Comedy Bang!
Bang! is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on
May 1, 2009.
It is hosted by writer and comedian Scott Aukerman, best known for his work on the 1990s
HBO sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David, as well as for co-founding the
weekly Comedy Death-Ray stage show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Hollywood.
Comedy Death-Ray Radio was formerly broadcast from Southern California's Indie 103 studios,
but since the summer of 2010 has been broadcast as part of the Earwolf comedy podcasting network.
Many notable people in the world of comedy, music, television and film have appeared on
the radio program, including Paul F. Tompkins, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Aimee Mann, Jon Hamm,
Aziz Ansari, Adam Scott, Patton Oswalt, Seth Rogen, Thomas Lennon, Zach Galifianakis, Ben
Stiller, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, James Adomian, Michael
Cera, Tim Heidecker, Andrew Daly, Nick Kroll, Loudon Wainwright III, Matt Besser, Kevin
Nealon, Anna Kendrick and Neil Hamburger.
As of June 8, 2012, Comedy Bang Bang is also a television series on IFC hosted by Scott
Aukerman and Reggie Watts.
History Comedy Death-Ray Radio first aired May 1,
2009, after Aukerman gained permission from Indie 103 to conduct a "one-month tryout".
The first episode's guests were Rob Huebel and Thomas Lennon.
During occasions when Aukerman has been unable to host, Paul F. Tompkins, Chris Hardwick,
Jimmy Pardo or Jerry Minor have guest hosted.
Although normally produced in Los Angeles, the show has also been taped in Vancouver,
Seattle, New York City, Chicago and Austin.
Name change On the May 15, 2011 "Two-year Anniversary"
podcast, Aukerman announced that the show's name was changing to Comedy Bang Bang: The
Podcast.
He went on to say that the show had evolved a great deal in its first two years, and he
credited his wife Kulap Vilaysack, for coming up with the new name.
Format and features The show's format mixes conversation between
the host and guests with comedy songs and occasionally game segments.
Some guests play characters or impersonate certain celebrities, sometimes for the entirety
of the episode.
The show's most frequent guest Paul F. Tompkins has impersonated celebrities such as rapper
Ice-T, directors Garry Marshall and Werner Herzog, actor John C. Reilly, composer Andrew
Lloyd Webber, actor Danny Glover and Cake Boss's Buddy Valastro; other frequent guests
such as James Adomian has played public television personality Huell Howser, Jesse Ventura, Paul
Giamatti, Christopher Hitchens, actor Gary Busey, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, and food
critic Merrill Shindler.
For the first few months of the program, comedian Doug Benson would semi-regularly call the
program and give several "8 Words or Less Movie Reviews."
In the last third of the show, Aukerman and his guests will often play one of several
improv-style games.
The following games have recently been played: "Would You Rather?", in which the guests are
presented with two typically absurd scenarios; following a brief question and answer session
with answers made up on the spot by Aukerman, the contestants are asked to choose one of
the options, with points given after each round.
"Riddle Me This", in which one person comes up with a question that is the setup for a
joke.
An example would be "What's brown and is often spotted near a fastfood restaurant?".
The other contestants then come up with answers and vote whose answer was the funniest.
It's been a while since these games have been played:
"Jukebox Jury", in which Scott and the guests rate songs sent in by listeners as either
"mustard" or "pants", although the meanings of the ratings is unknown.
"Freestyle Rap Battle/Contest", in which the guests take turns performing a freestyle rap.
"What Am I Thinking?", in which two guests count down together from three and attempt
to use word association to say the same word.
"Alive or Dead", in which Scott gives the guests the name of a celebrity and they must
determine if that celebrity is alive or dead.
The people in question are usually alive but their fictional deaths are described in a
humorous way.
"Who Said It?", in which guests name the person to whom a given quote is attributed.
Occasionally guests will present their own features on the show.
Examples include: "Harris' Foam/Phone Corner", in which Harris
Wittels recites jokes, text-messaged to himself, which were deemed unworthy of his stand-up
performances, and is ridiculed for his efforts.
"New No-Nos", in which Paul Rust makes up new rules for life and the world; which he
refers to as New No-Nos.
Nearly every new rule is a ridiculous idea that can already be accomplished without consequence.
Episodes
Reviews "Often strange, consistently hilarious, always
unpredictable."
- Entertainment Weekly "One of the 10 Best Comedy Podcasts Of The
Moment...never strays far from a laugh."
- Rolling Stone GQ has praised the show, calling it "one of
the preeminent places to hear not only the stalwarts of stand-up... but also lesser known
comics, like Natasha Leggero, Chelsea Peretti, and Brett Gelman."
The A.V.
Club says "The guests are routinely top-notch, the show has a de facto company of ace improvisers
enlivening each episode, and Scott Aukerman is a gleefully indulgent host," also saying,
"For comedy fans, Comedy Bang Bang is essential listening."
It frequently appears in the their Podmass column, highlighting the best podcasts of
each week.
Red Hot Chili Peppers parody In episode 204, "The Pepper Men," guests Jon
Daly and Zach Galifianakis professed their love for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Both claimed to be "huge Pepper Men" and had written a song in tribute to the band titled
"Abracadabralifornia", which Daly sang using his best Anthony Kiedis imitation.
On January 29, 2014, a very official-looking website called www.RHCP2014.com appeared online
claiming to have the brand new Chili Peppers song, "Abracadabralifornia".
The song even featured a layout for the band's upcoming Super Bowl appearance complete with
sponsors' logos.
Various people through websites including Twitter and Facebook at first were fooled
by the song although many quickly realized that it was a parody.
The song was written and performed by Daly and musician Cyrus Ghahremani.
Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith Tweeted his approval of the song.
See also Comedy Death-Ray
References Notes
External links Official Comedy Bang Bang website
Comedy Bang Bang podcast RSS feed Comedy Bang Bang at Twitter
Comedy Death-Ray at Indie 103