Aukerman was born in Savannah, Georgia to Burt and Linda Aukerman. He grew up in Orange County, California, attending Cypress High School and the Orange County School of the Arts, studying acting and musical theater and writing plays in his spare time. Aukerman was raised in a religiously observant household, attending a Baptist church three times a week until college.[3] He hosted a public-access television show called Centurion Highlights, based on the school's mascot.[4][5] In a 2015 interview, Aukerman said "I'm still doing that same show, just with celebrities instead of my high school cafeteria."[4] He started a short-lived band, The Naked Postmen, with Adrian Young, who went on to be the drummer for No Doubt.[6]
While attending Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, he and fellow student B. J. Porter began writing together when they were both scripting and performing in a radio show called Lutz Radio.[5]
Mr. Show co-creator Bob Odenkirk was in the audience for the second performance, and soon tapped the duo to write for and occasionally perform on the show in its fourth season. This led to an Emmy nomination in 1999 for Aukerman and the rest of the staff. Aukerman appeared sporadically on the show, most notably as the model Theo Brixton in the Taint Magazine sketch.
After the show's cancellation, Aukerman and Porter segued into writing film and television scripts, most notably Run Ronnie Run! and the first draft of the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. In 2004, he and Porter received an "Additional Dialogue" credit on the animated feature film Shark Tale. They went on to write an unproduced script for the sequel, as well as an unproduced Shrek spin-off film based on the character Puss in Boots. In 2007, a feature film script he wrote with Porter and Odenkirk, titled Kanan Rhodes: Unkillable Servant of Justice, was purchased by MTV Films with the intent of starring Rainn Wilson, although it currently remains unproduced.[7] Also in 2007, Aukerman released a self-described "joke record", Scott Aukerman's Koo Koo Roo's Greatest Hits, which featured Aukerman and Sarah Silverman Program writer Jon Schroeder shouting over current soft-rock hits. This was put out in limited release on AST Records.
In 2009, Aukerman and Porter wrote a pilot script for NBC, titled Privates. The network ultimately passed on the show.[8] That year, Aukerman took on the role as head writer for the 2009 MTV Movie Awards and executive produced and co-wrote a pilot for Comedy Central, The New Andy Dick Show. The network ultimately passed on ordering it to series.
In 2010, Aukerman wrote a feature film script for friend Zach Galifianakis for Fox, and he and Patton Oswalt co-wrote a television pilot for Fox, which the network ultimately passed on. Later that year, Aukerman joined a "writers lab", writing film scripts for Imagine Entertainment.[9]
Comedy Death-Ray/Comedy Bang! Bang!
Aukerman in 2010
In 2002, Aukerman and Porter started the successful alternative comedy showcase Comedy Death-Ray, which ran Tuesday night at the M Bar in Los Angeles.[10] Porter had friends in common with M Bar owner Joe Reynolds, and visited the bar shortly after its opening. Upon seeing how empty M Bar was, Porter convinced Reynolds to let him start a comedy show to help business. The show eventually moved to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2005 to gain more creative freedom.[11] A Comedy Death-Ray CD taped partially in San Francisco at the SF Sketchfest and partially at their fourth-anniversary, all-night show in LA was released on Comedy Central Records on September 11, 2007. The CD featured Aukerman, comedians David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Paul F. Tompkins, and other CDR regulars.
In 2007, Aukerman and Porter produced several internet shorts with Comedy Death-Ray comedians for the internet site Super Deluxe. These included three episodes of The Brody Stevens Interview Challenge, and two episodes of Lake Charles Lake, in which he also co-starred. They made more shorts in 2008, but the site was shut down and folded into Adult Swim before they could air.[12]
In 2007, Aukerman and B. J. Porter created and produced a sketch pilot, titled The Right Now! Show, based on their show for Fox.[13] However, the network passed on ordering it to series in late 2007. Cast member Casey Wilson was immediately hired as a featured cast member of Saturday Night Live after the news. A short film made for the show, Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, eventually moved to internet site Funny Or Die, becoming one of its most successful series.
