BET has renewed ComicView: Rooftop Series for a second season, ordering 20 additional episodes of the revived stand-up franchise, which premiered in June. Chris “CP” Powell returns as host, with Season 2 featuring 60 comedians performing on a Hollywood rooftop, including veteran comics Affion Crockett, Cocoa Brown, Lavell Crawford, and Luenell alongside rising talent.
ComicView first aired in 1992 as a nationally broadcast showcase for up-and-coming comics and became a foundational pillar of Black comedy, launching careers that grew into major names in stand-up, including D.L. Hughley, Sommore, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bruce Bruce. The series rotated hosts throughout its original run from 1992 to 2008, saw a brief 2014 revival, and returned again in 2024 as a four-episode series hosted by Mike Epps, taped at Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Weekend in Las Vegas, before this latest rooftop iteration launched in June.
Powell said he’s “beyond proud and excited” to return for Season 2, calling the first season “amazing” and promising bigger comics and bigger laughs this time around. Aisha Summers-Burke, EVP and head of creative at BET Studios, described ComicView as part of the network’s DNA, noting that the rooftop format proved audiences are still hungry for the format and that Season 2 introduces a new class of comics with Powell at the helm.
ComicView: Rooftop Series is executive produced by Jeru Tillman for Southfield Village Entertainment.
With a franchise this historically significant to Black stand-up now sustaining a second consecutive season after years of inconsistent revivals, the real question is whether this rooftop format gives ComicView the kind of staying power its earlier attempts at a comeback couldn’t quite hold onto.