TBS has unveiled the 10 talented comedians slated to compete against one another in Funniest Wins, a new series that's all about the laughs. Set to premiere Friday, June 20, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), Funniest Wins comes to TBS from comedy heavyweight and WhatTheFunny.com founder Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie, A Haunted House, The Wayans Bros.) and Eyeworks USA. In the series, Wayans, along with some of his comic friends and family, will put the comics through the ringer to find the funniest multi-talented comedian working today. A complete rundown of the 10 competitors is included below.
Modern comedy is varied in both style and platform, from sketch comedy to digital shorts and musical parodies to hidden-camera pranks. Thanks to modern media technology anyone and everyone can take a shot at becoming a successful comedian. TBS's Funniest Wins is on a mission to find out who really is the funniest of them all: the overnight sensation getting millions of online hits or the performer who's been honing his or her craft for years.
On Funniest Wins, the goal is simple: Make people laugh, or go home. The new series will open with 10 comedic competitors of various types, who range in age from 25 to 40. Each week, guided by Marlon Wayans and a rotating crew of guests, they will learn the ins and outs of a particular comedy style, and then put that knowledge to the test in that week's main competition. At the end of each round, one comic will be sent packing. At the conclusion of the season the winner will receive a $100,00 cash prize, and the chance to star in an online series for Wayans' WhatTheFunny.com.
Funniest Wins is produced for
TBS by Workaholic and Eyeworks USA. Serving as executive producers are Marlon Wayans (A Haunted House, A Haunted House 2), Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House, White Chicks) and Lisa Blum (Scary Movie, Legit) for Workaholic/Marlon, and JD Roth, Todd A. Nelson, Brant Pinvidic and Adam Kaloustian for Eyeworks
USA (Extreme Weight Loss, Bar Rescue, Opposite Worlds, My Cat from Hell). Steve Harris (The Jacksons, Mob Wives) serves as producer.
Funniest Wins Season 1 Competitors
Billy Sorrells Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Age: 31 Genres: Stand-up, YouTube, pranks, impressionist, comedic actor
A stand-up comedian for over a decade, Billy embraced social media in its early stages to advance his career. His video Sh*t Black Girls Say started an online craze and spawned thousands of video memes. He started his career in comedy by pranking unsuspecting people. Billy views the show as a personal challenge to see if mainstream
America finds him funny.
Twitter: twitter.com/billysorrells Facebook: www.facebook.com/billy.sorrells Instagram: instagram.com/billysorrells Website: www.billysorrells.com tumblr: billysorrells.tumblr.com
Christina Pazsitzky Location: Redondo Beach, Calif. Age: 37 Genre: Stand-up
Christina has 11 years as a stand-up comedian under her belt, three as a professional headlining comedian. She started her career as a sketch performer with the Groundlings. Currently, Christina hosts a podcast with her stand-up husband, Tom Segura, called Your Mom's House, and was a roundtable regular and writer for Chelsea Lately.
Twitter: twitter.com/ChristinaP Facebook: www.facebook.com/christina.pazsitzky Instagram: web.stagram.com/n/christinapaz Website: christinacomedy.com tumblr: christinacomedy.tumblr.com
Jason Nash Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Born: Boston, Mass. Age: 40 Genres: Comedy writer, Vine, stand-up, comedic actor
Jason has been doing comedy for 17 years. He started as Norm MacDonald's assistant at Saturday Night Live, before moving on to write for MTV. Jason started using Vine to promote his movie Jason Nash is
Married and now posts Vine videos daily to his 713,000 followers. Jason specializes in dark comedy inspired by his life as a husband, father and struggling comedian.
Twitter: twitter.com/Jason23Nash Facebook: www.facebook.com/jason.nash Instagram: instagram.com/jason23nash Website: jasonnash.net Vine: vine.co/JasonNash tumblr: jasonnash.tumblr.com
Jenny Zigrino Location: New York, N.Y. Age: 27 Genre: Stand-Up
A six-year comedy veteran, Jenny jokes about sex, family and her weight. She's also a self-described "weird girl" who used to work at a Renaissance Faire and was a Paul Revere
Tour Guide in Boston. She likes dressing up in Medieval-era clothing.
Twitter: twitter.com/jennyzisnice Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Comedian-Jenny-Zigrino Website: www.jennyzisnice.com/ Vine: vine.co/u/1018357372416360448
Key
Lewis Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Age: 40 Genres: Stand-up, sketch, improv
Key is a high-energy, animated, improvisational, storytelling nutcase who, in his day job, works as an equipment superintendent supporting electricity for public transportation. Key derives the multiple characters featured in his act from his childhood?experiences. He likes to focus on drawing in his audience and teaching them as they laugh.
