New York-based CowboyPictures has acquired Jonathan Kesselman's "Jewxploitation" comedy TheHebrew Hammer for theatrical releasein select cities in mid-December to coincide with the Hannukkah holiday.

The acquisition is relatedto a larger deal in which ContentFilm also sold North American broadcast rightsto Comedy Central, which will air The Hebrew Hammer for two weeks from Dec 8.

The festival hit stars AdamGoldberg as an Orthodox stud who is called into action after Father Christmas'son murders the Christian patriarch and attempts to end Hannukkah.

Andy Dick, Judy Greer, PeterCoyote and Mario and Melvin Van Peebles co-star.

Cowboy Pictures' GregWilliams and John Vanco, ContentFilm's head of business affairs Michael Robanand Comedy Central's senior vice president of programming Kathryn Mitchell andhead of development Susie Kricena put the deal together.

"There are not very manycomedies out there that provide such a satisfying experience, so we'reespecially proud to be working on this special film with Content and ComedyCentral," Vanco said in a statement.

ContentFilm's productioncredits include Party Monster andthe upcoming releases of The Coolerthrough Lions Gate and David Gordon Green's thriller Undertow through UA.

Comedy Central has also acquiredthe rights to air the film beginning Dec 2004 with a four year-window.

ContentFilm chairman EdwardR Pressman said he hoped the Comedy Central branding would turn The HebrewHammer into a comedy franchise.

In a separate deal, Cowboyhas picked up Just An American Boy,the documentary about recording artist Steve Earle that screened recently at theNorth by Northeast festival.

Amos Poe's film charts theoutspoken Earle's life on the road during his 2002 tour for his last record,Jerusalem.

Poe's directing creditsinclude the punk film The Blank Generation and the comedy-thriller Frogs For Snakes, starring Barbara Hershey, Debi Mazar and HarryHamlin.