Heynong Man!: Scott Aukerman talks 13 years of 'Comedy Bang! Bang!' ahead of NC tour date

"Comedy Bang! Bang! Live!" is making a stop in Charlotte at the Knight Theater on Aug. 18.

"Comedy Bang! Bang!" is a long-running improvisational podcast that evolved from a live show Aukerman (Mr. Show, Between Two Ferns) did at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, California, for a decade.

The format of the podcast is similar to a talk show, though Aukerman interviews comedians playing characters. Sometimes celebrities or comedians will be on as themselves performing against the characters.

"Essentially, it's comedians just doing these insane characters, which is what we're going to be doing on stage," said Aukerman. "[It's] all improvisational and nothing is planned. And at the end of it, it hopefully ends up in a resolution satisfactory for everyone."

Aukerman said getting back to North Carolina was absolutely on his mind after their 2016 live show in Durham.

"I feel like that may have been the only time we went there, but I remember the show pretty distinctly. I remember the audience being really great," said Aukerman. "It seems like we have a lot of really good fans in North Carolina, and I remember the show being really, really great and the audience being very warm."

This will be the first tour for the podcast since the coronavirus pandemic. The show made changes during the pandemic, such as recording the show over Zoom and recording episodes outside in Aukerman's own backyard.

"We haven't done any live dates since 2019, and it's definitely something that I have to remember how to do," laughed Aukerman.

Comedian Paul F. Tompkins will be accompanying Aukerman on almost every tour date throughout August. Fans of the show are no strangers to PFT, who has made just under 300 appearances on the podcast in the last 13 years.

Since Tompkins is the only other constant throughout the tour, Aukerman said it's going to make things a bit more exciting for fans.

"I'm having a rotating group of people on the tour. You never know who's gonna pop up," said Aukerman. "One of your favorites might be there. We have a lot of people, surprise guests, who are only going to be in town for one show. So every show is going to be kind of different."

When Aukerman talks about 'one of your favorites' he means it. The CBB fanbase is passionate and loud about their favorite performers.

While many talented comedians have made appearances such as Ben Schwartz, Andy Daly, Lauren Lapkus (who was on the 2016 tour in Durham), there are also dozens of regular performers that come and go who may be less recognizable on the national level.

Scott said that it's been nice to be able to give a platform to comedians some people may not get to see or hear from otherwise.

"These are some of the funniest people in the world," said Aukerman. "Even though you don't live in Los Angeles and you can't see them perform live in front of people, they [can] come into your earholes and be really funny for you here."

If you're on the fence about the show and want to check it out before hand Aukerman had some advice. Look through the episode list and just start with some names you're familiar with.

Despite the long running nature of the show and the deep lore involved with some of the characters, Aukerman said any episode can be a jumping in point.

"Even though I'm talking to some characters that I've had on 25 times before, we try to catch the audience up so that if you're new to the show you have some idea of their background. I know every episode is going to be someone's first episode and so we try to make it not impenetrable to a new listener," said Aukerman. "It's a lot like watching any talk show. Conan may have had Adam Sandler on a million times, but you don't need to have watched every single time he was on in order to understand what's going on."

However, part of what fans love about the show is the fact that characters and running gags evolve over more than a decade. Aukerman considers these rewards for long time listeners.

"It's kind of like the Marvel Universe in that sense," said Aukerman. "We team up characters occasionally and have them meet each other."

"During the pandemic a lot of show business just shut down. So I just really pushed my chips all in on podcasting which is what Comedy Bang Bang World is about," said Aukerman.

Subscribers get the archives and ad-free episodes of CBB, but also a number of other shows such as a podcast Aukerman does with Shaun Diston called "Scott Hasn't Seen" and a show called "CBB Presents" where many regular performers get a chance to do their own standalone show.

"There's a lot of great stuff [on CBB World] and people can listen to every live date that we do if they sign up as a subscriber," said Aukerman. "A couple of days after we do the live show, they'll be going up so people can follow us along on tour the same way that they did on past summers."