IFC upgrades Comedy Bang Bang to half-hour series, also orders game-show parody starring Kurt Braunohler

Making news at last week’s TV Critics Association winter tour, IFC announced it had ordered two new series for the summer.

The first is actually a promotion for Scott Aukerman — Aukerman already has been appearing for the past year in interstitial interview segments on the cable channel under his old Comedy Death Ray and Comedy Bang! Bang! banners. Now he’ll be able to unfurl a full half-hour version of his long-running comedy podcast, with Reggie Watts serving as his one-man bandleader.

Comedy Bang! Bang! will debut in June as a 10-episode, half-hour series.

It’ll appear in the same one-hour comedy block alongside Bunk (working title, formerly known as Pointless), a game-show parody featuring a rotating line-up of comedian contestants performing absurd comedy challenges, created by Ethan T. Berlin and Eric Bryant and hosted by comedian Kurt Braunohler.

“IFC is quickly becoming known as a destination for top comedic talent,” said Debbie DeMontreux, IFC’s senior vice president of original programming. “These shows fit perfectly with IFC’s mission to create fresh, original, off-kilter comedies, and we’re thrilled to add them to our 2012 line up.”

Comedy Bang! Bang! is produced for IFC by Abso Lutely Productions; Aukerman, Dave Kneebone and Leo Allen serve as executive producers. Jennifer Caserta, Debbie DeMontreux, Christine Lubrano and Evan Shapiro serve as the executive producers for IFC. Bunk is produced for IFC by Avalon Television; Eric Bryant, Ethan T. Berlin, David Martin, Jon Thoday and Richard Allen-Turner serve as executive producers. Kurt Braunohler and Dan Lubetkin serve as co-executive producers. Jennifer Caserta, Debbie DeMontreux, Erin Keating, Dan Pasternack and Evan Shapiro serve as the executive producers for IFC.

Fun fact: Bunk, as Pointless, is the first-ever comedy from the New York Television Festival to be greenlit to series.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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