Executive Producer Allison Silverman to Leave 'The Colbert Report'

Executive Producer Allison Silverman to Leave 'The Colbert Report'

NEW YORK, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Executive producer Allison Silverman is leaving "The Colbert Report" after four years, announced Stephen Colbert, executive producer, writer and host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning program.

Silverman has been with "The Colbert Report" since its launch on October 17, 2005, first as co-head writer and co-executive producer before being promoted to executive producer in 2007. During her tenure, the show has received a total of 15 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including four consecutive nominations for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series. The series broke through with its first Emmy win last year when it received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program. "The Colbert Report" was also honored with a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in the 67th Annual Peabody Awards competition (2008).

Colbert praised Silverman's contribution to the show's success. "It has been a great joy to work with Allison and watch her grow from a devastatingly funny writer to a devastatingly funny leader. I am happy for my dear friend, but I will miss her. And this statement would be much funnier if she would just stay and help me write it."

Silverman said of her departure: "I will always treasure my time at 'The Colbert Report.' Not many people get to work on a kind-hearted show with a brilliant staff and a host who thinks 'Watership Down' is non-fiction." She added, "For me, the only thing that could top working with Stephen Colbert would be having Stephen Colbert as a lifelong friend, and I am very excited to start that project."

Prior to "The Colbert Report," Silverman was a writer for "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," where she received three Writers Guild Awards and four Emmy nominations, and, before that, for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," for which she received an Emmy and a Peabody Award. She has also written for numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine.

"The Colbert Report" is produced by Jon Stewart's Busboy Productions, Inc. in association with Colbert's Spartina Productions, Inc. Stewart, Colbert and Allison Silverman are the executive producers with Meredith Bennett, Richard Dahm and Tom Purcell as co-executive producers. Jim Hoskinson is the director. Lisa Leingang and Dan Powell are the executives in charge of production for COMEDY CENTRAL.

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 95 million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B) MTV Networks. 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 Web site at www.comedycentral.com/press.

Source: COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications

CONTACT: Renata Luczak, +1-212-767-8661,
renata.luczak@comedycentral.com

Web Site: http://www.comedycentral.com/

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