Chris Hardwick On Board BBC America Comedy Block

NEW YORK: BBC America has signed Chris Hardwick to host the channel’s new Saturday night comedy block, Ministry of Laughs, along with committing to a pilot/special based on the comedian’s hit Nerdist podcast.

Hardwick will kick off the Ministry of Laughs comedy block on June 18 at 10 p.m., featuring the latest seasons of The Inbetweeners, Come Fly with Me and The Graham Norton Show. Hardwick’s production outfit, Nerdist Industries, and Comcast Entertainment Studios will produce the Ministry of Laughs host pieces and the pilot for the panel talk show also hosted by Hardwick that is based of the podcast. The Nerdist podcast is in the top ten comedy podcasts on iTunes. Hardwick has featured guests such as Andy Samberg, Jon Hamm, Zach Galifianakis and the cast of Doctor Who. The show covers all things related to "geek culture." Hardwick will executive produce alongside K.P. Anderson and Jay James for Comcast Entertainment Studios.

Perry Simon, the general manager for channels at BBC Worldwide America, said: "Chris Hardwick’s unique and irreverent sense of humor perfectly complements BBC America‘s British comedy sensibilities. We have fallen in love with his innovative work on the Nerdist, his enormously popular podcast, his Twitter, his stand-up, and his inventive TV activities, not to mention his devotion to Doctor Who and his unapologetic anglophile leanings. Chris is the ideal host for our Ministry of Laughs comedy block and a natural choice for our first original comedy production."