The first annual Comedy Awards will be held this weekend in New York, and today we've received a bunch of new details about the honorees, presenters and attendees, starting with Eddie Murphy, who will be receiving the distinguished Comedy Icon Award.

According to the press release, the Comedy Icon Award will be "presented annually to a modern icon, an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to comedy and whose impact and innovations have changed the landscape and inspired future generations of entertainers." So it's pretty clear why Eddie Murphy would be chosen as the inaugural recipient. From SNL to stand-up to movies, few have left a mark on the comedy world like he has.

Meanwhile, the list of presenters and attendees is nothing short of amazing. Among those who will be at the ceremony are Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Ty Burrell, Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, Bill Hader, Chloë Moretz, Craig Robinson, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig. That's like every great comedy person on earth, right? Well, no, because more guests are still to be named later in the week.

Finally, what would a comedy show be without music? I guess it would still technically be a comedy show, but it would be a much less fun comedy show. The Roots have been announced as the show's house band! And as if that's not enough, The Lonely Island will be onstage performing "I Just Had Sex" with Akon, live for the first time ever.

The Comedy Awards tape at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom this Saturday and will air Sunday, April 10 at 9/8c simultaneously on Comedy Central, Spike TV, CMT, Logo, TV Land, VH1 and Nick at Nite.

A couple weeks ago, we told you about The Comedy Awards' Breakthrough Performer category, an award of which you can help determine the winner. But time is running out, so if you haven't already, be sure to cast your vote before the deadline, tomorrow at noon, or you'll be nominated for the breakthrough dummy award.

In case you forgot, here are the nominees and a little reminder of why 2010 was such a breakthrough year for each of them:

Aziz Ansari: Starred on Parks and Recreation and released his first comedy album, Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening.

Ty Burrell: Received an Emmy nomination for his work on ABC's Modern Family.

Louis C.K.: Created and starred in the critically-acclaimed Louie on FX. Meanwhile, his live stand-up movie Hilarious became the first comedy concert film to play at Sundance.

Whitney Cummings: Roasted Joan Rivers and David Hasselhoff and debuted her first one-hour stand-up special, Whitney Cummings: Money Shot.

Danny McBride: Wrote, produced and starred on Eastbound and Down and had a scene-stealing role in Due Date.

Emma Stone: Starred in the surprise hit Easy A and hosted SNL.

Daniel Tosh: Hosted the second season of Tosh.0, which averaged over 2 million viewers per episode.

Kristen Wiig: Performed in her sixth season as a castmember on SNL, co-starred in MacGruber and had memorable roles in Date Night and How to Train Your Dragon.

The Comedy Awards will tape at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday, March 26 and will air Sunday, April 10 simultaneously on Comedy Central, Spike TV, CMT, Logo, TV Land, VH1 and Nick at Nite.

Hooray for comedy fan favorite Louis C.K.! The Just for Laughs Comedy Festival has announced the recipient of its highest honor, and guess who it is? Okay, you probably already know who it is.

C.K., who executive produced, wrote, directed and stars in the autobiographical FX series, will receive the comic industry’s pinnacle prize on July 29 as part of the mecca of comedy’s industry conference in Montreal.

Other 2011 conference highlights: social critic Marc Maron will deliver a keynote speech, and Just For Laughs perennial Andy Kindler will return to skewer TV industry execs during his annual State of The Industry address.

For more on Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, check out the official website. And get to plannin' your July Montreal trip. Try learning some French, ya damn ugly American (or ugly citizen of another land!)

Did you know that back in the colonial days, the Breakthrough Performer prize at The Comedy Awards was decided solely by King George III? It's true, and he picked himself every year, the son of a bitch. Luckily, our forefathers fought for our independence, giving you the freedom to vote for your favorite Breakthrough Performer at The Comedy Awards.

So, review the list of nominees below, cast your vote here and then go hug a Revolutionary War vet.

Aziz Ansari

Ty Burrell

Louis C.K.

Whitney Cummings

Danny McBride

Emma Stone

Daniel Tosh

Kristen Wiig

Meanwhile, you can also have your say in the Best Viral Video category.

The Comedy Awards will tape at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday, March 26 and will air Sunday, April 10 simultaneously on Comedy Central, Spike TV, CMT, Logo, TV Land, VH1 and Nick at Nite.

Esquire has a fascinating interview with Chris Rock, where he speaks candidly about insecurity, success and the people he regards as his peers. Here he is on the comics he believes are currently at the top of their game (Spoiler Alert: he's as much of a Louis C.K. geek as you are):

It pays the most, first of all. It's the thing that I can do at a high, high level. Amongst the best. You've got me and Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais and Louis C. K. and Larry the Cable Guy. Louis's the best right now. He just played Carnegie Hall. Louis C.K. is one of the biggest comedians in the country. You know the weird thing about Louis? He's an East Coast guy, been in New York the last 20, 30 years of his life, but the New York cultural elite doesn't like him — too blue-collar, too Sternish for them. It's very much like Howard Stern. And they only give it up to Stern now because of the money.

