Comedy Central to Stage 3 Free NYC Summer Shows

For the first time since 2007, Comedy Central Live is holding three free comedy events to mark its seventh consecutive year partnering with the City Parks Foundation. In addition to the highly successful annual SummerStage comedy showcase in Central Park, shows will also be held in Manhattan's East River Park and Brooklyn's Red Hook Park.

For the Central Park show, get ready for some stellar stand-up from the network's finest comedians. "COMEDY CENTRAL Stars Under the Stars" is hosted by Gabriel Iglesias and featuring performances by Adam Devine ("Workaholics"), Anthony Jeselnik ("The Jeselnik Offensive"), Nick Kroll ("Kroll Show"), Jeff Ross ("The Burn with Jeff Ross") and Amy Schumer ("Inside Amy Schumer"). "COMEDY CENTRAL Stars Under the Stars" will be held rain or shine on Wednesday, June 26 at 8:00 p.m. (gates open at 7:00 p.m.) at the SummerStage venue in mid-Central Park (Fifth Avenue at 69th Street). Comedy Central Live welcomes back Outback Steakhouse for its fourth consecutive year sponsoring this Central Park event.

For the East River Park show, raise a hand in a sign of the horns ,,/ as "COMEDY CENTRAL Live Presents The Dark Lords of Comedy" featuring comedians Mike Lawrence, Jared Logan and Dan St. Germain. These comedians share the distinction of all appearing in the second season of COMEDY CENTRAL's "The Half Hour" premiering on Friday, May 3 at midnight and 12:30 a.m. ET/PT. "COMEDY CENTRAL Live Presents The Dark Lords of Comedy" is a free event taking place rain or shine on Sunday, August 18 at 8:00 p.m. at the SummerStage venue in Manhattan at East River Park.

For the Red Hook show, it's the best emerging talent on the comedy scene today. "COMEDY CENTRAL Live Presents Cristela Alonzo" which also features comedian Mark Normand will take place rain or shine on Friday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the SummerStage venue in Brooklyn at Red Hook Park at this free event.

Comedy Central Live's free SummerStage stand-up comedy shows in New York City's historic Central Park began in 2007 with an evening of comedy hosted by Dave Attell, featuring comediansTed Alexandro, Joe DeRosa, Kurt Metzger, John Mulaney and Amy Schumer. Subsequent "COMEDY CENTRAL Park" events included: Stephen Lynch, Mike Birbiglia and Julian McCullough (2008);Gabriel Iglesias and Pablo Francisco (2009); "The Daily Show & Friends" featuring "Daily Show" correspondents Wyatt Cenac and John Oliver, series alum Rob Riggle, executive producer Rory Albanese and supervising producer Adam Lowitt and a special performance by Lewis Black (2010);Jim Gaffigan and John Pinette (2011); and last year's show "Indecision in the Park" hosted by John Hodgman and featuring stand-up comedy by "Daily Show" correspondents Wyatt Cenac, Al Madrigal, and John Oliver, along with contributor Kristen Schaal, executive producer Rory Albanese, co-executive producer Adam Lowitt with surprise guest Lewis Black.

Gabriel Iglesias has been described as a witty, electrifying, and talented performer who has the ability to consistently deliver a uniquely hilarious comedy experience. His first two DVD specials, "Hot & Fluffy" and "I'm Not Fat...I'm Fluffy," have sold well over one million copies. "Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-Up Revolution" premiered on Comedy Central in October 2011 and stars Iglesias, who serves as host and curator of the featured comedians. For the series, Iglesias was individually nominated for a 2012 ALMA Award in the category: Favorite TV Reality, Variety, or Comedy Personality or Act. In April 2013, "Gabriel Iglesias: Aloha Fluffy," a supersized two-night world premiere, debuted on COMEDY CENTRAL.

Adam Devine is best known for his role as "Adam DeMamp" on COMEDY CENTRAL's hit comedy "Workaholics." His sketch-comedy group, Mail Order Comedy, Made up of Devine, Blake Anderson, Anders Holm and Kyle Newacheck, has headlined sold-out shows all over the nation. All four members also star on, write and produce "Workaholics." Devine recently starred in the Universal comedy "Pitch Perfect" and can be seen in the upcoming cult favorite "Arrested Development" on Netflix. In addition, Comedy Central recently announced "Adam Devine's House Party." The eight episode stand-up series will spotlight 24 of Devine's favorite up-and-coming comedians and is slated to premiere on the channel this fall.

Anthony Jeselnik is the host of the new, weekly Comedy Central series, "The Jeselnik Offensive," in which he takes on the latest bizarre news and pop culture happenings ripped straight from the headlines. Jeselnik secured his reputation as the dark prince of comedy in his one-hour stand-up special for COMEDY CENTRAL, "Anthony Jeselnik: Caligula," which premiered in January. His comedy album, "Shakespeare," was released on Comedy Central Records in 2010 and named Comedy Album of the Year by Punchline Magazine. Jeselnik received an Emmy nomination last year for Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music or Comedy Special for COMEDY CENTRAL's "A Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education."

