'Comedy Awards' review: Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, David Letterman, Bill Murray helped to save it

Comedy Central's first annual Comedy Awards was a curious mix of really funny and really annoying, so full of strange people crammed into two hours, only few of them stand out effectively. We'll see about that "annual" thing.

To be sure, many worthy artists and television shows won awards. Multiple prices for 30 Rock were unassailable, but it was also nice to see a solid piece of eccentricity as Rob Corddry's Children's Hospital '(shown on Adult Swim) to receive a reward.

The ceremony was also broadcast on Viacom-owned entities such as Spike TV, CMT, TV Land, VH1 and was, depending on your point of view, a Democratic effort or a mish-mash. South Park co-creator Matt Stone, whose show won for best animated series, aptly said that winning an award for best animated-show presentation from Comedy Central was "as students month and your mother is the teacher. "

Eddie Murphy was presented with a special award icon and a montage of his impressive work has been shown. (I had forgotten how funny spoken-word performance "Kill ['Cill'] is my landlord.) Murphy graciously thanked his inspirations include Richard Pryor, Charlie Chaplin, Bill Cosby, George Carlin and.

By far the most interesting moment of the night was the last. Bill Murray received a standing ovation just for walking to present "The Price of Johnny Carson." He said with perfect accuracy to the times in which we live: "Now we'll show you a clip to show you that Johnny Carson was. "