Chris goes on to say that Hannibal Buress is one of his favorite young comics, so Esquire also did a short interview with Hannibal.

To read more about that skinny young dude from New Jack City, visit your friendly local Esquire website.

Everyone has a Bill Cosby impression, but only Jon Daly has a BillCosby Bukowski impression. If you think about it, Bill Cosby and Charles Bukowski are basically the same person, except not at all. [Funny or Die]

Patton Oswalt talks about the themes and topics in his material, "I don't sit down and make a list, like, I'm gonna cover this topic. I'm not really conscious of it. It's whatever is bothering me at the moment…" [Salon]

Mike Birbiglia will be sleeping in a Macy's display window in a promotion for Downy's clean sheet week. Here's a video explaining what is basically the unexplainable. [YouTube]

CBS picked up Vince Uncensored from Conan O'Brien's production company Conaco. [EW]

Back in the halcyon days known as the 90s, members of The State were filmed singing "The Boner Song" in their old MTV offices. [Comic's Comic]

Two of my favorite things are the New Yorker and essays about abs. Bob Odenkirk combined my two loves writing this essay about his abs. [The New Yorker]

Eugene Mirman literally co-hosted this episode of the Star Talk podcast with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Also, I literally don't know how to use the word "literally." [Star Talk Radio]

I'm not a sports nerd, so I don't really have a strong opinion on the designated hitter rule and I mostly spend Super Bowl Sunday flipping between funny commercials and Puppy Bowl. And I'm not really a sci-fi nerd, so I don't have a favorite Enterprise captain, I've only seen the first LOTR movie and I think mentioning LOTR is relevant to this discussion even though it's fantasy, not sci-fi.

But, for better or worse, I am a comedy nerd, which means I love Bill Murray more than I love my children, I've seen Heat Vision & Jack, and my friends and I have had lengthy and heated discussions about the consistency of the Mom character on Louie. Louis CK himself addressed the issue in the comments of an AV Club review of the show's "God" episode, and he gets into it a little more in a new interview at Hit Fix. Oh, and he also takes credit for Sarah Palin's trip to Haiti!

By the way, I said something that I think is true, I wrote one Twitter that I said, please find me a picture of Sarah Palin with more than one black person because I couldn’t find one.  And then she went to Haiti a week later.  She threw together a trip to Haiti.  So I believe I made that happen.  So that’s positive.

You can and should read the whole interview over a HitFix.

[via Pop Culture Brain]

Louis C.K.'s stand-up special Hilarious made it's Comedy Central premiere over the weekend and it was totally… oh, what's the word? Starts with an "H", I think. Hfunny? Yes, it was incredibly hfunny. In fact, it was so hfunny that it left me wanting more, 40 minutes more to be exact. Lucky for me, Hilarious is out on DVD today and features an additional 40 minutes of material. You can pick up a copy for yourself right here. In the meantime, here's a NSFW clip exclusive to the DVD:

One more DVD exclusive after the jump.

Read more »

Sometimes I look out at humanity, and I think, "None of us are perfect. We all come from the same ooze." Then I watch Louis C.K.'s special Hilarious, and I change my opinion. Louis C.K. is more awesome than us. He digs into his humor mines and comedy gold comes out (the same metaphor can apply to blood diamonds).

The two preview clips below expand on Louis's "Everything is amazing and no one is happy" bit that he did on Late Night with Conan O'Brien a couple years ago. Meanwhile, there's more Louis on Facebook and at Jokes.com, where he's this week's featured comedian.

Clip number-two is after the jump.

Louis C.K.: Hilarious premieres this Sunday, January 9 at 10pm / 9c.

Read more »

Reggie Watts goes on Conan to explain that the holidays are not short for "holograms." It seems that I have been celebrating incorrectly.  [Team Coco]

WWJD? Whatever the hell he wants. Read an excerpt from the new book revealing deleted Bible scenes which feature Jesus kicking ass. [Cracked]

We're on the brink of Etewaf: Everything That Ever Was — Available Forever. Patton Oswalt predicts the future of nerdom. [Wired]

Airplane! and 24 other films that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" will be added to the National Film Registry for preservation. You have clearance, Clarence. [LA Times]

Being a Jew on Christmas is everything Dave Attell says it is. [LNwJF]

Zach Galifianakis, Betty White, Aziz Ansari and more made this Funniest People of 2010 list. I think they mean the Funniest People of Forever list. [Huffington Post]

I was too distracted by shiny things this year. Luckily, Funny or Die posted their favorite videos (Between Two Ferns) and words (Louis C.K.'s drunken tweets) of 2010 in an indistractable format. [Funny or Die]