Jonah Ray Rodrigues (born August 3, 1982) is an American actor, comedian and writer from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He stars as Jonah Heston, one of the primary hosts of ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

''. He is a former host of '' The Nerdist Podcast'' and was the co-host of

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's '' The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail''.

Early life

Originally from

Kailua, Hawaii Kailua () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It lies in the North Koolaupoko, Hawaii, Koolaupoko District of the island of Oahu, Oahu on the windward and leeward, windward coast at Kailua Bay. It is i ...

on the island of Oahu, Ray played in local Hawaii rock/punk bands and later moved to

. Once there he first pursued opportunities in punk rock, but later started to focus on writing and performing comedy.

Career

Beginnings

Ray started his TV career as a writer's assistant for '' The Andy Milonakis Show'', as well as working as a writer and performer on Showtime's sketch comedy pilot ''The Offensive Show.'' He is also a frequent sketch and stand-up performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles and has made appearances on programs such as '' Saul of the Molemen'', '' Crossballs'', '' The Sarah Silverman Program'', and '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' He also hosted "Joe Genius", an online program about humor and homegrown science, on Revision3. Previously, he worked as a writer and occasional

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a small ...

's program SuperNews!. He previously wrote for '' Web Soup'' on the G4 network, and then '' The Soup'' on '' E!''. He left ''The Soup'' in 2012.

''The Meltdown'' and ''Nerdist''

Ray co-hosted a weekly comedy show called ''The Meltdown'' with Kumail Nanjiani, produced by Nanjiani's wife, Emily V. Gordon, at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles. In late June 2013 Comedy Central announced a television production of the show titled '' The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail'', which debuted in July 2014. The show ended after three seasons in 2016. Ray was one of

Chris Hardwick Christopher Ryan Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosted '' Talking Dead'', an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series '' ...

's co-hosts of '' The Nerdist Podcast'' and television show. In February 2011, Ray revealed on an episode of the podcast that ''Jonah's Arcade'', a video gaming-comedy pilot he created and stars in, was not picked up by

. The pilot was later released on YouTube, produced by the same producers of ''Web Soup''.

''Jonah Raydio: The Podcast''

In October 2012, Ray began hosting his own podcast ''Jonah Raydio'' featuring guests from various independent music scenes. Regular contributors and guests on the show include Man Man, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Pup, and

Har Mar Superstar Sean Tillmann-Hauser (born February 6, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has performed and released studio albums as Sean Na Na and as a member of hardcore band Calvin Krime, but is best known for his work under the name Har M ...

. On a 2014 episode of his podcast, Ray announced the launch of his own record label through ATS, Literally Figurative Records, a comedy/music label aimed to feature "a comic on one side and band they are friends with on the other."

''Mystery Science Theater 3000''

On November 16, 2015, ''

'' creator Joel Hodgson announced plans for Ray to host the series' upcoming continuation. The series was funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign and was released internationally by Netflix on April 14, 2017. Ray plays the character Jonah Heston for seasons 11 and 12. In April and May 2021, Joel Hodgson ran a second successful Kickstarter to produce season 13, in which Ray returned as Jonah Heston.

Releases

Ray recorded a seven-inch record of his stand-up comedy for Aspecialthing Records entitled ''This Is Crazy Mixed-up Plumbing'', released in 2006. He followed this up with his second release entitled ''Hello, Mr. Magic Plane Person, Hello'' on May 15, 2012, which received mixed reviews. Ray had several videos from

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

on comedy website Super Deluxe as well as his own web-series called ''The Freeloaders Guide to Easy Living with Jonah Ray''.

Appearances

* '' The Sarah Silverman Program'' * '' Saul of the Molemen'' * Warner Independent's ''Mama's Boy'' *

's ''Live at Gotham'' * '' Human Giant'' * '' Super Deluxe'' * '' Attack of the Show'' * '' InfoMania'' * '' The Rotten Tomatoes Show'' * '' SuperNews!'' * '' The Andy Milonakis Show'' * ''Master of the Internet'' * '' Walking the Room'' Episode 62, August 1, 2011 * '' Conan'' * ''

'' (Host, Seasons 11 - 13) * '' The Nerdist'' * '' The Jeselnik Offensive'' * '' Triptank'' * ''

The League ''The League'' is an American television sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football l ...

'' * '' Drunk History'' * '' Garfunkel and Oates'' * '' Maron'' * '' Hidden America with Jonah Ray'' * '' Talking Dead'' * ''

@midnight ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') is an American late night Internet-themed panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, ...

'' * '' Take My Wife'' * '' Victor Crowley'' * ''I'll Be Around'' * ''

Bayside (band) Bayside is an American punk rock band from the Bayside, Queens, neighborhood of New York City, formed in 2000 by lead vocalist Anthony Raneri. The group also consists of lead guitarist Jack O'Shea, bassist Nick Ghanbarian, and drummer Chris Gu ...

'' - (Music Video for 'It Don't Exist') * ''The Stand Up Sketch Show'' * '' Christmas Bloody Christmas'' * '' Satanic Hispanics''

Personal life

Ray married his wife, Deanna Rooney, on April 27, 2013.