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Pilot on Comedy Central

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - If Comedy Central's primetime programming pushes the envelope, then what it has in store to launch as a block of latenight programming tears the envelope to pieces.

The cable channel is targeting early June to expand its original programming with latenight shows to run most likely Friday or Sunday. To that end, honchos have greenlit production on four quirky pilots: ``Let's Bowl,'' ``Let's Shop America,'' ``The Hot Show'' and ``The After Hours Club.''

The pilot for ``Let's Bowl'' will be shot early next month in Minneapolis. Competitors with a score to settle with each other appear on the show to face off at a bowling alley. Bands play during breaks in the action, and the whole thing is hosted by characters Wally and Chopper.

``Let's Shop America'' features real people selling real products or services that viewers can buy. It could serve as a backdrop for the programming block or as a contained show.

``The Hot Show'' is ``a very, very insane magazine that's highly alternative in content,'' said Debbie Liebling, Comedy Central's senior VP of original programming and development.

``The After Hours Club'' features the band Lust Pollution, a comedy erotica band, and is set at the end of a night's gig when everyone is just hanging out. It's unscripted and will feature a guest standup comic each episode.

Liebling said slotting originals in latenight provides an opportunity for the network to explore formats that don't fit the criteria for primetime, because they're even more odd and offbeat than the cable channel's signature edgy fare.

``This is where it really gets crazy and ridiculous and funny,'' she said. ``It's a chance to maybe grow a cult following on some shows, and the financial investment is smaller in these shows, so we can give them the opportunity to grow on the air, without the same pressure as primetime.''

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

If you enjoy Lust Pollution as much as I do, you need to take a trip to Largo, Luna Park or Goldfinger's to see Madame and the Boys Live!

Questions? Fan Mail? mailto:lustpollution@bigfoot.com