Comedy Central has announced that Kathy Griffin will be the Roastmaster in the network's roast of comedian Joan Rivers.

Griffin said she will be "roasting Joan with more gentleness and tenderness than her latest chemical peel."

Rivers has appeared on Griffin's Bravo series "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" and Griffin returned the favor earlier this year, appearing on the "Celebrity Apprentice" finale to help Joan, who won the competition.

The roast will air August 9 on Comedy Central.

There's special 4th of July holiday programming still going on, including fun TV show marathons and local and national fireworks celebrations. Other stuff...

Wilco: Ashes of American Flags (6pm, Sundance) - If you're lucky enough to have the Sundance Channel, you can see the 2008 film by Chicago rock band Wilco, featuring interviews and concert footage. Totally jealous.

Dave Chapelle: Killin' Them Softly (9pm, Comedy Central) - Chapelle's classic June 2000 show from the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C., includes bits on "Sesame Street," terrorism, gangs, and voting.

Eli Stone (10pm, ABC) - Eli helps a roomservice waiter who was laid off from a failed company that paid its CEO a multimillion-dollar golden parachute deal. 

Everyone's talking today about the antics of South Carolina's rogue governor Mark Sanford, who disappeared for several days and at one point was reported to be off hiking the Appalachian Trail. Turns out he was actually "crying in Argentina" with his mistress.

The State newspaper in Columbia has compiled some clips of news and comedy shows skewering the missing governor, the funniest being from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report."

"The Daily Show" calls one of their segments "Fled . . .

Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers (left) was the guest on Wednesday Tuesday night's "Colbert Report" with Stephen Colbert. Rogers appeared on the show to promote affordable environmental energy options.

Colbert asked Rogers if being called "the environmentalist energy company CEO" was an oxymoron. Rogers responded: "Job one for me is affordable, reliable, clean electricity, providing it 24x7." 

Colbert: "Good, because I loves me some electricity. I never turn lights out because that's when the ghosts come out."

Watch the full interview after the jump.

Jim Gaffigan: King Baby, 9pm Sunday, Comedy Central 

Jim Gaffigan's humor isn't what you'd call edgy. In fact, he's so quiet and low-key that when you hear yourself suddenly laugh out loud, it's a little startling.

Gaffigan's major themes (food and laziness) are highly relatable and non-offensive (no cursing, and no sex, race, or politics), but that doesn't mean it's not funny. I was actually surprised by how much I really loved his new King Baby special. Sure, he talks a lot about bacon, but just when you're thinking "Okay, enough with the bacon," he mocks himself for that very thing. 

And the mocking -- which sounds like a running commentary of his show from an easily shocked old lady -- is actually one of his funniest bits of shtick. After a series of jokes, you might hear that disapproving, high-pitched whisper: "That's just wrong." "He has ruined camping for me." "Did he just tell another bacon joke?" "He looks like a Mormon." 

With the cancellation of Comedy Central's "Chocolate News" (forcing poor David Alan Grier on to 'Dancing With the Stars' for a paycheck) and the end of "D.L. Hughley Breaks The News" on CNN, it's apparently time to look at diversity on TV again.

At least the New York Times thinks so. Here, it reports on what's happening and what's coming (like the Cleveland Show, a Family Guy spinoff).

Remember when "Celebrity Roast" meant Dean Martin sipping a cocktail while Don Rickles made mafia jokes about Frank Sinatra? Well, now it means Lisa Lampanelli making cringe-inducing jokes about Chris Brown beating Rihanna in the name of saluting Larry the Cable Guy.

Yes, Larry the Cable Guy. The man who earns millions making Southerners look like backward morons is being honored tonight by Comedy Central.  (And if you're questioning the Roast-worthiness of Larry, consider that Larry stars in an upcoming animated series on Comedy Central.)

If you've been watching "The Daily Show" you know Jon Stewart has been beating up pretty badly on loud CNBC financial pundit Jim Kramer on some predictions he made about the market.

Kramer has been on some shows fighting back. The whole debate has led to a bigger question: did the media do its job in reporting on the events leading up to the recession.

Well, now Kramer has agreed to go on Stewart's Comedy Central show to talk about things tomorrow night.

The L.A. Times has a good story that will catch you up nicely if you're behind.

Update: Here's a story from Salon exploring whether CNBC is really all that bad. Guess what the conclusion is?

Don't get me wrong. I'm OK with my 10-year-old daughter watching High School Musical and its sequels again and again. We'll take that over any exposure to "My Super Sweet 16," "The Hills" or the new "Knight Rider."

But there has been collateral damage - just try and get "We're All in This Together" and the rest of the HSM singalongs out of your brain after repeat plays at home and in the car stereo. Secondhand smoke never seemed so good.

So when "South Park" took on the Disney phenomenon that is High School Musical Wednesday night, I could empathize with Cartman's dismay over the pop culture phenomenon that has his classmates breaking out into Broadway-style dance numbers with the snap of two fingers.

"If this is what's cool. I'm done," Cartman says. "I no longer have any connection to this world."

If you're like me — say, someone who'd rather watch the same rerun of "Everybody Loves Raymond" for the 167th time than watch even one episode of "Rock of Love" — keeping up with pop culture is made much easier by the existence of "The Soup" on the E! channel.

Thanks to snarky host Joel McHale and his crack team of wiseacres (including one bearded guy who always wears a bikini top) all I need to do is tune in every weekend to one very funny show to catch up on the most absurd "highlights" of "Bad Girls Club," "Real World Hollywood" and the ilk. Go ahead — ask me what Tanisha said to Cordelia this week. Oh, no she didn't!

Now, the geniuses (and I mean that) at Comedy Central have gone the extra mile and given me two, count `em, two new reality shows I can actually watch all the way through while WILLINGLY putting my brain in deep freeze for an hour.

I'm talking about the newly-revived "The Gong Show" and "Reality Bites Back," at 10 and 10:30 p.m., respectively, on Thursdays.

"The Gong Show," which entertained my generation with acts such as The Unknown Comic (he of the shopping-bagged head) and the infamous Popsicle Twins, back when it was hosted by nutty game-show giant Chuck Barris in the 1970s and `80s has returned with new host Dave Attell.

The panel for the premiere consisted of comics JB Smoove (lately of "Curb Your Enthusiasm") and Andy Dick (lately of a pretty scary mug shot), plus former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. The highlight came when Smoove and Dick took on a midget-wrestling duo, which probably earned the little athletes some extra points (not to mention they kicked some soft Hollywood butt).

Do yourself a favor, say "gonnnnggg" to "America's Got Talent" this summer and scrub your noggin with this well-staged nonsense instead.

While you're at at, might as well stick around for "Reality Bites Back," which stars hilariously deadpan Michael Ian Black playing the role of the evil host who humiliates a willing group of club-circuit comedians in segments that parody every lame reality-competition show extant. In episode one, the comics had to venture into a dark room and verbally seduce an unseen potential sex partner.

After a few minutes of awkward, one-sided dirty talk, the lights come on and — presto! It's mom! Or dad! Or grandma! Best cringe of the week, and I can't wait for the next one.