Comedy Central to launch black news satire show

First there was "The Daily Show." Then there was "The Colbert Report." Now there's a new comedy news satire in town. And it's for black people.

Described by the New York Times as a tongue-in-cheek version of NBC's "Dateline," a new show called "Chocolate News" will debut in the fall.

Comedian David Alan Grier, who first made a splash in the television series In Living Color, will host the show, a sketch comedy series that is scheduled to premiere in October, just before what could be an historic presidential election for African Americans.

Grier, 53, will pretend to offer news from a black perspective. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama who was originally trained in Shakespeare, Grier has since become an actor and a comedian.

The show was officially announced to reporters at the Television Critics Association event on Wednesday, but was unofficially revealed by the network's blog, Comedy Central Insider, back in March.

"Chocolate News" reportedly "makes no apologies for its biased approach as it investigates inherently urban pop culture topics such as an operation to save black and white conjoined twins, steroid use in Little Leaguers and a rapper's public service announcement gone awry," according to the blog story.

Producers also revealed an upcoming skit about John McCain's laundry person and the Arizona senator's own version of a Reverend Jeremiah Wright, according to the Times.

Grier is hoping that Barack Obama will win the presidency, which could be a huge windfall for his show, the New York Times reported. "That would be like a monumentous occasion culturally and comedically," Grier was quoted in the Times.

The show is even considering doing live broadcasts around the election, while "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," are preparing to team up for a live election-night special.

Aside from guests who have appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and Stephen Colber's 1-man "Colbert Report," those two shows feature few black actors. But comedian Larry Wilmore has played the role of The Daily Show's "senior black correspondent."