Share A Laugh With John Oliver And Friends When Comedy Central's New Series "JOHN OLIVER'S NEW YORK STAND-UP SHOW" Premieres Friday, January 8

A Six One-Hour Episode Stand-Up Series From Avalon Television

Get inside the brilliant comic mind of "The Daily Show's" John Oliver when he invites his favorite comic friends to perform in front of an intimate New York City audience in COMEDY CENTRAL's "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show," a new weekly series hosted by Oliver from Avalon Television, premiering the first of six episodes beginning on January 8 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.

"John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show" features stand-up from some of Oliver's favorite comedians. Oliver opens each of the six episodes and introduces four stand-up guests during the hour. Paul F. Tompkins, Janeane Garofalo, Marc Maron, Brian Posehn, Kristen Schaal and Eugene Mirman close each of their episodes with super-sized stand-up sets. Other comics appearing on the series include Maria Bamford, Greg Fitzsimmons, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Nick Kroll, Matt Braunger, Hannibal Buress, Pete Holmes, Amy Schumer, Chris Hardwick, Matt McCarthy and Hari Kondabolu. The series is executive produced by Oliver and Avalon Television's Richard Allen-Turner, David Martin, James Taylor and Jon Thoday. Elizabeth Porter is the executive in charge of production for COMEDY CENTRAL.

In the premiere episode, Oliver ditches the suit to discuss his surprising affection for America, the upside-down Australians and the effects of voting under the influence. The episode also features sets from Maria Bamford, Nick Kroll and Greg Fitzsimmons, before closing with a super-sized stand-up set from Eugene Mirman.

Leading up to the on-air premiere and throughout the new season, www.Jokes.com will feature preview clips from "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show" including exclusive video interviews of Oliver by "Daily Show" alum Rob Riggle with additional highlights to be posted after each episode.

Each episode of "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show" will be made available in HD for download-to-own the day after the episode premieres on iTunes, Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Zune. Episodes in SD will be available on Playstation Network and Amazon Video On Demand.

Oliver is a correspondent and an Emmy Award-winning writer on the "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," which he joined in 2006. He recently appeared in three episodes of NBC's "Community" and his first COMEDY CENTRAL stand-up special, "John Oliver: Terrifying Times," premiered in April 2008. Along with Andy Zaltzman, Oliver also writes and stars in a weekly podcast, "The Bugle: Audio Newspaper for a Visual World." Oliver has been nominated for both Emmy and Writers Guild Awards and won the Breakout Award for his stand-up comedy performances at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2007.