I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 25, 2026] Comedy Bang! Bang!

I enjoyed Comedy Bang! Bang! when it was on TV (2012-2016).  I know I didn’t see all of the episodes.  I mostly saw the ones with Reggie Watts (and a few with Weird Al).  I didn’t know it was a podcast because I don’t really listen to podcasts.  But I was shocked to find out that it had been a podcast since 2009–I didn’t even think podcasts existed for that long.

Since I didn’t know this had been a podcast, I genuinely didn’t know what to expect at this show.  I knew Paul F. Tompkins would be there (which is 90% of why I wanted to go).  And when we were talking to someone before the show, he told us it was a live taping of the podcast with special guests.  I assumed that the special guests would be local comedians–completely forgetting that the show is a parody of talk shows.

And so, we were given a sibling, a theater critic and a foreign exchange student as the guests.

But first was the balcony report.  (which had the audience going crazy chanting TBR!  It was then that we realized that people there knew this show way better than we did.

So I had gotten us seats in the middle.  But they were tight and crowded, so we snuck to the back where there were comfy open seats–note to self if you eve go back to the Miller, unless you need a close up of the stage, choose the back couple of rows.  And this way we kind of felt like the outsiders we were.

So Scott Aukerman did the balcony report (there are 2 in the Miller Theater) and then introduced the sibling.  The sibling was Gritty’s brother Grimy.  He was played by Paul F. Tompkins.  And Tompkins did not break character for the entire night.  Which was hilarious, except that I love Tompkins’ normal voice so much that I missed it during the show.

Scott and Grimy talked for almost an hour about being the unattractive brother of a beloved mascot.  The fact that they kept up this improv for so long–including songs and a hilarious but where Scott tried to conjure up Gritty but just embarrassed himself–was amazing.

Before the show began I asked my wife–who was sort of interested in this show (we were both a little meh on the way down) how may laughs she needed for it to have been worth it.  Whatever her answer, this segment far exceeded my expectations.   I genuinely couldn’t believe they could keep up the premise for so long (and that Paul stayed in character so well).  I also didn’t realize that Tompkins was from Philly initially because when they talked about public transportation, he rattled off knowledge that was far more detailed than it had any right to be.

After an hour or so, they ended the discussion and brought out their first guest theater critic Felicity Balconies (Erin Keif).  This was a very funny segment with Felicity being very upset that Scott did the Balcony Report at the beginning. Scott and Paul are great foils for nonsensical interviews and we laughed a lot.  The funniest part was totally improvised because Erin had to go to the bathroom during her segment.  So she left the stage!  The funniest part was the was she waked past Paul–as if she were in a balcony row–scooching along, ass to face.

A little while later they brought out a foreign exchange student Margeaux LePusssé (Anna Bezahler) whose bit was shorter but quite funny as she tried to pick a husband or wife who might keep her in the country.

And finally, while Felicity was talking to her dead husband, Morpheus The Dream Lord (Will Hines) came out and told us all that we were dreaming.  His bit was the shortest, but he was still very funny.

It was a hilarious 2 hours of live entertainment.  I don’t know if I would go and listen to the podcasts–there was something really funny about being there.  But I still enjoyed the show and should I ever need something to listen to, I know it’s there (although it is $5 a month, apparently).