Comedy Bang! Bang! is a comedy podcast which began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums: "Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today!" 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, 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.
Under the name Comedy Death-Ray Radio, the show was originally broadcast on Indie 103, but since the summer of 2010 has belonged to the Earwolf comedy podcasting network.
Between 2012 and 2016 Comedy Bang! Bang! was also a television series on IFC hosted by Aukerman and featuring bandleaders Reggie Watts, Kid Cudi, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
In 2021, Aukerman and producer Brett Morris launched Comedy Bang Bang World, a website and subscription platform offering the back catalog of the podcast alongside new spin-off shows.
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.
On the May 15, 2011 podcast celebrating the show's second anniversary, Aukerman announced that the show's name was changing to Comedy Bang! Bang!. He credited his wife Kulap Vilaysack with coming up with the new name.
In episode 204 (which aired on March 4, 2013), "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, imitating frontman Anthony Kiedis. On January 29, 2014, a parody website www.RHCP2014.com claimed to have the brand-new Chili Peppers song, "Abracadabralifornia". The song was written and performed by Daly and musician Cyrus Ghahremani, though many social media users believed it to be legitimate. Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith tweeted his approval of the song.
Comedy Bang Bang World In 2021, Aukerman tapped Brett Morris, longtime engineer, creative, and senior production manager at Earwolf to help create a new independent platform for the Comedy Bang Bang archive as well as to launch new podcasts.
On October 1, 2021 Aukerman and Morris launched Comedy Bang Bang World. The subscription service offers exclusive Discord access, ad-free back episodes of CB!B! as well as live performances, and fan favorite Earwolf podcasts like Affirmation Nation with Bob Ducca, Mike Detective, and Bonanas For Bonanza. Premium subscribers also receive new shows such as Scott Hasn't Seen, The Andy Daly Podcast Project, CBB-FM, College Town, and We Have To Stop Talkin’ TMNT On CBB.
The rotating feed of CBB Presents, where comedy friends and recurring CBB characters host their own spin-off podcasts, has included Hey Randy (Tim Baltz), WHO ME? An Extremely True Crime Podcast with The Batmin (Bobby Moynihan), This Book Changed My Life (Lily Sullivan), Full Throttle with Bob Ducca (Seth Morris), Eat Pray Dunk with Bill Walton (Dan Lippert), Hi(Nes)! I’m Prov To Meet You (Will Hines), Entreè PeeE Neur's Entrepreneur Tour (Ego Nwodim), and various one-offs and specials.
In 2023, Andy Daly took his podcasts to his own Patreon channel, while the CBB World expanded its lineup to include Threedom, The Neighborhood Listen, Womp It Up!, Going Deep, and The Gino Lombardo Show.
Overview From 2011 to 2026 each episode of Comedy Bang! Bang! began with a theme song performed by Reggie Watts, followed by Aukerman reading a listener-submitted catchphrase. This tradition began under the pretense that one will eventually replace the show's original catchphrase, "What's up, hot dog?" As of the episode "Pordlandia", released August 24, 2026, Watts's theme song is no longer played, after a Rolling Stone article made abuse allegations against him.
After introducing himself, Aukerman typically interviews a celebrity guest. After each ad break a comedian playing a character enters the show, either as an invited guest or an intruder on the recording. The conversations are largely improvised, and characters can recur over multiple episodes, forming long-running story arcs.
Near the end of each episode, Aukerman will "open up the Plug Bag", allowing the guests to promote their projects. This feature has a different listener-submitted theme song each week, as well as a different listener-submitted remix of an annually-improvised Ben Schwartz song.
While being broadcast as a radio show, the conversation was broken up by comedy songs. For the first few months of the program, comedian Doug Benson would regularly call the program and give several "8 Words or Less Movie Reviews".
The show's earlier years were characterised by a variety of improv-style games, including "Would You Rather?", "Riddle Me This", and "Freestyle Rap Battle".
Occasionally, guests will present their own features on the show. Examples include: "Harris' Foam/Phone Corner", in which Harris Wittels 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 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 does not solve any problem. "The Solo Bolo Olympic Song Challenge", in which Ben Schwartz and Scott sing a myriad of different songs, jingles, and show-tunes, attempting 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 having a similar style, rhythm or melody. Comedy Bang! Bang! has also been recorded live on stage at theatres around the world. These recordings were available for premium subscribers to Earwolf's Howl app, Stitcher Premium, and currently Comedy Bang Bang World.
