Biography
Writer and comedian Jonah Ray earned a sizable following among fans of comedy for his irreverent observations on the popular Nerdist Podcast, which led to writing opportunities for "The Soup" (E! Entertainment Television, 2004-15) and his own series, "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" (Comedy Central, 2014- ). Born Jonah Ray Rodrigues in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 3, 1982, Ray was raised on the island of Oahu and played in local bands before relocating to Los Angeles. Once there, he initially continued to pursue a career in music before shifting his focus to writing and performing comedy. Ray earned his first break as a writer's assistant on "The Andy Milonakis Show" (MTV, 2005-07) while also playing minor roles on a variety of minor web and cable series. While honing his talents as a stand-up and sketch performer on the Los Angeles comedy circuit, he worked his way to contributing writer on "Milonakis," which led to writing opportunities on "The Rotten Tomatoes Show" (Current TV, 2009-10) and "SuperNews!" (Current TV, 2005-10). His acting career also blossomed with character turns on "Human Giant" (MTV, 2007-08), but Ray's biggest showcase was via the Nerdist Podcast, for which he served as sidekick to host Chris Hardwick. A weekly podcast devoted to genre entertainment with a cult following, the series launched in 2010 and quickly bloomed into one of the Internet's most popular podcasts, spawning a full network of similar podcasts, as well as television and online efforts for BBC America and YouTube, among other channels. Ray was featured in many of these projects, including "The Nerdist: Tribute to Science" (BBC America, 2012), while also branching out from Nerdist Industries to write for "The Soup" in 2012 and contribute guest turns to "The League" (FX, 2009-15), "Drunk History" (Comedy Central, 2013- ) and "Maron" (IFC, 2013-16). In 2014, Ray was given his own television series, "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail," which he co-hosted with his frequent stand-up partner, Kumail Nanjiani. The series, filmed on location in the back of a Los Angeles area comic book store, combined their stand-up act with sketches and documentary-style sequences showing the guest comics before and after their sets. In November 2015, "Mystery Science Theater 3000" creator Joel Hodgson announced that Jonah Ray would be the new host of a rebooted version of the series.
