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Comedy Central To Launch Late-Night Show Hosted By Chris Hardwick, Funny Or Die Produces, Tom Lennon & Ben Garant To Run

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday April 30, 2013 @ 9:33am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Chris Hardwick, Comedy Central, Funny or Die, Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Comedy Central is expanding its late-night block with a new show hosted by comedian/producer Chris Hardwick and co-produced by Funny Or Die. The untitled show, which will launch in the fall, will air four nights a week at midnight, following The Colbert Report, giving the network a 11 PM-12:30 AM block anchored by The Daily Show. Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant will serve as executive producers/showrunners on the Chris Hardwick show, returning to Comedy Central, where they co-created and starred on the cult series Reno 911! The show, Comedy Central’s first midnight strip, will be formatted as a comedic panel show that will have a heavy social-media presence integrated throughout. It is produced by Comedy Central and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Funny Or Die, with Brillstein Entertainment Partners expected to executive produce along with Serious Business (Alex Blagg, Jason Nadler, Jon Zimelis) and Nerdist Industries, Hardwick and Peter Levin’s production company for multi-platform genre and pop culture content. In addition to the 11:30 PM broadcast late-night talk shows, Comedy Central’s Chris Hardwick program will face another new midnight cable strip — TBS’ series toplined by comedian Pete Holmes, which also is slated to launch in the fall and air four nights a week.

The Chris Hardwick show expands Hardwick’s relationship with Comedy Central, where he headlined his own stand-up special and a pop culture/tech pilot last year. It also marks the latest high-profile hosting gig for Hardwick, who started off on MTV’s Singled Out and currently hosts AMC’s The Walking Dead aftershow, Talking Dead. Nerdist has a deal with AMC, where it is developing All Celebrity Bowling, and just received a pilot order from Nat Geo for In The Name Of Science. Funny Or Die is producing IFC’s upcoming miniseries The Spoils Of Babylon starring Will Ferrell, Tobey Maguire and Kristen Wiig. In addition to their TV credits, Lennon and Garant have built a strong feature resume, writing such films as the hit Night At The Museum franchise. They recently wrote and directed the Sundance entry Hell Baby, and Lennon co-stars in NBC’s Sean Hayes comedy pilot, which is expected to go to series.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Guillermo Del Toro, Katee Sackhoff Top ‘Nerdist’ Lineup

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday March 24, 2013 @ 12:13pm PDTTags: BBC America, Chris Hardwick, Katee, The Nerdist

The upcoming season of Chris Hardwick‘s BBC America series The Nerdist is starting strong with a guest lineup that draws from nerd royalty and from Hardwick’s other steady TV hosting gig on AMC, Talking Dead. BBC America has … Read More »

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Nat Geo Channel Orders Science-Themed Pilot From Nerdist Industries

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 5, 2013 @ 9:00am PSTTags: Chris Hardwick, In The Name Of Science, National Geographic Channel
Nellie Andreeva

Jonah RayEXCLUSIVE: National Geographic Channel has greenlighted a pilot for In The Name Of Science, a science-based show from Nerdist Industries, Chris Hardwick and Peter Levin’s production company for multi-platform genre and pop culture content, … Read More »

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‘The Nerdist’s Chris Hardwick On Podcasts As “Survival Mechanism” For Comics: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday January 5, 2013 @ 3:37pm PSTTags: BBC America, Chris Hardwick, The Nerdist

Diane Haitman contributes to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

Chris Hardwick, host of BBC America‘s new series The Nerdist, explained today on a TCA panel how podcasts are becoming the new showcase for today’s comedians. … Read More »

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BBC America Orders Full Season Of ‘The Nerdist’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday December 19, 2012 @ 12:44pm PSTTags: BBC America, Chris Hardwick, The Nerdist

BBC America is expanding its relationship with Chris Hardwick‘s Nerdist franchise, with the network ordering a full season of comedy-variety talk show The Nerdist based on Hardwick’s hit podcast. The 10-episode season will be shot in LA … Read More »

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TOLDJA! Legendary Acquiring Nerdist On Eve Of Comic-Con

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday July 10, 2012 @ 11:29am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Chris Hardwick, Legendary Entertainment, Thomas Tull

2ND UPDATE 11:15 AM: Legendary just sent out the announcement that it has finalized an agreement to purchase Nerdist Industries.

EXCLUSIVE… UPDATE 9:30 AM: Legendary Entertainment heading into Comic-Con has set a new deal with multiplatform fanboy outfit Nerdist. My sources say huge comic book fan Thomas Tull will be stepping up his existing early investment in Nerdist and actually making an all-out acquisition. But co-owner Peter Levin (my pal) wouldn’t do a deal that stripped him and the other co-owner Chris Hardwick of autonomy for the editorial business. Now they will report to Legendary Entertainment COO Tim Connors. The strategy is that the addition of the Levin and Hardwick digital prowess would add more firepower to the Tull war-chest. Hardwick and Levin will continue in their current roles within Nerdist, and will also take on the roles of Co-Presidents of Legendary’s digital business with Hardwick serving as Co-President Digital Content and Levin functioning as Co-President Digital Strategy. They will work closely with Legendary’s executive management team on event management and comics-related operations. The deal calls for Nerdist to maintain complete editorial autonomy and operations, while benefitting from Legendary Entertainment’s resources and platform as the company continues to offer up quality fanboy content to audiences around the world. Nerdist was founded in 2008 by Hardwick — a comedian, author, podcaster, new media personality and AMC’s The Talking Dead host. In 2011, Nerdist and Levin’s GeekChicDaily merged to form Nerdist Industries with Hardwick serving as Founder and Chief Creative Officer while digital media entrepreneur Levin became CEO of the new company. Read More »

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AMC Orders Live After-Show ‘Talking Dead’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday September 22, 2011 @ 7:02am PDTTags: AMC, Chris Hardwick, Talking Dead, The Walking Dead
Nellie Andreeva

AMC is launching Talking Dead, the network’s first live after-show that will discuss AMC’s series The Walking Dead. The half-hour program, produced by Michael Davies’ Embassy Row and hosted by Chris Hardwick, will premiere Oct. 16, immediately following the encore … Read More »

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Nerds And Geeks Unite In MultiPlatform Deal

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday June 6, 2011 @ 1:27pm PDTTags: Chris Hardwick, GeekChicDaily

How effing hot is Chris Hardwick as an emerging name/brand in the nerd-geek footprint? Sizzling. First BBC America signed comedian, writer, and web personality Chris Hardwick to host the channel’s new Saturday night comedy block launching June 18th, Ministry of Laughs, … Read More »

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Cable News: BBC America Signs Chris Hardwick, Spike Orders Foreclosure Series

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday May 23, 2011 @ 10:36am PDTTags: BBC America, Chris Hardwick, Ministry Of Laughs, Spike TV
Nellie Andreeva

BBC America has signed comedian, writer and web personality Chris Hardwick to host the channel’s new Saturday night comedy block, Ministry of Laughs, and has committed to a pilot/special based on Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast. The pilot, a panel talk show … Read More »

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