Episodes Recurring guests
Paul F. Tompkins (250 episodes) Jason Mantzoukas (72 episodes) Will Hines (62 episodes) Lauren Lapkus (60 episodes) Andy Daly (55 episodes) James Adomian (54 episodes) Lily Sullivan (52 episodes) Carl Tart (51 episodes) Neil Campbell (50 episodes) Jon Gabrus (48 episodes) Shaun Diston (43 episodes) Nick Kroll (43 episodes) Tim Baltz (41 episodes) Drew Tarver (41 episodes) Ben Schwartz (39 episodes) Mike Hanford (38 episodes) Dan Lippert (38 episodes) Ryan Gaul (36 episodes) Paul Rust (32 episodes) Jon Daly (31 episodes) Seth Morris (31 episodes) Horatio Sanz (30 episodes) Ego Nwodim (29 episodes) Jessica McKenna (28 episodes) Matt Besser (27 episodes) Mary Holland (27 episodes) Tawny Newsome (23 episodes) Matt Apodaca (22 episodes) Jessica St. Clair (22 episodes) Doug Benson (21 episodes) Reggie Watts (21 episodes) Brett Gelman (20 episodes) Ben Rodgers (20 episodes) Harris Wittels (20 episodes) Lisa Gilroy (19 episodes) Vic Michaelis (19 episodes) Gil Ozeri (19 episodes) "Weird Al" Yankovic (19 episodes) Zeke Nicholson (18 episodes) Paul Scheer (18 episodes) Joe Wengert (18 episodes) Matt Gourley (17 episodes) Thomas Middleditch (17 episodes) Brendon Small (17 episodes) John Gemberling (16 episodes) Jimmy Pardo (16 episodes) Edi Patterson (16 episodes) Ryan Rosenberg (16 episodes) Bobby Moynihan (15 episodes) Bob Odenkirk (15 episodes) Patton Oswalt (15 episodes) Lennon Parham (15 episodes) Andy Richter (15 episodes) David Wain (15 episodes) Paul Brittain (14 episodes) Casey Feigh (14 episodes) Erin Keif (14 episodes) Adam Scott (14 episodes) Zach Galifianakis (13 episodes) Jon Hamm (13 episodes) Rob Huebel (13 episodes) Gillian Jacobs (13 episodes) Chelsea Peretti (13 episodes) Madeline Walter (13 episodes) Jacob Wysocki (13 episodes) Kristian Bruun (12 episodes) Todd Glass (12 episodes) Thomas Lennon (12 episodes) Andy Samberg (12 episodes) Sarah Silverman (12 episodes) Dave Theune (12 episodes) Nick Thune (12 episodes) Taran Killam (11 episodes) James Mannion (11 episodes) Charlie McCrackin (11 episodes) Kumail Nanjiani (11 episodes) Tig Notaro (11 episodes) Zac Oyama (11 episodes) Betsy Sodaro (11 episodes) Erin Whitehead (11 episodes) Nick Wiger (11 episodes) Tim Heidecker (10 episodes) Natasha Leggero (10 episodes) Tatiana Maslany (10 episodes) Griffin Newman (10 episodes) Claudia O'Doherty (10 episodes) Zach Reino (10 episodes) Jeremy Rowley (10 episodes) Matt Walsh (10 episodes) Greg Hess (9 episodes) Brian Huskey (9 episodes) Tim Kalpakis (9 episodes) Adam Pally (9 episodes) Casey Wilson (9 episodes) D'Arcy Carden (8 episodes) Eugene Cordero (8 episodes) David Cross (8 episodes) Devin Field (8 episodes) Hannah Pilkes (8 episodes) Martin Starr (8 episodes) Mookie Blaiklock (7 episodes) Sean Clements (7 episodes) May Darmon (7 episodes) Isabella Escalante (7 episodes) Cameron Esposito (7 episodes) Patty Guggenheim (7 episodes) John Hodgman (7 episodes) Mitra Jouhari (7 episodes) Howard Kremer (7 episodes) Jerry