MTV Greenlights Sketch Comedy Series Human Giant

Santa Monica, CA, October 4, 2006 MTV: Music Television today announced the greenlight of a new comedy series, Human Giant, set to premiere in Q1 2007 and begin production immediately. Human Giant consists of four members -- Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, who will all star and executive produce, and Jason Woliner, who will direct and executive produce.

A collection of recklessly hilarious, fast-paced, hard-hitting short films, Human Giant will bring viewers innovative comedy with a distinctive style and direction. First seen online, short clips like Shutterbugs, Clell Tickle: Indie Marketing Guru and The Illusionators have gained a huge cult following. Human Giant has also gained a large audience in the New York comedy scene through live shows at the underground club Upright Citizens Brigade and was recently named one of 10 Comics to Watch in 2006 by Variety.

When I first saw the Human Giant sketches on the Web, I knew this was something special and had to work with these guys, said Tony DiSanto, Executive Producer, MTV. Our goal in developing this into a TV show was to stay true to that user-gen and viral video feel and attitude and to keep the vision pure, while giving them the tools and resources to create on a larger scale. Its fast-paced, laugh your ass off humor with a rebellious rock n' roll attitude. These guys are stars.

Meet the Human Giant cast members:

Aziz Ansari

Aziz Ansari is a standup comedian based in New York City. In 2006, he won the Jury Award for Best Standup at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO. Rolling Stone also chose him as the "Hot Standup" in their annual "Hot List." He has appeared on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend" and plans on doing more standup on television soon. He was also in the film School for Scoundrels directed by Todd Phillips. Aziz finds his bio to be boring and uninteresting, but an efficient summation of his credits.

Rob Huebel

Rob Huebel is a comedian and crimefighter. He was recently seen on Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm and is a regular on VH1's Best Week Ever. He is probably best known from his movie theater commercial campaign, 'Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man'. He has produced for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and was nominated for an Emmy award for his work on The Awful Truth with Michael Moore. He has developed two sitcoms for network television. But they didn't get on. But he's not angry.

Paul Scheer

Paul Scheer can be seen weekly on VH1s Best Week Ever. His upcoming films include School for Soundrels with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder, the Seann William Scott comedy Trainwreck, and Watching the Detectives with Cillian Murphy. This fall, he'll be appearing with Jeff Goldblum in the pilot episode of the Frank Darabont-directed drama "Raines. Previously Paul has also written and performed on Make My Day, and McEnroe Show, and Comedy Centrals Crossballs. In addition to those shows, Paul has completed projects for Comedy Central and VH1, and has made numerous appearances on The Today Show, Late Night with Conan OBrien and Weekends at the D.L. The Village Voice has hailed Paul as a comedian Soon to be a Household Name, so as you can imagine, he has a tremendous ego and now only wears Adidas track suits.

Jason Woliner

Jason Woliner is a writer and director from New York. His videos and films have screened at comedy shows and film festivals across the country and have been featured on various television networks. He wrote and produced "Partisan Jab," a series of political comedy shorts which were licensed by AtomFilms and chosen for inclusion in the permanent exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image. Recently, he has directed segments for VH1's Best Week Ever, shot pilots for both a police dramedy and a comedy/reality show starring improvisers from the UCB Theater, and directed a bunch of videos for comedians in New York City. He also worked on two successful series for Comedy Central's broadband channel, Motherload. He directs Human Giant's videos because he has retired from performing, having peaked at age 7 with the role of "Bratty Kid" in the film Weekend at Bernie's.

More information on Human Giant can be found on MTV.com and thehumangiant.com.

Tony DiSanto, and Liz Gateley serve as Executive Producers for MTV. Dave Becky, David Miner & Tucker Voorhees from 3 Arts Entertainment (Everybody Hates Chris, 30 Rock) will executive produce. Tom Gianas (Saturday Night Live, Awful Truth with Michael Moore) will showrun/executive produce. Human Giants Ansari, Huebel, Scheer and Woliner are also Executive Producers. George McTeague is the Production Executive and Sam Grossman is the Development Executive for MTV.

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the worlds leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 120 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 95 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.