Is Daniel Tosh the New Face of Comedy Central?

If asked who is the most-watched personality at Comedy Central, you'd figure Jon Stewart ('The Daily Show') or maybe Stephen Colbert ('The Colbert Report'). What might surprise you is that it's neither of them, at least not based on the ratings.

In the beginning, Daniel Tosh's biggest competition for his new series 'Tosh.0' was G4's 'Web Soup.' While both shows tackled web-based shorts, G4's 'Web Soup' had the advantage of being part of 'The Soup' franchise. Nevertheless, Tosh quickly took the lead, based in large part on his fast-paced comedic approach to the series and no-holds-barred attitude.

'Tosh.0' kicked off its summer run June 2, 2010 and the show just blew up. Five of the past six episodes have set new series high, as reported by Reuters, and now Tosh finds himself in a strange position, atop the studio shows on Comedy Central.

His season average of 2.2 million sits above 'The Daily Show' at 2 million and 'The Colbert Report' at 1.4 million. In fact, only 'South Park' and the recently revived 'Futurama' rank higher for the network. But how did this happen?

Kent Alterman, head of original programming at Comedy Central said of Tosh, "He hasn't been written about that much. There's really just one factor that stands out -- the show is really funny." He also cited word-of-mouth as a huge factor in the show's success.

Word-of-mouth in the modern, wired era includes Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites, and Tosh has used these to his advantage. He features a segment on his site where Twitter followers get the opportunity to post snarky comments on a video and see their words posted on the show. Immediately, he's pulled in viewers who might want to impress their friends and family by being on a TV show, and have their sense of humor validated by Tosh himself.

He also expands the format beyond just looking at and riffing off of web videos with his "Web Redemption" feature where he tracks down web "celebrities" and interacts with them. In the beginning, it was about getting a second chance to do right what went so wrong in their video, but more recently he's shifted into simply creating funny scenarios with that person.

Like Stewart and Colbert before him, the true winning formula behind the show's success is Daniel Tosh himself. His snarky attitude resonates with audiences in a way that feels authentic. While he may not be tackling real issues that shape the world around us, Tosh is in the muck with us, looking at the best and worst of what the web has to offer. He's not afraid to pull his punches, and he'll do absolutely anything for a joke.

He represents all of us who watch these videos online, down to our nasty politically incorrect comments and ridiculous assumptions that we can do what we just saw better than the person who filmed it and posted it online. Even better, 'Tosh.0' sifts through the muck online and finds the funniest stuff for us. Instead of hours online, we can laugh at the best and worst of it in thirty short minutes and then get on with our lives.

Tosh's comedic style is a perfect fit for the content of the series, and he plays very well to both his live audience and the camera.The bottom line, as Alterman so succinctly put it, is that "the show is really funny." 'Tosh.0' has been picked up for a 29-episode third season by Comedy Central, which will beginning airing in January 2011.