TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Elizabeth Snead and Joel Stratte-McClure

SHE'S NO PHOEBE: ``See, I told you I'd show up!'' said Lisa Kudrow, giving Michael Patrick King a big hug at ``The Comeback'' premiere on the Paramount lot.

King, writer/producer/director of ``Sex and the City,'' holding down the same multiple roles on ``The Comeback,'' isn't the only one anxiously awaiting Kudrow's return to TV.

``Audiences love her because even after 10 years on 'Friends,' they feel they haven't seen all of her yet,'' he said, as Kudrow, looking sleek in a white pantsuit, scooted off to greet her parents. ``She's got an original, unique and uncanny style and can deliver a comic line like no one else.''

It didn't take these two comic geniuses long to create the painfully funny faux-reality series debuting tonight on HBO.

``It took less than three hours, and we were laughing at each other the whole time,'' said Kudrow, who plays Valerie Cherish, a desperate, aging sitcom star trying to resuscitate her career. ``We're both fascinated with reality TV, and this is what we think it's really like.''

``Survivor'' meets ``Friends''? Not quite.

``It's a fictional reality-show/comedy hybrid that blurs the lines and makes you wonder who's an actor and who's not,'' explained King. ``It's just right for a country where absolutely everyone is either a celebrity or a celebrity making a comeback.''

But don't expect to see Phoebe. She and Valerie are polar opposites.

``Valerie is extremely controlled and has a goal, whereas Phoebe just took everything one day at a time and one feeling at a time,'' said Kudrow, who began developing Valerie's character a decade ago as a member of L.A.'s Groundlings improv theater group. ``But they're both funny because they come up with such unexpected surprises.''

After the screening of the first two episodes, Kudrow and husband Michel Stern dined with bearded Matt LeBlanc and wife Melissa McKnight at the posh after-party. Surprisingly, no sign of her old pals Jennifer Aniston (can you blame her?) Courteney Cox-Arquette, Matthew Perry or David Schwimmer.

Hey, maybe they're working on their own comebacks.

IN POO'S CORNER: Omigod, they praised Doug Herzog!

``South Park'' creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker presented the American Civil Liberties Union 2005 Torch of Liberty Award Thursday to TV honcho Herzog.

Who's Doug Herzog? The president of Comedy Central and the man who fought both the religious right and the lefty liberals for Kyle, Cartman, Stan, Kenny and even Chef's right to free speech.

``I remember when we first met with Doug 10 years ago,'' said Stone. ``He asked us, 'What's your vision for the show? Where do you see it going?' And we said, 'How do you feel about talking poo?' And I remember he said, 'I LOVE it.' ''

Accepting his award, Herzog demurred, ``It just goes to show that people out there really do love singing and talking excrement.''

The awards dinner at the Beverly Hilton also honored filmmaker Lawrence Bender, given his award by writer/political activist Arianna Huffington.

And the show was hilariously emceed by Stephen Colbert, a regular correspondent on Jon Stewart's ``The Daily Show'' who'll have his own fall Comedy Central show called ``The Colbert Report.''

``I was really excited to be asked to host the awards,'' Colbert revealed. ``I thought ACLU stood for Association of Canadian Lesbian Undertakers, and that just seemed like a natural for me.''

FOUR-LEGGED FASHION: British designer Ted Baker (think Ralph Lauren with an accent) is toiling away in his London digs designing his trademark tweed coats. But not for stars - for their pooches.

Baker is doing custom-made doggy duds for celebrity pooches, including Britney Spears' Bit Bit, Penelope Cruz's Vino, Jessica Simpson's Daisy, Jake Gyllenhaal's Atticus, Nicole Richie's Honey Child, Zach Braff's Roscoe, Selma Blair's Wink, Orlando Bloom's Sidi and Kate Bosworth's Lila.

All will receive best-in-show invites to Baker's first West Hollywood store on Robertson Boulevard on June 16. Celebs and their furry friends will shop and have tea, with 20 percent of all sales benefiting the Best Friends Animal Society.

MOSCHINO RISING: Get ready for a new fashion force on Hollywood's red carpets - Moschino. Nicole Richie has been wearing Moschino's slinky satin dresses all over town. Hottie Blake Lively wore a sexy orange Moschino halter dress to the premiere of her film ``The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.''

The very next day, a very pregnant Shiva Rose, along with Michelle Trachtenberg, Heather Locklear and Lisa Rinna, turned up to check out Moschino's latest collection at an InStyle fashion bash hosted by the magazine and Alicia Silverstone at the Chateau Marmont.

The popularity of the line is pretty amazing, considering that Franco Moschino, the provocative Italian designer whose ads used to read ``Warning: fashion shows can be dangerous to your health,'' died 10 years ago.

But his line lives on. And his Milan-based company is churning out edgy new gowns geared for young Hollywood hipsters.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) McKNIGHT, LeBLANC and KUDROW: Lovers and friends.

Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images

(2) PARKER, HERZOG and STONE: A 'South Park' moment.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

(3) TRACHTENBERG and ROSE: A double Moschino.

Lester Cohen/WireImage.com