BBC America unveils comedy block

US cablenet BBC America will launch a new two-hour comedy block next month, featuring some of the most recent and irreverent shows in the genre coming out of the UK.

The block, dubbed Ministry of Laughs, will run from 22.00 to 00.00 on Saturday nights, debuting June 18.

Among the shows in the initial line-up are The Inbetweeners, Come Fly With Me, Friday Night Dinner, That Mitchell & Webb Show, The Thick of It, Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show and Peep Show. Kicking off the first hour of the slot will be US premiere episodes of The Graham Norton Show.

In related news, BBC Worldwide Americas has appointed Nick Ascheim as senior VP of digital media, with responsibility for overseeing commercial growth of BBC.com in North America. He was previously with Associated Press and joins on May 16.