In news that should have happened months ago, it seems that Comedy Central’s nightly, satiric look at current events is finally getting upgraded to HD starting on January 4. Not only will these be the first episodes shot in HD, but they will be the first episodes of the year, and the century.

No word on how this upgrade will effect the format of the show, if at all, but we do know that both shows will continue to keep us laughing into the new year.

Most recently, both shows have been nominated for a WGA TV award, which will put them head-to-head (and we know what happened last time).

With both shows doing well in ratings, getting nominated for awards, and getting the boost to HD, it’s no doubt that variety, or more specifically “comedy”, programming is still at it’s peak.

If you doubt that, you could always see Colbert rap with Alicia Keys in a spoof on “Empire State of MInd.”

As we all know, Thursday was a pretty tragic day in the celebrity world. With the loss of both Farrah Fawcett and Micheal Jackson, many reports of false deaths were coming out of the woodwork from the world of Twitter and even some news outlets. One of the rumors stemmed from a fake Associated Press report that 80’s pop singer Rick Astley was found dead in his hotel room, liking fans to video proof of his death, another was that George Clooney had crashed while flying a small plane over Denver Colorado.

Of these rumors, one seemed to stick out above the rest. This rumor was that actor Jeff Goldblum had fallen to his death off of a cliff while filming a new movie in New Zealand. Thankfully, when there are fake stories floating around the world, there are fake reporters out there for field them. Goldblum made a special appearance on The Colbert Report last night to talk about how his death has effected him, and where he goes from here. Very funny stuff, and worthwhile knowing that not all of these pranks go unmentioned.

Check out the video after the jump.