Joan Rivers Will be Seeing Red ... Kathy Griffin Named Roast Master - the 'COMEDY...

Joan Rivers Will be Seeing Red ... Kathy Griffin Named Roast Master - the
'COMEDY CENTRAL(R) Roast Of Joan Rivers' to Tape on Sunday, July 26
"COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan Rivers" Premieres On Sunday, August 9 At 10:00
P.M. ET/

NEW YORK, July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Comedic icon and COMEDY CENTRAL Roastee Joan
Rivers is in for one fiery evening. COMEDY CENTRAL announced today that
double Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated comedienne Kathy Griffin has
been tapped as Roast Master for this year's "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan
Rivers." The event tapes in Los Angeles at CBS Studios - Radford on Sunday,
July 26. The "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan Rivers" airs on Sunday, August 9
at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

In honor of one of comedy's most trailblazing female performers, comedy icon
Joan Rivers, COMEDY CENTRAL is making network history with its first-ever
female pairing of Roastee and Roast Master. With Griffin steering the Roast
and Rivers capping off the evening with a sure-to-be-spitfire rebuttal, no one
will be safe from this explosive duo!

"It will be my distinct pleasure to honor a true comedy legend. The One and
Only, The Great, Joan Rivers," said Kathy Griffin. "I mean, not that Pam
Anderson wasn't a comedy legend or anything ... Let's just say it will be an
evening of highs and lows. I will be roasting Joan with more gentleness and
tenderness than her latest chemical peel and, on the other hand, I will give
her a verbal pap smear and god only knows what I'm going to find down there."

Double Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Chicago native Griffin, a
multi-faceted performer with a rapid fire wit, is probably best known for her
four-year stint on the NBC sitcom "Suddenly Susan" as Vickie Groener, Brooke
Shields' acerbic colleague. In 2007 and 2008, "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The
D List" won Griffin two back-to-back Emmy's for Outstanding Reality Program.
Recently, Griffin released a comedy CD called "For Your Consideration" which
garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album. Griffin's fifth season of
"My Life On The D List" is currently airing Monday nights on Bravo.

Joan Rivers, who is currently appearing on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" and
celebrating the publication of her two new books Men Are Stupid And They Like
Big Boobs and Murder At the Academy Awards, is a force of nature and one of
the hardest working celebrities in the world. Comedienne, Tony-nominated
actress, bestselling author, Emmy Award-winning television talk-show host,
playwright, screenwriter, motion picture director, columnist, lecturer,
syndicated radio host, jewelry designer and cosmetic company entrepreneur, red
carpet fashion laureate, businesswoman and, most importantly to her, mother
and grandmother. She is exhausted!

The "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan Rivers" will be executive produced by Joel
Gallen from Tenth Planet Productions, who also executive produced and directed
the "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Larry The Cable Guy," "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of
Bob Saget," "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Flavor-Flav," the Emmy-nominated "COMEDY
CENTRAL Roast Of William Shatner" and the "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Pamela
Anderson." Larry Thompson will serve as co-executive producer. Elizabeth
Porter is the executive in charge for the network.

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 95
million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by Comedy Partners, a
wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks.
COMEDY CENTRAL is a registered trademark of Comedy Partners. COMEDY CENTRAL's
Internet address is www.comedycentral.com. For up-to-the-minute and archival
press information and photographs, visit "Press Central," COMEDY CENTRAL's
press-only web.

SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications

Aileen Budow, +1-917-842-9653, or aileen.budow@comedycentral.com, or Renata
Luczak, +1-212-767-8661, or renata.luczak@comedycentral.com, both of COMEDY
CENTRAL