COMEDY CENTRAL’S ANNUAL UP NEXT STAND-UP SHOWCASE TO TAKE PLACE AT COLOSSAL CLUSTERFEST IN SAN FRANCISCO ON FRIDAY, JUNE 2 HOSTED BY NATASHA LEGGERO

• The Showcase Will Feature Comedians Curtis Cook, Anna Drezen, Joe Kwaczala, Teddy Ray, Rae Sanni, Devon Walker, Mo Welch and Ramy Youssef
• Highlights of Up Next to be featured in 90-minute Clusterfest Special

NEW YORK, May 25, 2017 – Comedy Central will present its annual stand-up showcase, Up Next, previously known as Comics To Watch, at Colossal Clusterfest, the brand new comedy and music festival experience created by Comedy Central and Superfly, the brains behind Bonnaroo, and Outside Lands co-producer Another Planet Entertainment.

The live Up Next showcase features Comedy Central’s rising stars of stand-up and will take place on Friday, June 2^nd, at 7:00 p.m. at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (415 Comedy Club room) and will be hosted by Natasha Leggero during the three-day Colossal Clusterfest weekend from June 2-4. The Up Next comics will also be highlighted in the 90-minute special on Sunday night at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central.

Up Next is an annual showcase featuring a wide range of diversely talented comedians who have been selected by Comedy Central following a nation-wide search with showcases across the country. The showcase serves as an important step in Comedy Central’s stand-up development process and is designed to spotlight the most exciting new voices working today. The showcase will feature the following comedians:

• Curtis Cook is currently a writer on Comedy Central’s upcoming series The Jim Jeffries Show. He will appear in MTV’s upcoming pot-themed comedy show High Crimes and has also been on IFC’s Portlandia.

• Anna Drezen is a comedian and writer for Saturday Night Live. She’s the editor-at-large of Reductress and coauthor of How May We Hate You? and How To Win At Feminism.

• Joe Kwaczala is a Los Angeles-based comedian and writer who has contributed to The Onion News Network, ClickHole, and Funny or Die. As a stand-up, he has performed at San Francisco Sketchfest, the Comedy Exposition, and the Ventura Comedy Festival.

• Teddy Ray has appeared on BET’s Comic View and season 8 of MTV’s Wild N’ Out. He has also continued to make a name for himself through Russell Simmons’s All Def Digital platform.

• Rae Sanni is a staff writer on Comedy Central’s hit late-night series The President Show. Her writing has been featured in New York Magazine, The Decider and Buzzfeed.

• Devon Walker is a stand-up based in Austin, TX and has been featured at the Moontower Comedy Festival. Walker was recently named a finalist in the 2017 Funniest Person in Austin stand-up competition.

• Mo Welch is a comedian, writer and cartoonist who runs a live talk show called The Mo Show at Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater in LA and co-produces Comedians You Should Know at The Improv. She has guest starred on Amazon’s Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and Life in Pieces.

• Ramy Youssef is a comedian who appeared in the third season of Robot, just finished filming Gus Van Sant’s film “Don’t Worry” and recently performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He was a series regular on Nick at Nite’s See Dad Run with Scott Baio, and was most recently seen in the 20^th Century Fox comedy, “Why Him?”

Performers from past showcases have gone on to make more appearances on Comedy Central including on Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents… which for many comedians is their first solo stand-up special. Past Up Next/Comics To Watch comedians include: Chris Distefano, The Half Hour; Naomi Ekperigin, The Half Hour and Broad City writer; Josh Johnson, Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon writer; Kurt Braunohler, Comedy Central one-hour special Trust Me; Mark Normand, Comedy Central one-hour special Amy Schumer Presents Mark Normand: Don’t Be Yourself; Matt Ingebretson and Adam Lustick, the upcoming Comedy Central scripted series Corporate; and Michael Che, Saturday Night Live Weekend Update co-anchor and former Daily Show correspondent.

The inaugural Colossal Clusterfest will feature a jam-packed daily lineup with more than 50 comedians and musicians performing such as Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, Sarah Silverman, T.J. Miller, Hasan Minhaj, Broad City, and Ice Cube, Q&A’s and podcasts and themed iconic comedy attractions from South Park, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Seinfeld. With a nod to San Francisco’s rich food culture, top local chefs and restaurants will craft menus inspired by their favorite comedic moments.

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