THE THIRD SEASON OF "THE MELTDOWN WITH JONAH AND KUMAIL" PREMIERES ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 AT MIDNIGHT ET/PT ON COMEDY CENTRAL(R)

Premiere Episode Features Jay Larson, Byron Bowers, Brian Posehn and Wild Horses (Lauren Lapkus, Erin Whitehead, Mary Holland, Stephanie Allyne)

Episodes of "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" Available Day of Premiere on the Comedy Central App and cc.com/TheMeltdown

NEW YORK, September 15, 2016 - "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail," hosted by Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani, welcomes fans back for a third season premiering Tuesday, September 27 at Midnight ET/PT on Comedy Central. Eight new episodes were filmed in front of a live audience at the Nerdist Showroom in the back of Meltdown Comics, Los Angeles' premiere comic book store.

As always, comedians experiment with new bits onstage and the audience is given backstage access to moments from the green room. The documentary style series directed by Lance Bangs features performances by BAKED (Steve Agee and Brendon Small), Maria Bamford, Todd Barry, Rachel Bloom, Joel Kim Booster, Byron Bowers, Guy Branum, Rhea Butcher, Michelle Buteau, The Five Footprints (Drennon Davis, Joe DeRosa, Ron Funches, and Rory Scovel), Brett Gelman, John Gemberling, Solomon Georgio, Cyrus Ghahremani, Al Jackson, Sam Jay, Ian Karmel, Martha Kelly, Jen Kirkman, Jay Larson, Charla Lauriston, Lucas Brothers, Mike O'Brien, Brian Posehn, Brent Sullivan, Paul F. Tompkins, Baron Vaughn, David Wain, Brandon Wardell and Wild Horses (Stephanie Allyne, Mary Holland, Lauren Lapkus, and Erin Whitehead).

The premiere episode features sets from Jay Larson, Byron Bowers, Brian Posehn and Wild Horses (Lauren Lapkus, Erin Whitehead, Mary Holland, Stephanie Allyne).

Episodes of "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" will be available the day of premiere on the Comedy Central App and cc.com/TheMeltdown and season 2 will be available two weeks prior to premiere. Leading up to the on-air premiere, Comedy Central Stand-Up and cc.com/TheMeltdown will feature preview clips, episode highlights, behind-the-scenes content and extended and deleted scenes from the series. Clips from "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" will also be available in the CC app and the Comedy Central channel on Snapchat Discover. Fans can follow Comedy Central Stand-Up on Twitter at @ccstandup, and tweet using the hashtag #TheMeltdown to join the social chatter around the series.

Ray started his TV career as a writer's assistant for "The Andy Milonakis Show," before being fired then immediately re-hired as a full time writer. Since then he has written and performed on shows such as "Adventure Time," "Human Giant," "The League," and "The Soup," and has appeared as a stand-up on "Conan" and "Live at Gotham," as well as Comedy Central's "Mash Up," "The Half Hour" and is a regular panel guest on "@midnight with Chris Hardwick." He may also be seen in past seasons of "Maron" and "Garfunkle and Oates." In addition, Ray is one of Chris Hardwick's co-hosts of The Nerdist Podcast, which is also a show on BBC America. Ray is currently executive producer and star of SeeSo's "Hidden America with Jonah Ray" and writer and star of the new "Mystery Science Theater 3000" reboot for Shout! Factory.

Nanjiani is an actor, writer and comedian. He currently stars as 'Dinesh' on the critically acclaimed HBO comedy series "Silicon Valley," which won the TV Critics Choice Award for 'Best Comedy Series' last year and has received several Emmy and Golden Globes nominations. Soon he will be playing the lead role in "The Big Sick," a film he co-wrote with his wife Emily V. Gordon, produced by Judd Apatow and Barry Mendel and directed by Michael Showalter.

Nanjiani's many memorable comedic roles include the films "The Five-Year Engagement," "Sex Tape" and "Hot Tub Time Machine 2." He was recently on the big screen in the indie film "Hello, My Name Is Doris," "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" and "Central Intelligence." He will next be seen in "Fist Fight" and heard as a voice of one of the ninja warriors in "The Lego Ninjago Movie." He's also recurring on IFC's "Portlandia," and recently had a guest role on the return of "The X-Files" on Fox.

His 2013 comedy special "Kumail Nanjiani: Beta Male" was on the "best of 2013? lists for Vulture, Village Voice, and the Onion's A.V. Club, and it was chosen as best comedy special of the year by Entertainment Weekly. Nanjiani also hosts two podcasts, The Indoor Kids and The X-Files Files.

"The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" is executive produced by Ray, Nanjiani, live show producer Emily V. Gordon and Red Hour's Ben Stiller, Debbie Liebling, Stuart Cornfeld, and Mike Rosenstein. JoAnn Grigioni and Ryan Moran are the Executives in Charge for Comedy Central.

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