Comedy Bang! Bang!, a live stand-up show that was considered to be the epicenter of Los Angeles alternative comedy for ten years, is ending after the next show, producer Scott Aukerman said on Twitter. The last show will be on December 4, and the show will be a special benefit with all proceeds going to the L.A. Food Bank.
This will also be the last @comedybangbang: Standup show for the near future. After 10 years, I am retiring! (From producing the live show).
— Scott Aukerman (@ScottAukerman) November 13, 2012
Aukerman, a former writer for HBO's "Mr. Show with Bob & David," started the weekly show Comedy Death-Ray in 2002 at M Bar. The show quickly turned into a must-see night that attracted the hottest stand-up comics in Los Angeles. Tickets were only $5, and it served as a place for comics to work out their material in front of an intimate, enthusiastic crowd. It usually sold out in a matter of minutes.
The live show moved later to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Silver Lake. In 2010, Aukerman renamed the show Comedy Bang! Bang!, although the show remained the same.
It later spawned a podcast and TV show of the same name. When the TV show launched, Aukerman told us that he was considering ending the live show.
The final show, a special presentation called the Comedy Bang Bang Nativity Pageant, includes an all-star line-up of Zach Galifianakis, Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, Kristen Schaal, Chris Hardwick, Thomas Lennon, Paul F. Tompkins, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Tim Heidecker, Doug Benson, Anthony Jeselnik, Chelsea Peretti, Neil Hamburger, Garfunkel & Oates, Matt Besser, Todd Glass, Jimmy Pardo and Aukerman himself.
Aukerman said on Twitter that UCB would continue producing a stand-up show on Tuesday nights in Comedy Bang Bang's old slot.