In 2011, Aukerman and Porter parted ways, and the Comedy Death-Ray live show was renamed Comedy Bang! Bang! The Comedy Bang! Bang! live show ended in December 2012 after ten years.[14]
Being a frequent guest on and admirer of the award-winning podcast Never Not Funny with Jimmy Pardo led Aukerman to the decision that he should start his own comedy podcast. On May 1, 2009, Aukerman started to host Comedy Death-Ray Radio, a comedy-themed broadcast based upon the live show, on Los Angeles radio station Indie 103.1. The show continued to air on Fridays at 12 noon Pacific but moved to being distributed by the Earwolf podcasting network in 2010.[15] The podcast of each show is available weekly on iTunes and the Earwolf website and has been downloaded several million times.[16]
Aukerman hosts, with frequent guest collaborators Paul F. Tompkins, Lauren Lapkus, Neil Campbell, Mike Hanford, James Adomian, Jason Mantzoukas, Nick Kroll, Andy Daly, and the late Harris Wittels among others, serving as guests and characters. Entertainment Weekly called the show "often strange, consistently hilarious, always unpredictable,"[17] and The A.V. Club named it one of 2010's "Best Podcasts."[18] In May 2011, Aukerman renamed the show Comedy Bang! Bang! On December 4, 2013, The A.V. Club named Comedy Bang! Bang! the best podcast of 2013.[19] In 2018, Time Magazine named Comedy Bang! Bang! one of The 50 Best Podcasts to Listen to Right Now.[20]
On June 8, 2012 IFC premiered the television series Comedy Bang! Bang!, hosted by Aukerman. On December 2, 2016, the series ended after five seasons and 110 episodes.[21]
In 2021, Aukerman launched Comedy Bang Bang World, a subscription service independent from Earwolf that includes ad-free access to the podcast's full archives, the live shows, archives to other programs like Threedom and The Andy Daly Podcast Project, and exclusive podcasts like CBB Presents and Scott Hasn't Seen. Earwolf still distributes the free ad-supported versions of Comedy Bang! Bang! and Threedom, both of which he hosts.
One sketch from Aukerman and Porter's sketch show The Right Now! Show, Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, was put up on internet site Funny Or Die and received several hundreds of thousands of hits in just a few days.[22]
In March 2014, an episode was released with President Barack Obama. It was designed to bring attention to the Affordable Care Act. Galifianakis engaged in his regular insult comedy style of interviewing, which the President reciprocated throughout the interview. Within 24 hours, the video of this interview had amassed upwards of 14 million views. Aukerman directed and produced this episode, which won the 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program.[24]
In 2010, based upon the success of his podcast, Aukerman, along with Jeff Ullrich, started the Earwolf network, eventually producing and releasing several podcasts. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die.[26] In 2014, they launched a sister network Wolfpop, under the curation of comedian Paul Scheer.[27] On March 7, 2016, the majority of Wolfpop's programs were folded over into Earwolf.
Podcasts with Adam Scott
Aukerman has a long-standing friendship with American actor Adam Scott, who first appeared on Comedy Bang Bang! in 2010 and also appeared in multiple episodes of the TV adaptation.[28] Though having appeared on over a dozen episodes as a guest, Scott is best known on the podcast for his episodes alongside Parks and Recreation writers Chelsea Peretti and Harris Wittels, which were dubbed Farts and Procreation. Four Farts episodes were recorded, with the final being posthumously released in 2015 following Wittels' death.[29] Aukerman and Scott bonded over their love of both comedy and music, and have since launched multiple music-based comedy podcasts about various bands and artists.
