''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a
weekly
comedy audio
Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to:
Sound
*Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound
*Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum
*Digital audio, representation of sound ...
podcast, which originally began
airing
Airing is the practice of hanging or laying out articles and exposing them to air, and sometimes heat and light.
This practice is commonly used to dry many types of fabric.
One of the most common methods of drying using airing is the clothesline. ...
as a radio show on May 1, 2009.
[A Special Thing Forums:]
Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today!
Popularly known as ''Humanity's Podcast'', it is hosted by
writer and
comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing
Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
Scott Aukerman, best known for his work on the 1990s
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
program ''
Mr. Show with Bob and David
''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', also known as ''Mr. Show'', is an American sketch comedy series starring and hosted by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. It aired on HBO from November 3, 1995, to December 28, 1998.
Cross and Odenkirk introduced m ...
'', creating and hosting the
''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' TV series, and co-founding the weekly ''Comedy Death-Ray'' stage show at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* 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, being recorded in studios owned by the company.
''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' was also a television series on
IFC hosted by Scott Aukerman and featuring in different seasons bandleaders
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...
,
Reggie Watts
Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, actor, beatboxer, and musician. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. Watts refers to himself as a "disinf ...
and
Kid Cudi
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New Yo ...
.
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
Robert Anderson Huebel (born June 4, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series ''Human Giant'' and for his role of Dr. Owen Maestro on the Adult Swim series ''Childrens Hospital''. He ...
and
Thomas Lennon.
During occasions when Aukerman has been unable to host,
Paul F. Tompkins
Paul Francis Tompkins (born September 12, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', and ''Best Week Ever'', later ...
,
Chris Hardwick,
Jimmy Pardo or
Jerry Minor (in character as "Cyberthug") have guest hosted. Although normally produced in Los Angeles, the show has also been taped in
Vancouver,
Seattle,
New York City,
Chicago and
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
.
[ColdTowne Theater Blog:]
THIS JUST IN! COMEDY DEATH RAY INVADES COLDTOWNE
"
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
Kulap Tukta Vilaysack ( ; born May 11, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, writer, director, and showrunner. She co-hosts the ''Add To Cart'' podcast with SuChin Pak on Lemonada Media. She was the co-host of the '' Who Charted?'' podcast o ...
with coming up with the new name.
Red Hot Chili Peppers parody
In episode 204 (which aired on March 4, 2013), "The Pepper Men," guests
Jon Daly
Jon Daly, sometimes credited as Jonathan C. Daly, Jon C. Daly or Jonathan Barney Daly, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer best known for his sketch comedy work on the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show''. In 2013 he starred as H ...
and
Zach Galifianakis
Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show ''Late World with Zach'' on VH1.
Galifianakis has starred in films including ''Th ...
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
Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fa ...
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
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
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.
Format and features
The podcast begins with a theme song composed and performed by Reggie Watts, followed by the reading of a listener-submitted catchphrase, under the pretense that one will eventually replace the show's original catchphrase, "What's up, hot dog?"
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.
For the first few months of the program, comedian
Doug Benson
Douglas Steven Benson (born July 2, 1962) is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series ''Doug Loves Movies'' (2006-present), ''The Benson Interruption'' (2010-20 ...
would semi-regularly call the program and give several "8 Words or Less Movie Reviews".
Occasionally the podcast is taped with a live audience, usually at comedy shows or at festival events.
In the last third of the show, Aukerman and his guests will often play one of several
improv-style games. Examples of games played include:
*"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 fast-food restaurant?". The other contestants then come up with answers and vote whose answer was the funniest.
*"Freestyle Rap Battle/Contest", in which the guests take turns performing a freestyle rap.
*"What Am I Thinking?", in which two guests (or Scott) count down together from three and attempt to use word association to say the same word.
The following games have been played on the podcast in the past, but not recently:
*"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.
*"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.
*"Hollywood Facts", in which Scott and guests list fake celebrity gossip news. This game has largely been discontinued, however the game's theme music is regularly played when guest
Andy Samberg appears on the podcast because Samberg recorded it.
Occasionally, guests will present their own features on the show. Examples include:
*"Harris' Foam/Phone Corner", in which
Harris Wittels
Harris Lee Wittels (April 20, 1984 – February 19, 2015) was an American comedian. He was a writer for ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', a writer and executive producer for '' Parks and Recreation'', and a recurring guest on ''Comedy Bang! Bang!' ...
recited jokes, text-messaged to himself, which were deemed unworthy of his stand-up performances, and was ridiculed for his efforts.
*"New No-Nos", in which
Paul Rust
Paul Robert Rust (born April 12, 1981) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred in the 2009 film ''I Love You, Beth Cooper'' and in the Netflix series ''Love''.
Early life
Rust was born in Le Mars, Iowa, the son of Jeanne and Bob R ...
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.
*"The Solo Bolo Olympic Song Challenge", in which
Ben Schwartz
Benjamin Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He has guest starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'' and Clyde Oberholt on the Showtime series ''House of Lies''; voiced Randy C ...
and Scott sing a myriad of different songs, jingles, and show-tunes, with minimal regard to pitch and rhythm. They ostensibly attempt to seamlessly transition between songs that have some sort of connection to one another. These connections can include being by the same artist, including the same word, or in many cases, having absolutely no relation.
Episodes
Reception
"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 in 2010 "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 ''Podmass'' column, highlighting the best podcasts of each week,
and the website named ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' the best podcast of 2013.
"It's perhaps the easiest show to single out as a juggernaut; the podcast is ten years in with over 600 episodes, a testament to creator Scott Aukerman's unparalleled collaboration prowess." — ''Vulture''
The show won in the Comedy category at the 2015 and 2017 Academy of Podcasters Awards.
See also
*''
Comedy Death-Ray''
Footnotes
* The "Closing Up the Plugbag" closing theme (the
Ken Marino
Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as ''Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', ''Burning Love'', and ''Childre ...
,
Steve Agee
Steven Douglas Agee (; born February 26, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, writer and musician, known for roles including Steve Myron on the Comedy Central series ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' and as John Economos in the 2021 superhero fil ...
&
Casey Wilson
Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television A ...
version used from 2012 to 2015) featured a growing number of ending tags by
Adam Pally,
Brendon Small and
Paul F. Tompkins
Paul Francis Tompkins (born September 12, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', and ''Best Week Ever'', later ...
.
* Since 2016,
Ben Schwartz
Benjamin Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He has guest starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'' and Clyde Oberholt on the Showtime series ''House of Lies''; voiced Randy C ...
and sometimes
Horatio Sanz have recording a new "Closing Up the Plugbag" theme during the first episode each year. That theme (or a remix created by a listener) is then used for the rest of the year. It has occasionally included audio contributions from
Jason Mantzoukas, expressing his disdain for the closing theme as it occurs.
References
External links
*
{{Podcast platform links
Comedy and humor podcasts
Audio podcasts
Earwolf
2009 podcast debuts
Podcasts adapted into television shows
American podcasts