Premium Blend

{{Infobox television

| image = Premium Blend.png

| image_size = 250

| caption =

| genre = Stand-up comedy

| camera =

| runtime = approx. 23 minutes

| creator = Paul Miller

| developer =

| producer =

| executive_producer = Kimber Rickabaugh
Paul Miller

| presenter =

| voices =

| narrated =

| theme_music_composer =

| opentheme =

| endtheme =

| country = United States

| location =

| language = English

| network = Comedy Central

| first_aired = {{start date|1997}}

| last_aired = {{end date|2005}}

| num_seasons = 9

| num_episodes = 90

| list_episodes =

| related =

}}

Premium Blend was a stand-up comedy series created and directed by Paul Miller{{Citation |title=Premium Blend |date=1997-11-29 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156228/ |type=Comedy |publisher=Comedy Central, Rickmill Productions |access-date=2022-09-26}} that aired on the American cable television channel Comedy Central from 1997 to 2005. In 2005 the show was changed, and now known as "Live at Gotham".{{Cite web |last=Coster |first=Helen |title=No Laughing Matter |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0630/130.html |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

The show was born out of Comedy Central's attempts to find new comedy stars. These "attempts" were $1,000 to $10,000 productions that allowed unnoticed comedians to share their material. Premium Blend acted as a showcase where most of the material and bits were shown.

Overview

Every year since its premier in 1997, the program featured a well-known stand up comedian as an emcee who introduced four or five lesser known comedians looking for a big break on television. The host and guests would change every year.{{Cite web |title=Premium Blend - TheTVDB.com |url=https://thetvdb.com/series/premium-blend |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=thetvdb.com}} Each comedian presented a short set of jokes, which was edited to last about five minutes on the airing of the show.

Many alumni have gone on to have their own Comedy Central Presents specials or further acclaim, including Mitch Hedberg, Stephen Lynch, Demetri Martin, Dane Cook, B. J. Novak, Anthony Jeselnik, Paul F. Tompkins, Darrell Hammond, Mike Birbiglia, Greer Barnes, Wayne Federman, Daniel Tosh, Gabriel Iglesias, Pete Holmes, and Ron White.