Two outspoken comedians will be trying their hands at hosting talk shows beginning this weekend.

The very funny Wanda Sykes will host her own late-night talk show on FOX, called simply The Wanda Sykes Show. The show will air in the slot left vacant by MAD TV, Saturday nights at 10 p.m. CT (meaning it's up against Saturday Night Live). Over on TBS, comedian and former sitcom star George Lopez will host Lopez Tonight, a self-described "unconventional" talk show (meaning no desk, no monologue and more spontaneity), every weeknight at 10 p.m. CT.

The notion of a comic hosting a talk show is as old as Larry King. But in an already over-crowded talk show landscape, how will Sykes and Lopez fare? Will they connect with audiences, a la Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson or Jon Stewart? Or will they be added to the scrap heap alongside Chevy Chase and Dennis Miller? I've got my hopes up for both, as Lopez and Sykes are very outspoken and honest comedians who don't appear interested in playing the regular late-night "set up the plugs" game. Neither is in a very high-risk situation, either time slot or network-wise (not like, say, Jay Leno, who is singlehandedly sinking NBC), so hopefully they're given a fair shake.

The Wanda Sykes Show premieres Saturday, November 7 at 10 p.m. CT. Lopez Tonight begins its run at 10 p.m. November 9.

• Read more about George Lopez
• See the Lopez Tonight guest list
  
• Read more about Wanda Sykes

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Look at all there is to get excited about this week, I said sarcastically. The second comedy album from Kathy Griffin (though she has a new comedy special at least every month, this is surprisingly only her second album), filled with incredibly topical humor destined to be hopelessly dated six months from now. The Will Ferrell Broadway show parodying George W. Bush hits DVD, but that felt out-of-date when it premiered last January. I can't imagine that 11 more months have been kind to it. At least there's a new Eddie Izzard special, for everyone who likes Eddie Izzard. The holidays are coming soon, so things have to get better.

CD

• Kathy Griffin - Suckin' It for the Holidays

DVD

• Eddie Izzard: Live from Wembley
• You're Welcome, America: A Final Night with George W. Bush (Read the review)
• Da Ali G Show: Da Compleet Seereez

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Fresh off the release of his album/stand-up special Seriously, Who Farted?, comedian Nick Swardson will now be starring in his own sketch show for Comedy Central, scheduled to begin a six-episode run sometime in 2010.

Want to know more about it? Me too. Comedy Central's press release says that "the fast paced live-action sketch show is a weekly series that centers around Swardon's twisted comedic viewpoint. The series will include irreverent digital shorts, man-on-the-street segments and animation inspired by the internet sensation "Gay Robot," which follows the life of a gay robot and his frat boy friends."

Not to be cynical, but the show sounds pretty much exactly like ever other comedian-based series on Comedy Central beginning with Chappelle's Show (others include Mind of Mencia, Important Things with Demetri Martin and the most recent and egregious The Jeff Dunham Show). I'm all for giving comics a half hour a week to express their comic voices, but it's a little frustrating that the network appears to have a single program model. Plus, with the exception of Chappelle's Show, the formula really hasn't worked; Important Things wasn't terrible, but it became obvious somewhat quickly that Martin didn't have a lot to say.

Maybe the show model is fine; maybe it's more a case of choosing the wrong comics to fill those slots. Swardson stands a better chance than most, having been very funny in a few movies and (especially) on Reno 911! With that show canceled, maybe Swardson will use this opportunity to give roller-skating prostitute Terry a comback.

Comedian Bill Cosby was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in a ceremony held at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts on October 26. Cosby, a once-brilliant stand-up and star of the landmark The Cosby Show, had twice previously turned down the Mark Twain prize because he objected to profanities used by honoree Richard Pryor in 1998. I wish I was making that up.

Last year's Mark Twain prize was awarded to George Carlin, who died before being able to accept the honor. Carlin, of course, practically made profanity famous (with his "Seven Words You Can't Say on Television"), but must not have offended the sensibilities of Cosby enough for a third refusal.

I'm being a grouch, of course, because Cosby himself has turned into a bit of a notorious grump over the last decade or so. That shouldn't take away from his achievement, which is well deserved; his comedy albums from the '60s and '70s still hold up today and there's little arguing that The Cosby Show was something special. Whether he likes it or not, his name absolutely belongs alongside greats like Pryor and Carlin.

The ceremony honoring Cosby will be broadcast on PBS on November 4th.

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

After a few big weeks, we finally get a slowdown in comedy releases this week. It's a BIG week for Monty Python fans, however, with two different documentary specials and a new "best of" compilation hitting store shelves. If you didn't already watch the six-part Almost the Truth special on IFC, I highly recommend picking it up; it's exhaustive and comprehensive and funny and great and goes a long way towards examining what made the Pythons so special and important. Even if you're not a huge Python fan, you should check it out as a fan of comedy. It's rare that comedians would get their own six-hour documentary series, but the Pythons are among the few who deserve such treatment.

