primarily from advertising and will need to reach 25 million to 30 million homes to be financially viable. Comedy Channel executives report that they have signed up cable systems serving 11 million homes, though only about 6 million will be on board at start-up time. HA!, which has just begun marketing, says it has preliminary commitments for 2 million homes.

The rivals are already sniping at each other. "We think our format takes better advantage of the strength of comedy than just a clip channel," says Tom Freston, head of MTV Networks. "Comedy has traditionally been character driven and story driven. It takes time to work." HBO executives snicker. "Why should their channel succeed in doing original long-form comedy?" says Fuchs. "The three networks spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to do original comedy, and one show succeeds every two years."

But is anybody ready for 24 hours of chuckles, grins and guffaws? Boosters point out that the public's appetite for comedy seems almost insatiable. Seven of the ten top-grossing movies of 1988 were comedies, as are eight of the ten current top-rated TV series. Cable channels like HBO and Showtime have made comedy specials a staple of their schedules, while vintage sitcoms are being perpetually recycled across the dial.

That, of course, could be the problem: too much comedy clutter. HA!, at least in its early stages, looks like yet another warehouse for comedy shows, old and new, available in ample supply elsewhere. The Comedy Channel, with its all-clip format, could wind up looking like nonstop previews of coming attractions. (Like MTV, the Comedy Channel is acquiring most of its clips free, since producers assume they will help the movies and videos from which they are excerpted.) Not to mention the indignity of seeing classic films and TV shows strip-mined for their "funny" parts. Oh, well; comedy may be big business, but, as Steve Martin once noted, it isn't pretty.

With reporting by Tom Curry/New York