COMEDY CENTRAL'S(R) NEW LATE-NIGHT SERIES "@MIDNIGHT" PREMIERES MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT ET/PT

Produced by Funny Or Die and Hosted by Chris Hardwick, the Late-Night Comedy Competition Brings the Best of the Day's Social Media and Pop Culture

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NEW YORK, October 9, 2013 - In a world where Tweets, Vines, GIFs, Instagrams and Facebook posts reign supreme, Chris Hardwick leads viewers down the ultimate internet wormhole in Comedy Central's new daily, late-night comedy competition, "@midnight." Produced by Funny Or Die, a rotating lineup of today's top comedians will battle nightly to determine who has the funniest take on the day's social media and pop culture happenings and wear the crown of funniest person on Earth (for the next 23 1/2 hours).

Executive produced by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant ("RENO 911!"); Hardwick; Mike Farah for Funny Or Die; Alex Blagg, Jason Nadler and Jon Zimelis of Serious Business; showrunner Jack Martin; and Alex Murray of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, "@midnight" premieres October 21 and airs Monday through Thursday at Midnight ET/PT following "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report," extending Comedy Central's late-night dominance to a 90-minute block of nightly programming.

Using social media as the catalyst and a fake game show as the setting, "@midnight" will challenge comedians to prove who's the funniest by slashing the craziest, most absurd news and posts that social media has to offer: from celebrity Twitter tantrums to the most bizarre Yahoo Answers to rich kids on Instagram. Expect appearances by comedians like Kumail Nanjiani, Kurt Braunohler and Natasha Leggero who will fight and joke to the death as they vie to be crowned the funniest of the night.

The series will have a built-in, interactive experience for viewers, allowing them to respond to the show's daily #HashtagWars or a daily call-to-action soliciting viewer Tweets that may be featured on-air as well as earn participants a chance to win prizes. Jim Sharp and Gary Mann are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.

Chris Hardwick, well-known to Comedy Central's fan base, is a stand-up comedian, chart-topping podcaster, television personality, contributor for Wired magazine and CEO of Nerdist Industries. His Comedy Central stand-up special, "Chris Hardwick: Mandroid," premiered last November and can be purchased online at CC: Stand-up Direct or in stores on CD and DVD.

Hardwick founded Nerdist Industries, which has grown to include Nerdist.com, a premium YouTube channel with several hundred thousand subscribers, the Nerdist News daily e-newsletter, 1.9 million Twitter fans, as well as a podcast network that includes the Nerdist Podcast that averages 4.8 million monthly downloads.

In addition, Nerdist hosts live events such as The Nerdist Podcast Live! and the Course of the Force, an annual Comic-Con lightsaber relay in partnership with Lucasfilm LTD.

In addition to his Nerdist responsibilities, Hardwick is the face of AMC's live after-shows, "Talking Dead" and "Talking Bad," which discuss the highly-rated shows "The Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad."

About Funny Or Die

Funny Or Die launched in April 2007 and has become an award-winning top destination for comedy on the web. The site has over 19 million unique users per month, over 60 million video views per month, and has grown into a vertically integrated 21st century digital studio that produces high quality content over numerous platforms, operating a social media and marketing division with over 7 million Twitter followers (#1 Comedy Brand), approximately 2.3 million Facebook fans, and devoted followers on numerous social networking and sharing sites. Funny Or Die has become the "place to be seen" for comedic celebrities, and the obvious destination for a daily comedy fix. Funny Or Die's founders are Gary Sanchez Productions (Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy), Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and Michael Kvamme. Judd Apatow is also a principal partner in Funny Or Die.

About Comedy Central

Available on-air, online and on-the-go, Comedy Central (www.cc.com) is the #1 brand in comedy and is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA and VIAB).