Comedy Central Debuting New Comedy Series Starring Ronny Chieng Exclusively On Their App
Comedy Central is taking another step into the digital verse, debuting their first half hour network comedy that will air exclusively on the network’s app. Comedy Central already has a digital arm that offers short form content, but this is the first full length show to debut. This means Comedy Central can start to greenlight more shows than they have slots for on their television network, which could mean more opportunities. The app’s first release comes from Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng.
Ronny Chieng: International Student, is loosely based on Chieng’s real-life experience as a Chinese law student in Australia. It’s a series about being caught between worlds; between childhood and adulthood, between your old life and your new life, between your parent’s expectations and your own dreams – even if you haven’t worked out what they are. But mostly it’s about the stupid stuff that happens when you’re young and don’t know what the hell you’re doing.
In the series, which was co-written by Chieng, Ronny plays a Malaysian student who’s come to Australia to study law. He’s smart, driven and competitive, which would make him the perfect law student, if he actually wanted to be a lawyer. As viewers follow Chieng from his first day on campus to the final exam of semester, he’ll encounter binge-drinking Australians, pompous blazer-wearing private school kids and hyper competitive anti-social Asian students who want him to act “more Asian.” A genuine outsider, Ronny is suspicious of any group that wants him as a member – be it the rowdy Australians, the Mahjong playing Asians or the blueblood…idiots. Blunt, barbed and not afraid to cut through the B.S., it’s not long before Ronny is at odds with most people on campus.
Born in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and raised in Manchester, NH and Singapore, Chieng graduated from the University of Melbourne in Australia in 2009 with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce, the same year he began his comedy career as a stand-up. In addition to his acting roles, Chieng continues to tour as a stand-up and has had four sold-out global stand-up comedy theater tours in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and London. During his career as a stand-up he has sold out shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performed multiple shows at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, and opened for both Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr on their Australia stand-up comedy tours.
Beginning Monday, August 13, fans can binge-watch all seven episodes of the half-hour scripted television show, Ronny Chieng: International Student, which will be available to stream exclusively on the Comedy Central App.
