Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Central and part one of our interveiw with fellow Comedy Central executive Mitch Semel.
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Mitch Semel has worked with TV legends and amongst us networks executives, he is a true legend himself. He started his TV career working for Brandon Tartikoff during NBC’s “MUST SEE TV” era, overseeing classic sitcoms like CHEERS, GOLDEN GIRLS, BOB HOPE SPECIALS and REAL PEOPLE which arguably was the birth of modern reality TV…so we have Mitch to blame for that.
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Mitch switched sides from TV network to TV supplier as the head of UBU Productions where he oversaw their flagship show “FAMILY TIES”. While there he worked with newcomers Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Ellen DeGeneres on their big sitcom debuts.
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He did a short stint at PBS where he tried to kill off a lovable purple dinosaur…we cannot wait to hear all about that!
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He made a huge impact on Comedy Central…which is where Art and I first met him…with the launch of POLITICALLY INCORRECT and the number one show in cable: “ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS”
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He’s worked with and produced some of TV greatest talk show hosts including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Tom Snyder and Howard Stern.
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He was General Manager at the Onion and invented TV shows from home long before Zoom did when he launched Huff Post Live.
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He now heads up Semel Media, consulting with a wide variety of entertainment companies and is not only a liscensed pilot but is a certified flight instructor!
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Seinfeld is often mistaken for Mitch at corporate events, the resemblance is uncanny, although we think Mitch is better looking.
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