CD

• Mike Epps - Funny Bidness: Da Album
  
• Jamie Kilstein - Zombie Jesus

DVD

• Monty Python: Almost the Truth
• Monty Python: The Other British Invasion
• The Best of Monty Python: 40th Anniversary Edition

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Well, I guess someone remembered/just figured out that Ricky Gervais pretty much kills it at every awards show he appears on (usually as a presenter), because he's just been announced as the host of next year's Golden Globe Awards. Sure, the Globes haven't had a host in nearly 15 years and are more like Oscar's drunken, rowdy cousin, but they've also been a lot kinder to comedians in the past than most other awards shows. Just ask Bill Murray and Sacha Baron Cohen, who both won major acting prizes before being overlooked by the more "respectable" Oscar academy.

If nothing else, this news guarantees that the Golden Globes will be required viewing for the first time in a long time, and by long time I mean ever. I'm positive Gervais will be hilarious, because he always is. Maybe this could serve as his audition for the majors -- even though we know the Oscars probably won't ever have him as a host, because the last thing Hollywood wants is to be made fun of by someone smarter and more clever than them.

Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Famous pie-throwing comedian and radio disc jockey Soupy Sales passed away Thursday at a hospice in the Bronx, New York. He was 83 years old.

Born Milton Supman, Sales became a children's television personality in the early '50s with his syndicated show The Soupy Sales Show. It was here that he first developed his pie-in-the-face routine, which would eventually become his trademark. He relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1950s and became the first fill-in host for The Tonight Show. In 1964, Sales moved to New York and began broadcasting The Soupy Sales Show from the Big Apple, where it became a huge hit. The most popular entertainers of the day, including Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine, would appear on the show and get a pie in the face right along with Soupy.

Sales continued as a nationally famous comedian and TV personality, releasing  a best-selling novelty record ("The Mouse") and going on to host games shows like What's My Line? and Junior Anything Goes throughout the 1970s. He was a regular panelist on several other game shows (like Hollywood Squares and Match Game) and even revived his children's show, now called The New Soupy Sales Show, for one season in 1978.

In 1985, Sales found a new career as host of an afternoon radio show on New York's WNBC, sandwiched between Don Imus and Howard Stern.

He is survived by his wife, Trudy, and two sons, Hunt and Tony.

The first episode of The Jeff Dunham Show, premiering tonight on Comedy Central, delivers exactly what I've come to expect from the comedian: broad racial stereotypes, homophobic humor and an overall pandering to the beer-swilling, gun-worshipping "real America" that exists only as a construct of or response to guys like Jeff Dunham. After a few minutes of stiff monologue, Dunham awkwardly transitions into the first taped bit in which he and curmudgeonly puppet Walter visit a therapist so that they can communicate better. When the therapist turns out to be gay, the sketch devolves into endless homophobic jokes, with the ultimate lesson being that Walter and Dunham are finally able to agree one one thing: that they don't want to be gay. Disgusting. (Read more about The Jeff Dunham Show)

The Jeff Dunham Show premieres tonight at 9 p.m . CT on Comedy Central.

Photo by Richard Mclaren/courtesy Comedy Central

Big week this week (that's right, I said it). Normally, I'd be getting excited about the release of a new album and DVD from one of my favorite comedians, Greg Giraldo or the a new "Best of" SNL DVD devoted to Amy Poehler. However, all of that is pretty much overshadowed by the release of the entire series of the groundbreaking sitcom It's Garry Shandling's Show. It's four seasons, 72 episodes and a bunch of bonus features spread out over 16 discs and it's pretty much great.

CD

• Greg Giraldo - Midlife Vices (Read the review)
• Jon Reep - Metro Jethro
• Tim Wilson - Mr. Wilson Explains America

DVD

• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: Best of Season 2
• Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection (Remastered)
• It's Garry Shandling's Show: The Complete Series (Read the review)
• Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler
• Greg Giraldo: Midlife Vices
• Just for Laughs: Stand-up, Vol. 3: Launching Pad (featuring Dave Chappelle, Jeff Dunham and Flight of the Conchords)
• Jon Reep: Metro Jethro

© Shout! Factory

This week's Saturday Night Live was the last episode of the new season before the show takes a short (two-week) break, and while it was yet another tremendously uneven outing (keeping the streak alive at four-for-four), I thought it was probably the funniest of the season so far. It was nowhere near consistent and failed to meet the criteria I laid out last season -- at least two good sketches and no bad ones (there were several sketches this week than can only be described as the worst) -- but there were individual lines here and there that offered some big bright spots...(Read more)