Comedy Bang! Bang! and The Birthday Boys stormed New York Comicon

Comedy had a large presence at this year’s New York Comicon, from the official comedy showcase on Thursday night headlined by Janeane Garofalo and Brian Posehn, to a number of panels for both new and returning comedy shows.

After miserably failing to get into the packed Archer panel Saturday morning, I made an early bee-line for the mid-afternoon Comedy Bang! Bang! and The Birthday Boys split panel.

Comedy Bang! Bang! is the hilarious faux-talk show starring comedian Scott Aukerman and the one-of-a-king bandleader and general weirdo, Reggie Watts. Aukerman’s surrealist live shows and podcasts made the leap into television two years ago, featuring guest interviews (usually in some form of improvised character), and strange cutaway skits.

The upcoming Halloween edition of the show was screened in it’s entirely, featuring an appearance by Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reuben), appropriate given that CBB owes a great debt to the whimsical and imaginative nature of the original Pee Wee Herman Show.

The Q+A with Aukerman and Watts featured a discussion on which characters from the podcast would re-appear on the TV show, and one fan even got to live out her awkward request to rifle her hands through Watt’s skyscraper-sized afro (“Last one!”, he vowed).

The duo hinted at a large announcement at the end of the panel, before finally revealing that IFC has renewed the show for a third season, with 20 episodes scheduled to air next year. The show will begin filming ASAP, and has already caused a few live CBB cancellations, in order to facilitate the show’s filming schedule.

My familiarity with The Birthday Boys was nil prior to the panel, which made for a refreshing surprise. The Birthday Boys are a seven-member sketch comedy unit with deep ties to the alternative comedy world, and are set to make the leap to television when their show premiers on IFC next Friday (following Comedy Bang! Bang!).

The show has some heavy talent backing it, including executive producers Ben Stiller and Bob Odenkirk (who will make an appearance in every episode this season).

The crew screened some early rough footage from the season (“Not a full episode!” they stressed), which was a bit hit or miss, but showed enough promise to make this possibly the sleeper comedy series of the year.

Comedy Bang! Bang! airs Fridays @ 10:00PM on IFC.

The Birthday Boys premieres Friday, October 18^th @ 10:30 PM on IFC.