"AMERICAN COMEDY AWARDS" ADDS FIRST EVER CATEGORY FOR CONCERT COMIC

The special will air on May 8 (9-11 p.m. ET/PT) on NBC

NEW YORK - March 27, 2014 - NBC and Don Mischer Productions announced today that voting is open via Twitter for fans to select their favorite Concert Comic for the "American Comedy Awards," airing May 8 (9-11 p.m. ET/PT) on NBC.

This award will be presented to a stand-up comedian who performed the majority of their shows in 2013 in larger venues of 500 seats or more. This includes theaters, concert halls, and arenas.

Voting is now open, and Twitter users are able to vote by publicly tweeting the hashtag #AmericanComedyAwards and a keyword consisting of the name or Twitter handle of their preferred nominee. There must be a space between the hashtag and the keyword for the vote to count. Users can also retweet a tweet containing the show hashtag and nominee's name or handle as a way to cast their vote. The voting period ends April 1 at 4 p.m. ET/1p.m. PT. There is a limit of one vote per comic, per valid Twitter account; to participate in the this vote, a user must have their Twitter account set to public. Please visit http://www.nbc.com/american-comedy-awards/rules for more information, including a complete list of approved keywords for the vote.

The nominees are:

CONCERT COMIC
Bill Burr
Hannibal Buress
Louis C.K.
Jim Gaffigan
Kevin Hart
Kathleen Madigan
Patton Oswalt
Russell Peters
Brian Regan
Amy Schumer

The "American Comedy Awards" is one of the only award shows in which the winners are determined through a combination of fan voting and voting among entertainment industry professionals.

Nominations for the "American Comedy Awards" were voted by members of the "American Comedy Awards" Voting Committee, a panel consisting of 860 working professionals from the comedy community, including writers, performers, producers, directors and stand-ups.

The "American Comedy Awards" will honor those who have achieved new heights during the past year in both film and television, as well as pay tribute to some of comedy's most enduring personalities. The telecast will acknowledge the work of stand-ups, those who specialize in movies, and the actors and actresses who are seen by millions on TV every week.

The "American Comedy Awards" are produced by Don Mischer Productions. Emmy Award winner Don Mischer, Charlie Haykel and Juliane Hare serve as executive producers.