Comedy Bang! Bang! and Bunk - IFC's two new semi-scripted comedies

Tonight at 10, IFC launches two new comedies : a fake talk show, Comedy Bang! Bang!, and a fake game show, Bunk.



First of all, a few words on Bunk (very good title, btw). It's a fake game show where 3 comedians (Tom Lennon, Eugene Mirman, Kumail Nanjiani, etc) compete for stupid prices (for one it was the right to know his birth parents, for another it was to have an 8-year old girl teaching him how to ride a bike, etc) in a series of silly games (who slapped the production assistant the hardest, inventing a new superstition on a particular object, etc). I've seen the preview episode (1.04) on IFC's website yesterday (they seem to have deleted it now), it was funny at times but I'm not really convinced I'd watch other episodes, that's why I'm not focusing on it in this thread but instead on its lead-in, Comedy Bang! Bang!, a fake talk show (based on the podcast) of which I really enjoyed the preview episode with Amy Poehler.

Without further ado, here's a trailer (sort of) for Comedy Bang! Bang! Please watch this video, it's filled with amazing guests and it's very funny (same comedic tone as the preview episode) :



Here's a description of the show (found on IFC's website) :

Based on Scott Aukerman's popular podcast of the same name, Comedy Bang! Bang! riffs on the format of the late night talk show, infusing celebrity appearances and comedy sketches with a tinge of the surreal. In each episode, Aukerman engages his guests with unfiltered and improvisational lines of questioning, punctuated by banter and beats provided by bandleader, one-man musical mastermind Reggie Watts, to reinvent the traditional celebrity interview. Packed with character cameos, filmic shorts, sketches and games set amongst an off-beat world, Comedy Bang! Bang! delivers 30 minutes of absurd laugh-loaded fun featuring some of the biggest names in comedy.



Why the Parks & Recreation tag ? Well, because IFC released episode 1.02 as a preview on iTunes and Funny or Die (see below), and the guest of that episode entitled "Amy Poehler Wears a Black Jacket & Grey Pants". You guessed it, Amy Poehler is the guest of that 22-minute weird "talk show". Not offering the first episode as a sample is a good strategy to have great première ratings.

Why the Arrested Development tag ? Well, the epic trailer posted above does include Michael Cera, David Cross and Will Arnett, plus Michael Cera will be the guest of the fourth episode of Comedy Bang! Bang! scheduled on June 29, and WIll Arnett will be on another episode.

The guest of tonight's episode is Zach Galifianakis ("Zach Galifianakis Wears a Blue Jacket & Red Socks"). The other guests of this 10-episode first season airing on Fridays throughout the summer include Jon Hamm (30 Rock), Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Ed Helms (The Office), Seth Rogen (Freaks & Geeks), Paul Rudd (Parks & Rec), Adam Scott (Parks & Rec), Will Arnett (Arrested Development, 30 Rock) and Elizabeth Banks (30 Rock).

I really liked the preview episode, that's why I created this thread. See it for yourselves, it's fun :



While i'm talking about IFC's original series, I encourage you to watch the two seasons (six + six 23-minute episodes) of the dark comedy The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, starring Arrested Development's David Cross and Running Wilde Arrested Development's Will Arnett. I delve into the show (and IFC's line up in general) right here (try The Onion News Network, too, that's a fake news show — they are getting specialized in that spoof area).

UPDATE : Aside from creating, writing and producing the podcast and now the live version of Comedy Bang! Bang!, Scott Aukerman is also the creator, producer and director of Between Two Ferns, the famous interview series with Zach Galifianakis (which you can find many episodes of on Funny or Die).