Canada Felt the Burn Last Night as 900,000 Viewers Make THE ROAST OF JUSTIN BIEBER the #1 Specialty Program of the Day

–Two-hour ROAST is most-watched program on Canadian TV in its timeslot for A18-49 and A25-54 –
–Uncensored ROAST to begin streaming on CraveTV^TM April 10 –
– #BieberRoast was a national trending topic on Twitter yesterday and today –

To tweet this release: bmpr.ca/1G4dku6

"Tonight we're going to do what his parents and the legal system should have done a long time ago, we're about to give this boy the ass-whooping that he deserves." Roastmaster Kevin Hart

"What do you get when you give a teenager $200 million? A bunch of has-beens calling you a lesbian for two hours." - Justin Bieber

TORONTO, March 31, 2015 /CNW/ - A combined audience of 891,000 Canadians tuned The Comedy Network last night to see their fellow countryman Justin Bieber held to the fire on THE ROAST OF JUSTIN BIEBER. A total of 685,000 viewers watched the primetime broadcast with an additional 206,000 viewers watching the 12 midnight  encore, exclusively on Comedy, before an uncensored version of the special begins streaming on CraveTV™ on April 10.

Comedians, rappers, and a slew of Hollywood A-listers joined the highly buzzed-about affair to roast the infamous pop star, making the ROAST the most-watched program on Canadian television in its 10 p.m. – 12 midnight timeslot for P12-34, A18-49, and A25-54, and Comedy the #1 specialty network of the day overall. THE ROAST OF JUSTIN BIEBER becomes the second most-watched ROAST of all time on Comedy, only behind THE ROAST OF CHARLIE SHEEN. Peaking with 889,000 viewers at 10:23 p.m., the two-hour special reached more than 1.6 million unique viewers overall.

Beliebers and non-beliebers alike wishing to re-live the ROAST, or to watch for the first time, can watch the completely uncensored version on CraveTV™ beginning Friday, April 10. Viewers can also tune in to every cringe-worthy (and uncensored) jab Saturday, April 4 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on The Comedy Network, and online now at ComedyNetwork.ca.

**Media Note** - Download photography at bellmedia.ca/pr/tv/comedy

The Twitterverse was ablaze last night during the ROAST, with #BieberRoast holding the top trending topic on Twitter in Canada throughout the broadcast, reaching more than 106 million users from over 20,000 tweets, including a re-tweet from "The Biebs" himself. Roastmaster Kevin Hart and roasters Martha Stewart and Jeffrey Ross also rotated into the national top trending topics, with ROAST content occupying multiple trending topics during the broadcast.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Justin Bieber on Twitter
Kevin Hart on Twitter
Jeff Ross on Twitter
Chris D'Elia on Twitter
Hannibal Buress on Twitter
Snoop Dogg on Twitter
Ludacris on Twitter
Martha Stewart on Twitter
Pete Davidson on Twitter
The Comedy Network on Twitter
The Comedy Network on Facebook

Source: Numeris (BBM Canada)

About The Comedy Network
Canada's first specialty comedy service, The Comedy Network airs comedy of all kinds, 24-hours-a-day, across multiple platforms, including a revolutionary broadband service at thecomedynetwork.ca. Launched in October 1997, Comedy broadcasts, uncut and uncensored, an eclectic mix of scripted, stand-up, sketch, improv, and animated comedy – as well as topical comedy talk shows, game shows and classic situation comedies. Offering an unrivalled slate of original Canadian programming, Comedy reinvests nearly 50 per cent of its revenues into home-grown productions. Comedy is a division of Bell Media, which is owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company, and is available in nearly six million households across the country.

SOURCE Comedy

Natalie Cole, The Comedy Network, 416.384.2140 or [email protected]; Mary Costa, The Comedy Network, 416.384.7702 or [email protected]