The pair's first podcast was called U Talkin' U2 To Me? Launched in 2014, it was ostensibly devoted to the career and discography of the band U2. Most episodes combined discussion of the band with running gags and comedy bits only marginally related to the band.[30] The podcast ultimately led to Aukerman and Scott interviewing the band themselves,[31] as well as being invited to see them live.[32] Following a review of Songs of Experience in 2017,[33] the podcast became more infrequent. Three episodes were released in 2018: A "Slowin' It Down" with Phoebe Robinson and Andy Daly, and a two-part recap of the Experience + Innocence Tour. The podcast returned in 2023 for two episodes, where Aukerman and Scott reviewed the compilation Songs of Surrender as well as the band's Las Vegas live show U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere.[34][35]
In 2018, Aukerman and Scott started a new podcast called R U Talkin' R.E.M. RE: ME?, focused on the band R.E.M.[36][37] This podcast also led to Aukerman and Scott interviewing members of the band, such as Michael Stipe and Mike Mills,[38] as well as a guest appearance from Peter Buck at a live episode for Clusterfest.[39]
Aukerman and Scott began a new podcast in July 2020, R U Talkin' RHCP RE: Me?[40] The podcast's intention was to cover the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, focusing on the band's self-titled debut and Freaky Styley in the first episode. This format, however, was abandoned in the show's second episode. Instead, the duo chose to focus on Talking Heads, changing the podcast name to U Talkin' Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head and going through the band's discography for the remainder of 2020.[41] They eventually reprised the R U Talkin' RHCP format for two episodes in 2022, covering Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen.[42]
In September 2023, Aukerman and Scott returned with their first new format in three years: U Springin' Springsteen On My Bean? The podcast is dedicated to the music of Bruce Springsteen. The first episode of the show, released on September 12, covered Springsteen's 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.[34]
Aukerman and Scott have also occasionally produced one-off editions of the podcast. During early episodes of U Talkin' U2 To Me?, Aukerman and Scott began a running joke of singing the Staind song "It's Been Awhile" whenever they said the titular phrase – often pairing it with the opening line of Barenaked Ladies' "One Week". A fan on Twitter suggested the pair create a one-off format entitled Staind Glass, in which they discuss the music of Staind with comedian Todd Glass. This came to fruition in May 2014, with Glass joining the pair in the studio to listen to the band's 2001 album Break the Cycle. In June 2018, Glass returned to the show for a sequel episode.[43] That same year, Vulture dubbed the original Staind Glass as the best episode of U Talkin' U2 To Me? – noting that "no episode better exemplifies, while slightly subverting, the bit-heavy, irony-drenched humor" of the show.[44] In 2020, the pair created a one-off version of the format entitled Youey Talkin' Huey 2ey Me?, with special guests Huey Lewis and Jimmy Kimmel. The episode was dedicated to the music of Huey Lewis and the News, to promote the band's album Weather.[45]
Artistry
Aukerman's work has been described as "gloriously silly,"[46] and "masterful comedy and improvisation."[47] Although Tom Lennon's first reaction to the initial episode of Comedy Bang Bang was "no one's going to listen to this,"[48] Aukerman has since been lauded as the ringleader of a podcast that is, according to Vulture, "a consistent circus of experimentation by some of comedy's most creative minds."[48] His influence on contemporary comedy, by way of highlighting emerging talent, has earned him the title of "the alternative Lorne Michaels."[49]
Since 2008, Aukerman has been married to Kulap Vilaysack. The couple had a dog named Rocky who died in 2016.[50] They now have two dogs, Georgia Michaela and Molly Ringwald.[51] In 2022 Aukerman and Vilaysack had a daughter, Emerald.[52]
Aukerman is a stated longtime fan of comic books and has authored and co-authored several titles, including Astonishing Spider-Man, X-Men and Secret Wars issues.[53] He previously collected DVDs, and is an avid filmgoer and fan of cinema venues.[54]
Adam Paul Scott is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Ben Wyatt in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, for which he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. He has also appeared as Derek Huff in the film Step Brothers, Johnny Meyer in The Aviator, Henry Pollard in the Starz sitcom Party Down, Ed Mackenzie in the HBO series Big Little Lies, and Trevor in the NBC series The Good Place. In 2022, he began starring in the Apple TV+ psychological drama series Severance, for which he received numerous award nominations, including for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, as well as best actor nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes, Critics' Choice, and more.
Brian Posehn is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995–1998). He is known for his roles as Jim Kuback on The WB's Mission Hill and Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program. Posehn had a recurring role on The Big Bang Theory as geologist Bert Kibbler.
Paul Francis Tompkins is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as Mr. Show with Bob and David, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Best Week Ever, later renamed Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins.
Andrew Daly is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series Review, and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down as Terrence Cutler. He has also made recurring appearances on television programs such as Silicon Valley, Veep, Modern Family, Black-ish, Trial & Error, the Netflix series The Who Was? Show, Reno 911!, and Comedy Bang! Bang!, as well as animated shows such as Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, Bob's Burgers, Adventure Time, and Harley Quinn.
B. J. Porter is an American actor, writer and comedian. Porter began his career writing and performing on the HBO sketch comedy program, Mr. Show. Porter, along with the rest of the Mr. Show writing staff, was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999. Porter won an Emmy in 2014 and 2015 for the Funny or Die series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, which he co-created. Between Two Ferns was also nominated for an Emmy in 2013.