Twitter: twitter.com/keylewis Facebook: www.facebook.com/key.lewis.921 Website: www.keylewis.com
Manon Matthews Location: Studio City, Calif. Born: Calabasas, Calif. Age: 25 Genres: Vine, improv, sketch, impressionist, stand-up, comedic actress
Manon discovered comedy at the young age of 10. She studied her craft at the University of California at Berkley, Second City and the Groundlings. She has nearly a million followers on Vine, which has become her platform for getting her comedy out to the world. She plans to continue being a jack-of-all-trades.
Twitter: twitter.com/ManonMathews Facebook: www.facebook.com/ManonMathews Instagram: instagram.com/manonlucy Website: www.manonmathews.com Vine: vine.co/manonmathews
Matt McManus Location: West Hollywood, CA Age: 33 Genres: YouTube, impressionist, pranks, improv, sketch
Matt has two years of comedy experience, positioning himself as "odd and specific." He sticks to his morals and turns down work that promotes mean-spirited humor. Matt grew up playing in the streets of New York, which inspire his "man on the street" bits.
Twitter: twitter.com/MattypMcManus
Ryan "Rydoon" Muldoon Location: Boston, Mass. Age: 29 Genre: Vine
Rydoon has two million Vine followers, along with 49,000 followers on Twitter and 88,000 followers on Instagram. He works as a dog walker while trying to transition to comedy full time. As a kid, Rydoon used comedy as a way to entertain his terminally ill mother. He is a former amateur musician and singer, and would be in nursing school if he wasn't trying to make it in comedy.
Twitter: twitter.com/RyDoon Facebook: www.facebook.com/ryan.doon.7 Instagram: instagram.com/meRyDoon Vine: vine.co/rydoon
Sydney Castillo Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Born: Fort Worth, Texas Age: 32 Genres: Stand-up, pranks, writer, comedic actor, sketch
Sydney moved to Los Angeles to pursue modeling and quickly turned to comedy when his mantra, "Team Regular Body" wouldn't cut it in the modeling world. Because he is 6'4", his mom always wanted him to be an NBA basketball player. She hates the fact he does comedy.
Twitter: twitter.com/sydneyisfunny Facebook: www.facebook.com/sydneyisfunny Instagram: instagram.com/sydneyisfunny Website: sydneyisfunny.wordpress.com/bio Vine: vine.co/u/955214155193942016
Tiffany Haddish Location: Culver City, Calif. Born: South Central LA, Calif. Age: 34 Genres: Stand-up, comedic actress, sketch, writer
Tiffany grew up in foster care and took up comedy when her social worker enrolled her in comedy camp instead of therapy. The class clown in school, she's been performing stand-up for 13 years. Tiffany sees herself as a cross between Jim Carrey and Halle Berry, a physical performer with the looks.
Twitter: twitter.com/TiffanyHaddish Facebook: www.facebook.com/TiffanyHaddish Instagram: instagram.com/tiffanyhaddish Vine: vinebox.co/u/wsfCitwrgIl
About Eyeworks USA
Eyeworks USA, run by CEOs and executive producers JD Roth and Todd A. Nelson, with Brant Pinvidic serving as president, is one of television's most prolific producers of reality and non-fiction programming, both for broadcast and cable, producing shows grounded in the ability of people to make real change and transform their lives. Eyeworks
USA series include Extreme Weight Loss, in season four for ABC;
Bar Rescue in season three for Spike; My Cat from Hell, in season five for Animal Planet; LA Hair, in season three for WEtv; new hit
Syfy series Opposite Worlds;
Catch A Contractor and
Hungry Investors for Spike, and the upcoming Funniest Wins for TBS.
About TBS
TBS is basic cable's reigning champion among young adults in primetime. Available in 101 million households,
TBS features original scripted comedies like Cougar Town,
Ground Floor and Sullivan & Son, as well as the upcoming Angie Tribeca (working title), Your Family or Mine (working title), Buzzy's and American Dad!, which will become a
TBS original series in late 2014.
TBS also features original unscripted series like King of the Nerds, Deal With It and Bam's Bad Ass Game Show, along with the upcoming CeeLo Green's The Good Life and Funniest Wins. In late night TBS, is home to the Emmy(R)-winning series CONAN, starring
Conan O'Brien, and The Pete Holmes Show. The
TBS lineup also includes popular contemporary comedies, such as
The Big Bang Theory and Family Guy, along with blockbuster movies and championship sports.
TBS is part of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. Turner Broadcasting creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
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