- Kurt Braunohler (via Twitter)
- Paul F. Tompkins shows a heckler what sitting down on the job really looks like, after she accuses him of being lazy.
It's easy to forget how many of your ilk are out there when listening to podcasts every week. Not so when you're crammed into the Aladdin for the podcast/TV show
Comedy Bang! Bang! live show last night. Kurt Braunohler, host of the IFC show
Bunk, opened the night. He's a funny chap—I loved
him at Bridgetown this year—who did some bits involving greeting cards and told a consistently funny story about a double-ended dildo (which are comedy gold, natch). Then out came the infinitely bangable
Bang! Bang! host Scott Aukerman, AKA the Chocktaw, who was sporting a broken-foot boot (there was a non-comedic foot blowout in Chicago). Amid clips from the IFC show, Aukerman did a prolonged setup with a 17-year-old kid from the audience that eventually saw the teen on all fours, shirtless, bewigged, and belipsticked. That kid was a real sport.
James Adomian did a compact set that focused on being a gay kid on the football team (I'm thinking Adomian took a page from Todd Glass and recently came out—I've never heard him do gay jokes before, but maybe I've only ever caught his impressions). Then the most anticipated set came from never-played-Portland
Paul F. Tompkins, whose well-dressed reputation has not been overstated. He's like a mini Nick Cave crossed with a
There Will Be Blood Daniel Day-Lewis. Fancy lad! He's also incredibly funny with his trademark rambling, long bits filled with wordplay and asides. He did some elaborate crowd work and shut down a balcony-screaming heckler. Don't mess with a well-dressed man, drunken lady. The second half of the 2.5 hours-long show was the taping of the podcast (it's already for sale
here). A wheel spin determined which character Adomian would play (this might have seen me screaming "Paul Giamatti" at the top of my lungs), and unfortunately, the wheel landed on Christopher Hitchens. Not an audience favorite. But Tompkins as the top hat and cape-wearing Andrew Lloyd Webber went over like gangbusters. A round of "Would You Rather" closed out the festivities (with the winning decision involving being born from a different woman every morning). Many laughs were had. Now maybe Tompkins will come back to town someday.