As the creator of both the wildly successful podcast, and now IFC TV series, Comedy Bang! Bang! and the Funny or Die staple Between Two Ferns, Scott Aukerman’s brand of comedy is best described as deadpan, exploratory, and most importantly, hilarious. Aukerman will be bringing Bang! Bang! and fellow comedians along to the stage this summer, in what promises to be a wonderfully weird show.
How does Comedy Bang! Bang! translate to the stage?
It’s sort of a combination between the podcast, the TV show, and the show at Upright Citizens Brigade in L.A. For Boston, we have Tim Heidecker, James Adomian, and the host of IFC’s Bunk Kurt Braunohler is going to open. I think it’s going to be a very interesting evening for everyone involved, because I have no idea what we’re going to do. We’re also going to be having a very special [Boston-native] guest whom I cannot announce.
How do you think people unfamiliar with the show/podcast will react to this, to say, a traditional standup gig?
The great think about our style of humor is that the “alternative” comedy scene that I’ve been working in for the last twelve years has become really popular. I think our style of humor is becoming really popular, and just how I would describe this for people to see is, at the bare minimum, all you need to know, is that the TV show and the podcast features me as host and the comedians playing fake people, and we find out about these weirdos’ lives, and that’s really all you need to know in terms of background. And I think what people are going to get is a nice healthy slice of the comedy that hasn’t come around since the Comedians of Comedy tour.
What would you say Bang! Bang! (the TV Show) has over any other talk show?
Well, it’s twice as [short], so you don’t have to waste twice your life watching it [laughs].
I’m trying to make a show that harkens back to the days of early Letterman or Conan where the ideas are more experimental and we’re trying to go for the comedy a little more.
When Jon Hamm is sitting on the couch, we do not care about his latest project; we showed a clip from Mad Men just so we could make fun of him. And the stars on the couch don’t care about their projects either, they’re just there to have fun. When Paul Rudd is there, we’d just rather do this silly mime routine than talk about acting [laughs]
That’s for James Lipton, not “Comedy Bang! Bang!”
No, we’re the anti-James Lipton. I’m the antithesis and antichrist of James Lipton.
What’s your least favorite thing about comedy right now?
One thing that’s been kind of bothering me lately is--with all the rapid increases in technology lately. When I first started producing the live shows, there were just websites, that was about it. People on message boards, maybe one went into comedy. And nowadays, people can blog about the shows they’ve seen, record shows on their phone, and post them on Youtube which is so annoying. I think we’re getting to a point now where news outlets are reporting about bloggers—they’re using bloggers and tweets as sources now. I don’t really like people going to go see a comedian, getting offended for whatever reason, and then blogging about it, and then mainstream media picking it up, because a blogger should just be treated with the type of respect that a blogger deserves, which is, “Oh, you posted something on Tumblr? Well, I’m not going to pay attention to it; maybe your family will.” I prefer the days when a comedian can do a really great show, and people talk about it, but there would still be some sort of protection of the material. I mean, I love all the stuff there like camera phones, I use them all the time on Instagram and everything. But it’s a little unfortunate that if people complain about comedians too much, eventually they’ll stop doing comedy.
COMEDY BANG! BANG! LIVE!
Mon 8.6.12
Royale Boston
279 Tremont St.
Boston
627.866.8933
8pm/18+/$25.
@comedybangbang
royaleboston.com
© 1999-2013 Dig Publishing LLC. All Rights Reserved.
