Celebrity Judges & Matchups Revealed for Comedy Central's JEFF ROSS PRESENTS ROAST BATTLE II: WAR OF THE WORDS

Comedy Central and Jeff Ross announced today that Whitney Cummings, Ken Jeong, Anthony Jeselnik, John Mayer, T.J. Miller, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Jason Sudeikis and Snoop Dogg will serve as celebrity judges deciding the round-by-round fate of 16 comedian combatants during the four nights of JEFF ROSS PRESENTS ROAST BATTLE II: WAR OF THE WORDS. The bracket-style insult-comedy tournament will be filmed in Los Angeles on the Sunset Strip, airing January 26-29 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central. The January 29 finale airs LIVE. Jeselnik and Snoop Dogg will appear on the January 26 episode; Cummings and Jeong, January 27; Mayer and Silverman, January 28; and Miller, Oswalt, and Sudeikis live on January 29.

Comedians doing battle include Zac Amico, Todd Barry, Matthew Broussard, Frank Castillo, Keith Carey, Scott Chaplain, Joe Dosch, Olivia Grace, Alex Hooper, Leah Kayajanian, Jessica Kirson, Jay Light, Kurt Metzger, Yamaneika Saunders, Evan Willams and Anna Valenzuela. Fans can visit RoastBattle.com to track the tournament bracket and watch highlight clips from each night's battles, and can join the social conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #RoastBattle.

First round matchups are:

Kurt Metzger vs Yamaneika Saunders
Todd Barry vs Jessica Kirson
Matthew Broussard vs Zac Amico
Joe Dosch vs Leah Kayajanian
Evan Williams vs Anna Valenzuela
Jay Light vs Frank Castillo
Keith Carey vs Olivia Grace
Scott Chaplain vs Alex Hooper

Inspired by the gritty, competitive proving grounds of the comedy-club circuit, "Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle II: War of the Words" is led by Roastmaster General Jeff Ross and referee/comedian Brian Moses. "Roast Battle" first debuted on Comedy Central last summer with comedian Mike Lawrence taking home the crown.

In a nod to "Roast Battle's" comedy-club roots, a four-city preliminary-competition tour was scheduled to seek out the top battlers across the nation, a selection of which will appear in the main event. The tour locations included Laughing Skull Lounge in Atlanta, Village UNDERGROUND in New York City, Comedy Works in Denver, Colorado and Comedy Store Belly Room in Los Angeles.

Each of the ticketed live shows was filmed and all are airing weekly in January on Sundays leading up to the main-event premiere of "Roast Battle II." The first of the four preliminary rounds kicked off on Sunday, January 1 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.

"Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle II: War of the Words" is executive produced by Ross, Moses, Amy Zvi, Willie Mercer, Rell Battle, Rick Austin, and Joel Gallen, who also directs. Jonas Larsen, Christian McLaughlin, Jordan Ellner and Ryan Moran are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.

Available on-air, online and on-the-go, Comedy Central (www.cc.com) is the #1 brand in comedy and is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA and VIAB).

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