Jimmy Carr has signed a deal to host an American version of his Channel 4 game show Distraction.

He is to make 14 episodes of the show for Comedy Central, the same station which is helping Graham Norton become a star in the States, this autumn.

The show subjects contestants to ordeals such as eating snails and maggots or being electrocuted while answering   questions.

Carr, 31, told the BBC:  "I literally can't believe my luck - torturing Americans should not only be easy, but a pleasure.

 A Comedy Central spokesman said: "We are huge fans of Jimmy's dry, cutting style. Jimmy was the obvious choice."

 "We could have spent months trying to cast someone else, but at the end of the day, they wouldn't have been as funny as the original."

Carr, a former marketing executive, was first spotted in America at the Aspen comedy festival, which landed him three appearances on Jay Leno's Tonight Show.