MUMBAI: The New York Comedy Festival (NYCF), in association with Viacom?s comedy channel Comedy Central has announced over 70 additional shows taking place at more than 25 venues throughout New York City, to its 2012 schedule in November.

The highlight is two events in partnership with The Paley Center for Media: a reunion of the creative minds behind the TV series The Ben Stiller Show and a Conversation with Denis Leary in celebration of his new publication on Christmas.

In addition, the NYCF?s New York?s Funniest Stand-Up competition, brought in partnership with JetBlue, and the festival?s Comics To Watch program will offer emerging comics a platform to showcase their work to industry professionals in front of a live audience.

The Ben Stiller Show debuted on MTV in 1990 and ran for 13episodes before moving to Fox for twelve episodes in 1992. A blend of a sketch comedy and backstage intrigue, The Ben Stiller Show launched the careers of Stiller, Judd Apatow, Bob Odenkirk, Janeane Garafolo, Andy Dick, Jeff Kahn and Rob Cohen each of whom will participate in the 20th anniversary reunion at the Paley Center to share memories. Denis Leary?s holiday song on Chritsmas has been transformed into an interactive children?s picture book? for adults. With new verses and original stop-motion-animation art, the dirty ditty will arrive on the shelves just in time to ruin yet another holiday. Leary joins the NYCF for a Conversation with Kate Snow about this comedy classic at The Paley Center for Media on 9 November.

Continuing the festival?s commitment to discovering and showcasing new talent, the festival will host the Comics To Watch programme, a live stand-up show featuring the best up-and-coming young comedians from across the country, chosen by the festival organizers and Comedy Central for their strengths in writing, delivery and stage persona. The NYCF will also host New York?s Funniest Stand-Up, a competition that will see finalists judged by a panel of industry experts.

A few of the other NYCF shows announced are:

• Celebrity Autobiography?
• ?You Made It Weird? with Pete Holmes Live Podcast
• ?An Evening with?? Series - One Comic, One Show, One Hour
• ?Nikki and Sara and Friends?
• ?Crowd Work with Colin Quinn?

New York Comedy Festival founder, owner Caroline Hirsch said, "Each year we strive to present the very best and most diverse comedy programming. In addition to the major theater shows we?re producing, we also have a wide variety of specialty shows, conversations, competitions, podcasts, and other great events taking place. We?re proud and thrilled to include among those events a 20th anniversary reunion of ?The Ben Stiller Show? and a conversation with Denis Leary, as part of this year?s programming."

MUMBAI: US broadcaster HBO will kick off the show ?Enlightened? on 10 October, which is positioned as being a blend of comedy and drama.

The show stars Laura Dern ?Rambling Rose? who plays Amy Jellicoe, an executive at a global conglomerate; she has been her own worst enemy for most of her adult life. Her self-destructive choices, both at home and at work, have resulted in a very public, humiliating nervous breakdown.

After an extended stay at a treatment center in Hawaii, she returns to her fractured life, determined to lead a more enlightened existence. But her newfound noble intentions only ratchet up the drama, wreaking unexpected havoc on those around her.

Dern stars as Amy in the series, which she executive produces along with Mike White who also co-stars, writes and directs. After undergoing a traumatising workplace setback, Jellicoe begins questioning her role as a top-tier executive at her multinational corporation. On a forced mental health retreat, she experiences a dramatic transformation that inspires her to adopt a new attitude in
her private life and at her company.

But upon returning to the office, Amy discovers that her new enlightened outlook is unwelcome and even threatening to her co-workers and loved ones.

White said, "There are so many anti-heroes populating TV series right now, I wanted to do a show about someone who is dysfunctional and far from perfect, but whose impulse is to do good and try to be the best person she can. Amy is living a very ordinary life, but her relentless drive to make her world better makes her unique - and in a way, dangerous. I also wanted to a write a show that was centered around a woman, but wasn?t a dating show. Amy has a lot more on her mind than just her romantic life - and I hope people will find that relatable and refreshing."

Dern said, "Amy is a mass of contradictions, a woman of good impulses who often does the wrong thing, a woman who wants to make things better but sometimes produces the opposite result. As she tries to decide what?s really important to her, she tries to live a deeply authentic life, but her passion and honesty often backfire, making her efforts to change herself and her world far more complicated."