Comedy Bing Bong
Years ago, when I still had a desk job, I would listen to Comedy Bang Bang every week. It was my favorite show at the time and exposed me to many of the comedians I still love to this day. The silliness of the improv, outrageous premises, and off-the-wall performances were hilarious enough that I quickly devoured every remaining episode of Comedy Death Ray and all the CBB back episodes I could get into my ears, specifically the summer of 2012. I remember making sure I could watch the live streams on (I think?) Thursday nights, and even though I wasn’t in love with the TV show, I still paid for IFC whenever a new season debuted.
I listened on my rides on the bus to Downtown from Mt. Washington, and in Atrium on the weekends when I was doing overtime for work in the summer months. When ‘U Talkin’ U2 to Me?’ debuted that one summer, I remember walking around Lytle Park trying hard to stifle laughter so the people around me didn’t think I was insane.
I stopped listening around 2018. I think Reggie had moved on by that point, and I just remember it wasn’t hitting the same as it had been for me. With it being 3 hours long every episode, I wanted to listen to other things. I found new comedy shows and other podcasts to devour like I did CBB for so long.
CBB never had a Cincinnati stop on their many tours until this year. I foolishly talked Ashley into going with us, and…it wasn’t great. I think Scott and PFT have been genuinely hilarious on past shows, and they were the strongest part of this show, but overall this wasn’t a good one. The guests did their best, and I forced myself to laugh a few times out of respect, but nothing really hit for me. Ashley was completely lost the entire time, which was my worry since 90% of CBB is references to other things and inside jokes she hasn’t seen or knows anything about, and I felt guilty for subjecting her to it about halfway through.
I’ll always respect and love CBB for the laughs it gave me years ago, and I might dip back into the podcast at some point, but I don’t think I need to see them live again.