Nick Kroll is the creator/writer/star of COMEDY CENTRAL's sketch pop culture series "Kroll Show" where he transforms himself into a variety of characters. Kroll is known for his role as "Ruxin" in the FX comedy "The League," along with his stand-up specials and roles on "Community," "Childrens Hospital," "Parks and Recreation" and "Portlandia," among other credits.

Jeff Ross is the host of COMEDY CENTRAL's weekly half-hour topical series "The Burn with Jeff Ross" and picks up where the Roasts leave off. Ross and a panel of guest comedians skewer the week's pop culture topics in-studio, and hit the streets on the "Roaster Coaster" to take aim at "Public Enemies" like drunks, hipsters and zombie lovers. In addition, Ross has headlined the last nine Comedy Central Roasts and roasted the likes of Roseanne, Charlie Sheen, Joan Rivers, Pamela Anderson, David Hasselhoff, and Donald Trump. As a stand-up comic, Ross has appeared on dozens of TV shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," "Conan," "Last Call with Carson Daly," "The View," and "Real Time with Bill Maher." He also continues to perform regularly for American men and women in uniform stationed all over the world.

Amy Schumer stars in COMEDY CENTRAL's newest series, "Inside Amy Schumer." Through a series of scripted vignettes, stand-up comedy, and man-on-the-street interviews, Schumer explores topics revolving around sex, relationships, and the general clusterf*ck that is life. Ten episodes begin on Tuesday, April 30 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. Schumer's other television credits include the one-hour stand-up special, "Amy Schumer: Mostly Sex Stuff" (COMEDY CENTRAL's second-highest rated special of 2012); one of the featured comedians on the "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast of Roseanne," following her breakout performance on the "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast of Charlie Sheen;" and appearances in FX's "Louie" and Season 2 of HBO's "Girls." In 2011, she filmed the feature "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley and "Price Check," an independent feature opposite Parker Posey which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Mike Lawrence is a New York City based comedian who has been featured as a stand-up on TBS' Conan, Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, Paul Provenza's Setlist "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show" and will debut his first half-hour stand-up special, "Mike Lawrence: The Half Hour" this summer on COMEDY CENTRAL. When he's not working in NYC's best clubs or headlining on the road he can be seen featuring for the likes of John Oliver, Marc Maron and Tom Papa, who shortly thereafter hiRed Lawrence as a writer for his pilot. He was one of the "New Faces" at the 2010 Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival and was back with Just For Laughs in 2012 doing their Festivals in both Chicago and Montreal, and recording for HBO Canada's Funny as Hell.

Jared Logan got his start in Chicago and recently relocated to New York City. Logan has appeared on COMEDY CENTRAL's "Live at Gotham," "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show," "Mash Up" and will debut his first half-hour stand-up special "Jared Logan: The Half Hour" this summer on COMEDY CENTRAL. Currently, Logan appears weekly on VH1's "Best Week Ever." He took home the award for Best Comedian at the Chicago Comedy Awards and won the Comedy Idol Competition in Detroit.

Dan St. Germain is a regular on VH1's "Best Week Ever" and has performed stand-up on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." He's also appeared on "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show," "The Electric Company," "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast and as a "New Face" at The Montreal Comedy Festival. He's the creator and star of the web series "Kicking Dan Out" featured on My Damn Channel and has his own podcast called "My Dumb Friends" co-hosted by friend and lover Sean Donnelly. St. Germain will debut his first stand-up special "Dan St. Germain: The Half Hour" this summer on COMEDY CENTRAL. His album "Bad at The Good Times" comes out on A Special Thing Records this year.

Cristela Alonzo has appeared on COMEDY CENTRAL's "Live at Gotham" and "Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-Up Revolution," Showtime's one-hour special "Legally Brown" and a semifinalist on NBC's "Last Comic Standing." She has also worked as a correspondent for MTV.com and an award-winning writer of a number of short films that have won numerous awards including Best Movie at the Boston Comedy Festival. Alonzo's first stand-up special "Cristela Alonzo: The Half Hour" premieres the night of her performance at the Red Hook event on Friday, June 7 at 12:30 a.m. on COMEDY CENTRAL.

Mark Normand, born and raised in New Orleans, is a comedian based in New York who recently appeared on TBS's "Conan" and won Carolines March Madness competition, beating out 63 other comedians. In 2012, Mark appeared on COMEDY CENTRAL's "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show" and taped the pilot of "Best Week Ever" for Vh1. He also appeared on the most recent season of "Last Comic Standing" for NBC. Normand was named one of COMEDY CENTRAL's "Comics To Watch" at the 2011 New York Comedy Festival, Esquire's "Best New Comedians 2012," Sidesplitter's "Top 10 Up and Coming Comedians on Each Coast" and Time Out New York's "21 New York Comedy Scene Linchpins."

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