Joan Rivers Will be Seeing Red ... Kathy Griffin Named Roast Master - the 'COMEDY CENTRAL(R) Roast Of Joan Rivers' to Tape on Sunday, July 26

"COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan Rivers" Premieres On Sunday, August 9 At 10:00 P.M. ET/

NEW YORK, July 6 -- Comedic icon and COMEDY CENTRAL Roastee Joan Rivers is in for one fiery evening. COMEDY CENTRAL announced today that double Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated comedienne Kathy Griffin has been tapped as Roast Master for this year's "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan Rivers." The event tapes in Los Angeles at CBS Studios - Radford on Sunday, July 26. The "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan Rivers" airs on Sunday, August 9 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

In honor of one of comedy's most trailblazing female performers, comedy icon Joan Rivers, COMEDY CENTRAL is making network history with its first-ever female pairing of Roastee and Roast Master. With Griffin steering the Roast and Rivers capping off the evening with a sure-to-be-spitfire rebuttal, no one will be safe from this explosive duo!

"It will be my distinct pleasure to honor a true comedy legend. The One and Only, The Great, Joan Rivers," said Kathy Griffin. "I mean, not that Pam Anderson wasn't a comedy legend or anything ... Let's just say it will be an evening of highs and lows. I will be roasting Joan with more gentleness and tenderness than her latest chemical peel and, on the other hand, I will give her a verbal pap smear and god only knows what I'm going to find down there."

Double Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Chicago native Griffin, a multi-faceted performer with a rapid fire wit, is probably best known for her four-year stint on the NBC sitcom "Suddenly Susan" as Vickie Groener, Brooke Shields' acerbic colleague. In 2007 and 2008, "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D List" won Griffin two back-to-back Emmy's for Outstanding Reality Program. Recently, Griffin released a comedy CD called "For Your Consideration" which garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album. Griffin's fifth season of "My Life On The D List" is currently airing Monday nights on Bravo.

Joan Rivers, who is currently appearing on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" and celebrating the publication of her two new books Men Are Stupid And They Like Big Boobs and Murder At the Academy Awards, is a force of nature and one of the hardest working celebrities in the world. Comedienne, Tony-nominated actress, bestselling author, Emmy Award-winning television talk-show host, playwright, screenwriter, motion picture director, columnist, lecturer, syndicated radio host, jewelry designer and cosmetic company entrepreneur, red carpet fashion laureate, businesswoman and, most importantly to her, mother and grandmother. She is exhausted!

The "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Joan Rivers" will be executive produced by Joel Gallen from Tenth Planet Productions, who also executive produced and directed the "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Larry The Cable Guy," "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Bob Saget," "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Flavor-Flav," the Emmy-nominated "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of William Shatner" and the "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Pamela Anderson." Larry Thompson will serve as co-executive producer. Elizabeth Porter is the executive in charge for the network.

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 95 million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks. COMEDY CENTRAL is a registered trademark of Comedy Partners. COMEDY CENTRAL's Internet address is www.comedycentral.com.