Never Not Funny is a podcast hosted by American comedian Jimmy Pardo, since spring 2006, currently releasing two episodes a week. He and producer/co-host Matt Belknap have appeared in every episode. Comedian Mike Schmidt appeared as co-host for season one, except for the final episode of the season, when his departure was announced.
Comedy Bang! Bang! is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009. Popularly known as Humanity and the Animal Kingdom's Podcast, it is hosted by writer and comedian Scott Aukerman, best known for his work on the 1990s HBO sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David, creating and hosting the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series, and co-founding the weekly Comedy Death-Ray stage show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Hollywood.
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis is an American talk show hosted by comedian Zach Galifianakis which features celebrity guests. Episodes last several minutes, in which the interviewer (Galifianakis) and guests trade barbs and insults. In addition to the online series, there is a Comedy Central television special, and a Netflix original movie Between Two Ferns: The Movie.
Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die. It merged with podcast advertising network The Mid Roll in 2014, a separate company founded by Ullrich, to form Midroll Media. Midroll was acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company in 2015. In July 2020, Sirius XM acquired Midroll Media, which includes Stitcher Radio and Earwolf, for $325 million.
Matthew Paul Mira is an American podcast host, stand-up comedian and television writer based in Los Angeles. He was a co-host of The Nerdist Podcast from 2010 to 2018.
Harris Lee Wittels was an American comedian. He was a writer for The Sarah Silverman Program, a writer and executive producer for Parks and Recreation, and a recurring guest on Comedy Bang! Bang! He coined the word humblebrag in 2010.
Seth Morris is an American actor, comedian, and writer known for his recurring roles on programs such as Go On, Happy Endings, The Hotwives of Orlando, The League, Kroll Show, and Childrens Hospital.
Comedy Bang! Bang! is a television talk show created and hosted by Scott Aukerman. The show aired weekly on IFC and was a spin-off of Aukerman's podcast Comedy Bang! Bang!, which airs on the Earwolf network. Like the podcast, the series featured outlandish and farcical humor, often delivered in a deadpan manner. The mock talk show derived most of its comedy from its surreal spoofs of common late night tropes and from its characters' ineptitude.
Kulap Tukta Vilaysack is an American actress, comedian, writer, director, and showrunner. She co-hosts the Add To Cart podcast with SuChin Pak on Lemonada Media. She was the co-host of the Who Charted? podcast on the Earwolf network from 2010 until 2018.
Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus is an American actress and comedian, known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black and Jess in the HBO comedy-drama series Crashing (2017–2019). She has also appeared in the television series Are You There, Chelsea? (2012), Hot in Cleveland (2012), Clipped (2015), The Big Bang Theory (2018–2019), and Good Girls (2020–2021) and in the films Jurassic World (2015), The Unicorn (2018), and The Wrong Missy (2020). She played the voice role of Lotta in the animated comedy series Harvey Girls Forever! (2018–2020).
Jon Daly, sometimes credited as Jonathan C. Daly, Jon C. Daly or Jonathan Barney Daly, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer best known for his sketch comedy work on the Comedy Central series Kroll Show. In 2013, he starred as Hobbes in the Amazon Studios original series Betas, and also played Agent Filippo in Zoolander 2 (2016).
Womp It Up! is a comedy podcast hosted by Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham, in character as high school student Marissa Wompler and her Stars program teacher Charlotte Listler. The podcast premiered on the Earwolf network in April 2015; its last podcast was on May 7, 2021.
Oluwademilade "Demi" Adejuyigbe is a British-born American writer, comedian, and social media personality. He is best known for co-hosting the podcast Gilmore Guys, and his work on the NBC comedy series The Good Place and the CBS late night show The Late Late Show with James Corden. In 2018, he was named as one of Vulture magazine's "38 Comedians You Should and Will Know".
Between Two Ferns: The Movie is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Scott Aukerman and starring Zach Galifianakis that acts as a spin-off of the web series of the same name. The film was released on September 20, 2019, on Netflix.
Get Played is an audio podcast that follows Heather Anne Campbell, Nick Wiger and Matt Apodaca as they discuss and review video games, with early episodes focusing on weird or bad games. In January 2022, the podcast changed formats to shift away from intentionally playing bad games, in part to improve the experience for guests and the hosts.
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