Following a three-year absence, NBC is reviving Last Comic Standing.
The network is moving forward with an eighth season of the unscripted comedic competition series with the plan to air the series in summer 2014, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Wanda Sykes will board the series as an executive producer for the first time. Sykes, via her overall deal with Universal Television's alternative studio, will executive produce the series with Page Hurwitz via the duo's Push It Productions banner. The new deal continues Hurwitz's relationship with the series, where she was an executive producer between 2006-10.
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A new host for the series -- as well as an exact air date -- have not yet been announced. Jay Mohr, Anthony Clark, Bill Bellamy, Fearne Cotton and Craig Robinson hosted the series in the past.
Last Comic Standing will return to its summer platform, where all but one of its seasons aired.
The revival comes as NBC has struggled to keep the lights on with original summer programming. The network canceled low-budget dramedy Camp after one season, and fellow scripted entry Siberia also failed to register.
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Sykes and Hurwitz's Push It Productions inked the overall deal with Universal Television's alternative studio in April. In addition to Sykes' stand-up career, the three-time Emmy winner has garnered consistent TV work, including HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fox's The Wanda Sykes Show, Comedy Central's Wanda Does It and a series of comedy specials. Hurwitz's credits include OWN's The Rosie Show and NBC’s The Marriage Ref.
Sykes is repped by WME and attorney Roger A. Pliakas; Hurwitz is with WME and Gendler & Kelly.
E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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