We had to take a look at every element of what I do on the podcast and figure out how to do it --- or if I could even do it -- in a short-form environment. Some of the games we play, like âWould You Ratherâ last 25 minutes, which is more time than we have on the actual show. The network really wanted me to do stuff like that. In the development process, theyâd say, âHey could you please play âWould You Rather?ââ So I had to sort of figure out âcan I play that in 2-1/2 minutes,â which is about how long any segment lasts on the TV show. Itâs been an interesting process in figuring out how to simplify what weâre doing, while still making it hilarious and special.
How does âComedy Bang! Bang!â take the traditional celebrity interview in a new direction?
When celebrities go on talk shows, usually theyâre there for very specific reasons â" to promote a film or TV show or comedy special that theyâre in that week. We made a rule very early on that no one was going to promote anything on the show. And then we made a similar rule that no one was ever going to have a real conversation on the show or talk about anything based in reality. So the interviews are very, very comedy-heavy, theyâre a lot like the work I do on âBetween Two Fernsâ where the interviews are there just to be funny.
A lot of times when you watch a talk show theyâre all about wasting time. A traditional talk show thatâs on five nights a week has a studio audience that applauds for at least a quarter of the show while the host sits there looking into the camera waiting for the applause to die down. The interviews are there to fill time in between the comedy bits. My show doesnât have any time to waste. I got the chance to be on TV and I wanna take the opportunity to use every single second of the show to be funny. The show that youâre gonna see is 22-1/2 minutes jampacked with the most jokes that I could fit.Â
Youâve had huge guests on your podcast â" everyone from Zach Galifianakis to Jon Hamm and âWeird Alâ Yankovic. For the TV show, who --
Whoâs turned me down? I was trying so hard to get Will Ferrell and Pee-wee Herman and both of them couldnât fit it into their schedules. But season twoâ¦. Â
 Who can we expect to see in the first season on IFC?
Every single show has the most amount of really funny and really famous people that I could put into it. So the first episode has Zach Galifianakis, Tom Lennon, Will Forte, Gillian Jacobs from âCommunityâ ... and every episode is just a ton of funny people. So even though Seth Rogen may be the main guest, itâll cut over to the side of the stage and Will Arnett and Topher Grace are there getting into an argument for 60 seconds.
With almost 50,000 Twitter followers and a hugely popular podcast, do you and the network go into something like this assuming your followers and the social media will ensure good ratings?Â
I really think the listeners of the podcast will follow over. I think networks are seeing [podcasts] as âOh, wow, they already have this huge audience.â [But] letâs be frank; the disparity of audience between podcasts and TV shows in order to be successful -- thereâs still quite a bit of difference. Even Marc Maron couldnât get the numbers he gets on his podcast and still expect to keep a TV show, if only those numbers were [factored in]. But itâs getting bigger and bigger, and I think people are taking notice.
You have a network of podcasts called Earwolf Network. Will that change with the addition of a TV show?
The Earwolf company is one of the producers on the TV show â"- this is the first of many, I hope. This is the first official Earwolf television production. There are definitely plans to do new shows, as well as trying to adapt some of the shows we already have into other mediums. But nothing specific I can really talk about now. But, yeah, thatâs a big part of the transition from being a podcast network into becoming more of a content provider.
Was that part of the original vision when you founded Earwolf?
No. When we first started it, it was nothing more than, âLetâs get a bunch of people who put out podcasts to band together to try to get noticed more and to try to get advertising.â You know, thereâs strength in numbers. So really, we had no plans when we first started other than, âHey, letâs put out a whole bunch of great shows.â Now that podcasts are successful and people are turning them into things, thereâs definitely more media companies coming around and looking at what we do and trying to figure out if they can capitalize on it or translate this stuff to other mediums.
Would you compare Earwolf to Chris Hardwickâs Nerdist â" also a network of podcasts within which his own podcast was spun into TV specials for BBC America?
Chris and I have always had similar inclinations. Originally, when we both first started, we talked about doing stuff together. Right now heâs going down the YouTube avenue and trying to figure that out; and this is our first TV show and weâre looking at some other TV opportunities. But, yeah, itâs very similar: people trying to band together and get noticed in whatâs becoming kind of a crowded podcast space.
What other podcasts do you listen to, and what would you like to see developed for TV?Â
My favorite [podcast] -- and one of the reasons that I started doing my show -- was âNever Not Funny,â Jimmy Pardoâs podcast. I love being on that show and I love listening to that show. I think one of the shows we produce, âimprov4humans with Matt Besser,â is such a great, unique podcast. âWho Charted?,â hosted by Howard Kremer and my wife Kulap Vilaysack, would be a really good TV show. One other show I wrote, âMike Detective,â might make a really good TV show or cartoon. A sort of â40s serialized radio drama.
 Youâve had a number of unproduced pilots. Is it gratifying to finally get this on TV?
Ever since I got done with âMr. Show,â itâs been a roller-coaster ride of things that get close to getting made or movies that Iâve worked on that arenât quite great that do get made. And Iâd kind of given up on being the host of something or being on camera a while ago. And just kind of thought Iâd end up being a writer and a producer for the rest of my career. So for this opportunity to just come out of nowhere â" and be something that Iâm so proud ofâ" it really is the most gratifying thing that Iâve done in my career.
âComedy Bang! Bang!â was a live comedy show turned radio show turned podcast turned TV show. What other incarnations can you imagine?
Well, Iâm hoping for a Broadway musical. Why not? Theyâre making Broadway musicals out of anything these days. I can sing. Come on!
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 -- Deborah Vankin
Photo: Comedy Bang! Bang! host Scott Aukerman and musical cohort Reggie Watts. Credit: Chris Ragazzo/IFC.
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