Minor (7 episodes) Pamela Murphy (7 episodes) Kevin Nealon (7 episodes) Holly Prazoff (7 episodes) Max Silvestri (7 episodes) Kulap Vilaysack (7 episodes) Edgar Wright (7 episodes) Suzi Barrett (6 episodes) Matt Braunger (6 episodes) Christine Bullen (6 episodes) Michael Cassady (6 episodes) Jefferson Dutton (6 episodes) Alex Fernie (6 episodes) Langston Kerman (6 episodes) Riki Lindhome (6 episodes) Allan McLeod (6 episodes) Mike Mitchell (6 episodes) John Mulaney (6 episodes) Jacquis Neal (6 episodes) Jack Quaid (6 episodes) Connor Ratliff (6 episodes) Jonah Ray (6 episodes) Alison Rich (6 episodes) Katie Rich (6 episodes) Rory Scovel (6 episodes) Rekha Shankar (6 episodes) Ele Woods (6 episodes) Ronnie Adrian (5 episodes) Dan Ahdoot (5 episodes) Caroline Anderson (5 episodes) Ike Barinholtz (5 episodes) Todd Barry (5 episodes) Anna Bezahler (5 episodes) Stephanie Burchinow (5 episodes) River Butcher (5 episodes) Heather Anne Campbell (5 episodes) Adam Cayton-Holland (5 episodes) Rob Corddry (5 episodes) Hayes Davenport (5 episodes) Fran Gillespie (5 episodes) Colin Hanks (5 episodes) Erinn Hayes (5 episodes) Holly Laurent (5 episodes) Jon Mackey (5 episodes) Dan Mangan (5 episodes) Haley Joel Osment (5 episodes) Natalie Palamides (5 episodes) Eddie Pepitone (5 episodes) The Sklar Brothers (5 episodes) Mary Sohn (5 episodes) Brendon Walsh (5 episodes) Asif Ali (4 episodes) Stephanie Allynne (4 episodes) Maria Bamford (4 episodes) Michael Ian Black (4 episodes) Flula Borg (4 episodes) Jerrod Carmichael (4 episodes) Jocelyn DeBoer (4 episodes) Owen Burke (4 episodes) Adam DeVine (4 episodes) Sean Dickerson (4 episodes) Dave Ferguson (4 episodes) Nathan Fielder (4 episodes) Angela Giarratana (4 episodes) Chris Hardwick (4 episodes) Myq Kaplan (4 episodes) Moshe Kasher (4 episodes) Aimee Mann (4 episodes) Ken Marino (4 episodes) Eugene Mirman (4 episodes) Edgar Momplaisir (4 episodes) Mike O'Brien (4 episodes) Nicole Parker (4 episodes) Amy Phillips (4 episodes) Mary Lynn Rajskub (4 episodes) Andrea Savage (4 episodes) Danielle Schneider (4 episodes) Dhruv Uday Singh (4 episodes) Monika Smith (4 episodes) Nick Swardson (4 episodes) Lamar Woods (4 episodes) Aziz Ansari (3 episodes) Anthony Atamanuik (3 episodes) Kate Berlant (3 episodes) Mike Birbiglia (3 episodes) Kyle Bornheimer (3 episodes) Jordan Black (3 episodes) Kylie Brakeman (3 episodes) Molly Bretthauer (3 episodes) Nick Ciarelli (3 episodes) Jackie Clarke (3 episodes) Hannah Einbinder (3 episodes) Mary Elizabeth Ellis (3 episodes) Brad Evans (3 episodes) Chris Gethard (3 episodes) John Hartman (3 episodes) Anthony Jeselnik (3 episodes) James Austin Johnson (3 episodes) Alana Johnston (3 episodes) Kyle Kinane (3 episodes) Anna Konkle (3 episodes) Ted Leo (3 episodes) Amanda Lund (3 episodes) Manchester Orchestra (3 episodes) Mandell Maughan (3 episodes) Kate Micucci (3 episodes) Ify Nwadiwe (3 episodes) Amy Poehler (3 episodes) Brian Posehn (3 episodes) June Diane Raphael (3 episodes)