Satiate Your Comedy Cravings This Summer!

NEW YORK, May 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Kick back with a cool one and indulge in a night of laughs as "COMEDY CENTRAL Park" celebrates its fifth consecutive year of free stand-up comedy Live from SummerStage in New York City's historic Central Park.  This year's presentation of "COMEDY CENTRAL Park" will feature comedian Jim Gaffigan with special guest John Pinette on Wednesday, June 29 at 8:00 p.m. (gates open at 7:00 p.m.).  The outdoor venue is located at mid-Central Park (near the Fifth Avenue and 69th Street entrance).  

Jim Gaffigan has proven himself as a major talent to a wide range of audiences, achieving accolades and awards for his stand-up comedy, acting and writing.  His clever, quiet style has made him one of the top five most successful touring comedians in the country today and his CDs and DVDs have reached platinum status.  Currently, Gaffigan stars in the highly-acclaimed Broadway play "That Championship Season" along with Brian Cox, Chris Noth, Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland.

Gaffigan has had an unprecedented number of appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman" and "Conan."  His writing and voice work on the animated series "Pale Force" on "Conan" led to Broadband Emmy and Webby Award nominations.  Gaffigan's television credits include breakout guest appearances on HBO's cult hits "Flight of the Conchords" and "Bored to Death" and dramatic roles in all three versions of "Law & Order."  Gaffigan has also become a mainstay on the big screen with memorable roles in "Going the Distance," "Away We Go" and "It's Kind of a Funny Story."  His latest film, "Salvation Boulevard" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 which starred Jennifer Connolly, Ed Harris, Pierce Bronson and Greg Kinnear.

John Pinette was born outside of Boston and has been entertaining audiences around the world for over twenty years.  He has enjoyed a long career in stand-up, television, film and stage.  He starred as Edna Turnblad in the hit Broadway musical "Hairspray."  Pinette's film credits include "Duets," starring Gwenyth Paltrow, "Dear God," starring Greg Kinnear, "Junior," starring Arnold Schwarzeneger and "The Punisher," starring John Travolta.  His latest film is "The Last Godfather" starring opposite Harvey Keitel.  His television credits include "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," the final episode of "Seinfeld," multiple stand-up comedy appearances on "The Tonight Show," "The Dr. Phil Show" and "The View."  His COMEDY CENTRAL stand-up special and DVD, "I'm Starvin'" was released in January 2007 as a follow up to his enormously successful CD "Show Me The Buffet."  The World Premiere of his new one-hour stand-up special "John Pinette: Still Hungry" premieres on Friday, July 29 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT on COMEDY CENTRAL.

"COMEDY CENTRAL Park" kicked off its inaugural year with host Dave Attell and featured comedians Ted Alexandro, Joe DeRosa, Kurt Metzger, John Mulaney and Amy Schumer.  In 2008, Stephen Lynch, Mike Birbiglia and Julian McCullough performed.  In 2009, Gabriel Iglesias and Pablo Francisco rocked the mic and last year, "The Daily Show & Friends" featured "Daily Show" correspondents Wyatt Cenac and John Oliver, series alum Rob Riggle, executive producer Rory Albanese and supervising producer Adam Lowitt with a special performance by Lewis Black.

COMEDY CENTRAL's pro-social initiative, AddressTheMess also returns again this year to participate in this free stand-up event by encouraging participants to reduce dependence on the ubiquitous plastic bag.  The first 3,000 attendees will receive a complimentary, reusable shopping bag.  Visit www.addressthemess.com for more info.

About City Parks Foundation:

City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City.  We work in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports, and education programs, and empowering citizens to support their parks on a local level.  Our programs and community building initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each year, contributing to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 98 million homes nationwide.  COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks.  COMEDY CENTRAL's Internet address is www.comedycentral.com.  For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs visit Press Central, COMEDY CENTRAL's press Web site at www.comedycentral.com/press.  

SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications